Myth or Fact: Social Media Dashboards Bad for SEO?
-
I want to start using HootSuite to pre-schedule Facebook/Twitter updates, but am plagued by nagging concerns because I have heard that HootSuite may impact SEO in a negative way.
Is this truth or bull? If it i true, how so, specifically? And can anything be done to mitigate the negative SEO factors?
Also, does anyone prefer another dashboard over HootSuite?
Thanks in advance for your inputs!
-
@ThompsonPaul: I'd welcome additional input...here is the scenario:
We're a 2-man agency, so there really only needs to be one user for the dashboard. The goal is creating an active Facebook/Twitter presence with minimum time commitment, for 3 or 4 small clients - these are local, independently owned businesses with small budgets.
My goal was is to re-purpose newsletter & blog content as pre-scheduled Facebook & Twitter updates in order to be able to "set it & forget it".
These clients don't necessarily view Social as a priority - but as we are creating blog/newsletter content for them anyway, I thought it would be good practice to re-use the content on other platforms, to keep Facebook / Twitter from being completely overlooked.
In terms of the degree of importance placed on analytics - I think if it could be demonstrated that Social is driving traffic to their websites, we would be able to persuade these clients to allocate more budget to social. Each of these clients does use GA.
-
Most welcome, Lucy. I've also used a number of different dashboards - if you can describe the highest-priority things you want to be able to do with your dashboard, I may be able to make a suggestion or two.
eg how many and what types of accounts? Are Analytics and tracking important? Do multiple team members need to collaborate/manage the same accounts?
Paul
-
@ThompsonPaul - Thanks very much for this well-crafted reply - greatly appreciated.
-
There is only one way the use of Hootsuite could negatively affect SEO - if you choose the ow.li URL shortener as your default instead of the default ow.ly version (in the setup section).
The ow.li version is using 302 redirects instead of 301s which is a no-no for SEO.
Otherwise, since the dashboard is only posting contents to Twitter/Facebook and not your website, there's no possibility for harm.
HOWEVER!!! Using Hootsuite (or any 3rd-party tool) to post to Facebook can definitely cause user-engagement problems. Any update posted to Facebook using a 3rd-party tool (like a dashboard) automatically has a harder time earning views by your followers. Facebook's Edgerank algorithm is what determines how many of your followers might see your post, and posts by 3rd party tools always have a lower Edgerank.
So for all important Facebook posts, it is best to submit them using Facebook's own site or their mobile app rather than Hootsuite. (You can now pre-schedule posts from within Facebook itself, so this helps alleviate one of the reasons why most people used 3rd-party tools) In fact, I still believe it's better to make all Facebook updates directly.
Paul
-
Hi Lucy,
Like-wise as Robert, I myself have used hootsuite before for several social media complaints. Besides a huge outage at an important time, I didn't really mind using the service (took a small while getting used to it, that's all).
I suggest you read http://www.seomoz.org/blog/url-shortener-owl-li-indexed-in-google (was released today, excellent timing) as well, which actually talks about using one of the URL shorteners provided by Hootsuite.
Best of luck.
-
Well to be honest lucy i havent at all, not to say hootsuite put me off but its the formula 1 of interfaces so i said to myself "this may not be for me" lets not try and over complicate things and just do it manually.
I might have a look at sproutsocial all right now that you mentioned it but i dont know how it can get any better with my 17" screen (clutter)
It may or may not, i,ll keep u posted
-
Thanks for that input.
Have you used other dashboards with better interfaces? I am also looking into SproutSocial as an alternative & wonder if they have a better user experience.
-
I have used hootsuite and all though it has some great features, its not something i enjoy using because of the cluttered interface.. The only good thing i can think of is that you dont have to login to multiple accounts and simple click between projects, ultra quick.
I'm thinking its bull, i have not heard anything at all concerning seo that may impact on social media projects at all
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Most valuable things that clients can do for us SEO-wise?
Hi One and All! We're launching a new site which provides listings for businesses, and being that it's very early in the process and we're building up our presence we're offering our services for free for now. In return though we would like to request that our clients exchange the free service we're providing for things which will help our SEO to develop faster. I've thought of things like following/liking social accounts, maybe even backlinking to us in a blog post if they have a blog, but does anyone have any other ideas about what other beneficial things they can do for us, and which things are most beneficial? Thanks for Advice!
