When it comes to growing your business, brand or website, understanding how SEO can affect social media is essential if you want to be visible online. As we say here at Lumen SEO, “when people search, they should find you”.
Across the world, there are 5.66 billion people using social media. Whether you are a B2B or B2C brand, an e-commerce business, or a small local company, understanding how website and social media SEO work together could give you a strong advantage over your competitors.
In this guide, you will learn how SEO affects social media, how to optimise your channels to make your business stand out in Google search, and how to promote long-term visibility through informative evergreen content.
Social Media Platforms are Search Engines
The way consumers search online has changed, and Google has some tough competition!
SEO has been affected by social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, and these platforms have become powerful search engines in their own right.
Every day, millions of consumers are actively searching online for products, brands, communities, and content, with 41% of Gen Z now using social media platforms as their main way to search online.
Consumers are no longer scrolling purely for entertainment; these days, consumers are scrolling to research and purchase your products and services. When it comes to consumers looking for travel ideas, TikTok is leading the way with 39% of users booking travel after seeing content on the platform.
With ever-changing algorithms and ChatGPT thrown in for good measure, you need to treat social media posts in the same way as your website pages. If your social media content isn’t using SEO, it is less likely to appear in search results.
How to Enhance Your Social Media with SEO
There are many ways to enhance your social media with SEO. Here are three key areas to consider as part of your SEO and social media strategy.
1. Keyword Optimisation
Ensure that your social media profiles and posts contain the most relevant keywords for your business or products. Everything from your handles, bios, posts, captions, and video titles should contain keywords.
2. Search Intent
Create content based on search intent by asking yourself: ‘What is the consumer’s goal or reason for making this search?’ If your consumer is looking for answers to specific questions, make sure you have well-written, optimised answers at the ready. If your consumer would like to make a purchase, make sure your content can guide them through to the point of sale.
3. Content Strategy
Don’t be afraid to experiment with content formats! Try moving away from spontaneous content and focus your efforts on creating evergreen content that genuinely provides value, answers common questions in your industry or niche and educates your audience.
You can create valuable evergreen content through long-form blogs and videos, FAQs, and how-to-guides.
A well-crafted evergreen blog could provide long-term value and a steady flow of traffic for many years after publishing.
Does Google Index Social Media Content?
Indexing means that Google can find, store, rank, and retrieve your content in search results.
In recent years, Google has started to index public content from TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn, providing another chance for your business or brand to be discovered.
In 2025, Google officially started to index Instagram Reels, posts and Carousels, including content backdated to 2020. So, if you really want to increase the chances of your content being found, you should go back through your historical Instagram Reels and posts, checking that relevant and evergreen posts are fully optimised.
If that sounds like a daunting task, here are some easy, actionable tips to help you get started.
- Make sure your Reels, posts and Carousels have well-written captions containing your most relevant keywords. An optimised caption can have a significant impact on whether or not Google indexes your Instagram post!
- Check you have included relevant alt text on Reels and images.
- Add new and relevant hashtags if needed.
How We Can Help
At Lumen SEO, we understand the importance of social search and how a strategic SEO campaign can grow your online traffic and visibility.
If you would like to explore how we can create authoritative and optimised content for your business or brand, we would love to help you.
You can view some of our case studies here.
