Search engines have always ranked websites on two basic counts – the relevance of their individual webpages to a search query and how authoritative a website is considered to be, overall.

Since computers are unable to understand human language, search engines still depend on finding the right keyword phrases on a webpage to determine if it is relevant to a query. When you have the right keyword phrases on a webpage with no obvious keyword stuffing done, it isn't difficult to convince Google that the page is relevant. This is why article directories like Ezine Articles still routinely make it to the top of searches on Google.

Getting Google to believe that your website is authoritative is more difficult

Up until three years ago, Google simply looked at the number of backlinks it could find leading to webpages as a way to determine how authoritative they were. The more backlinks there were to a website, the more authoritative Google assumed it was. At the time, businesses used simple ways to game the system, buying thousands of backlinks to their websites for very little money.

Over the past three years Google has found ways to close up these loopholes. It is considerably more difficult to convince Google of a website's authority today that it was back in the simple old days.

Enter the social media

The success of a website on the social media is one of the most important ways in which Google assesses website authority today. To rank a website high, Google needs to see that its pages are often mentioned by people considered on the social media to be authorities in their field. It also needs to see considerable social sharing activity.

Google is already beginning to use its Google + social network in determining its search rankings. Websites that are frequently mentioned on Google + accounts get better ranking. Bing has incorporated results from Facebook and Twitter for months now.

The best way to get ahead in search today is pay attention to the social media. Here's how you do this.

It's important to make sure that your SEO efforts and your social media efforts are properly integrate

• Whatever keywords your SEO effort targets, you should find ways to make them prominent in your social media posts, as well.
• Find out what content you own that is both highly ranked and frequently shared. When you find such content, you should consider tweaking it to optimize it even further.
• Make sure that your content is easy to share. Place social sharing buttons throughout your content.

Get in touch with your social media influencers

Search engines consider social signals to be important because they give them clues to what content has authority. This isn't the only reason to court your base on the social networks, though. According to a Nielsen Research report, people trust recommendations from friends and family far more than they do any advertising.

People who follow a business on a social network are likely to be enthusiastic fans. Courting these fans and encouraging their enthusiasm for the company is a good way to get them to be more vocal on the Internet for you. They could speak out more about your business when they are on the social networks with their friends and family and share your content.

To get some mileage out of the most influential among your followers, you need to find out which of your fans have the largest following of their own. You can get in touch with them, thank them for their support and build long-term relationships with them.

Author Bio
Kurt Smith is a website marketing consultant. He is a strong believe in using existing customer data and testimonials in online campaigns. Visit the NextDayLenses.com to see how their customer testimonials are used on their home page.