Social Media | | joelmd0 -
Top tweet and top media tweet
Hi, Twitter says: Top Tweet: Tweet that received the highest number of impressions Top media Tweet: Tweet with photo, video, or Vine that received the highest number of impressions It's impressions that count and the only difference is whether or not media is attached. If my top tweet for a month has the most impressions but no media it is the top tweet. Another tweet that has media is then the top media tweet. That makes sense and I've seen it in my Twitter analytics. I'm confused when my top tweet is one with media but it is somehow not also showing as the top media tweet. Surely it should be? how can another tweet with media and a lower impressions count be the top media tweet when the top tweet is one with media and a higher impressions count. Thanks
Social Media | | Houses0 -
Links to Social Media accounts, rel=nofollow/follow and rel=me
Hi guys, I just saw this rel="me" attribute and I can't find any reputable recent (within last year) information. I never heard of this and wonder if it's any beneficial in any way. At the same time, should I use nofollow or follow on links from website to social accounts? I've heard different opinions but, again, no recent relevant and trustworthy information. Please, kick me into right direction. However, when kicking, please give me some proof, rather than thoughts 🙂 Thanks!
Social Media | | DmitriiK0 -
Article previews on social media not showing
Hi there, hoping for some help. I have a hunch but I can't be sure. Whenever I go to publish a link on social media, I no longer see previews with the featured image or relevant meta. We have changed servers lately so I think maybe somethign has gone wrong with OpenGraph? Happens on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Social Media | | Whittie0 -
About Onlywire, stumbleupon ans social medias?
Hi, 1/I want to ask do you use onlywire service for you websites? Is it beneficial for a web site? 2/ Can Google see so many links from different social medias after you use onlywre as a spam (coming immediately every time you put new url in onlywire) or as something positive, especially for a website which doesn't have so many links from different web site per day? 3/ Do you think stumbleupon, delicious.com, etc are all helpful for SEO of a website and have influence in Google ranking? I know about facebook, twitter but there are so many social media websites and is it worth to have accounts all there and post the same stuff? Thank you 🙂
Social Media | | vladokan0 -
Wordpress Social Button Plugins Change
Hi Guys, I'm thinking of changing the plugin I used on my blog for people to share my blog posts on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. If I do this, would I lose all shares (meaning that all the buttons would go back to 0, I know the shared content would still appear on people's profiles)? Thanks, Carlos
Social Media | | Carlos-R0 -
Widgets like Facebook Like and AddThis - Any Negative SEO?
I could go widget crazy with my website, there are so many cool buttons and linking this and likes and etc. There's one that is used a lot, called "Addthis" that adds a series of small icons to share a page via facebook, twitter, etc. The javascript looks innocent enough, but there's a link, and who knows what google makes of it. Then there are the dozen or so Facebook widgets - are they safe to use without negative SEO consequences? Does anyone know of any other pitfalls with using the numerous addons offered free to enhance your site? Thanks for any wisdom out there! Jean
Social Media | | JeanYates0 -
Working with 3rd PArty Social Media partners / paid blogs
Hi there! We are an ecommerce company based in the UK and are an online butcher. We are looking to further our contribution and authority in a social sphere, in particular develop relations with bloggers and social sites who are realised to have authority in our sphere (food / meat). At present we are active in the usual (Twitter, Facebook etc) and have over 1000 likes and followers. We also have a cool blog which can be found at <cite>www.donaldrussell.com/weblog/index.html</cite> We are looking at our content and would like to share this with other bloggers in return for backlinks and visits from these blogs, and in turn improve our pagerank and SEO ratings. I have been offered the chance to work with EBuzzing, who claim to get your content published and referred to but you have to pay these "bloggers" for the privelage. Is this a good way of furthering our social strategy in the short term, or is this the wrong way to go and do search engines devalue these links? My preference is to organically grow our presence through becoming a valuable contributor and have alsways strongly advocated this, however Ebuzzing or other simillar services sound too good to be true! Are they? Hope you can help me, and look forward to your thoughts. Many thanks Gary
Social Media | | DonaldRussell0