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A WebmasterWorld thread asks a question probably on the mind of many site owners today. The question asked, "Is my site doomed because I won't go social?"
This is a valid question, some sites for some reasons do not want to get involved in adding social features to their site. Such as adding rich snippets, authorship markup, Facebook and Twitter buttons and maybe more importantly to Google, Google+ buttons and profiles.
Will a site suffer in the long term if they refuse to adapt to the new social space?
Personally, I think so but not everyone agrees.
A senior member put it nicely, it is not just the direct factor of having social factors in the algorithm but the indirect influence social has on other factors, such as links, in the algorithm. He said:
In terms of physical downgrades, I'd say it's unlikely that social signals will ever be factored into the algo to such a degree that it would be an issue.But in terms of causality - I think increased personalisation of SERPs will have a larger impact on organic SEO via social than traditional links / branding / traffic benefits.
Here is our poll, what do you think?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Image credit to ShutterStock for the nerd.
Comments:
Jeff Downer Indianapolis IN
02/13/2012 04:29 pm
Now that I am officially designated as "old" by the AARP, I can offer this piece of advice: "Never say never". Follow the money. Now that Google has invested heavily in social, their behavior bears watching.
Lapworth Architects
02/13/2012 08:59 pm
I think main advantage of SN is for branding... Certainly if a site has google+ and is connected to a company via g+ then results are even currently effected. The only way I can see this going is up!
Karl
02/14/2012 12:43 am
You better believe SMO will increasingly impact SEO. Even older domains will eventually fall prey to newer domains rising up the ranks by having their posts actively re-shared!
Jean
02/17/2012 05:29 pm
No question social networking is now deeply rooted in our personal and business lives. And looks to become an even larger part, of it, long into the future. That said, and as a matter of course Google, and other search engines - I believe - will eventually decide to give more cred and higher rankings to companies savvy enough to participate. Those who don't jump on the bandwagon and stay on, will likely no longer find their sites and blogs listed as they previously were.