Influencer marketing and SEO (SEO) share the same objectives: boosting visibility and generating acquisition. According to a study by the Digital Marketing Institute, 49% of consumers are influenced to purchase a product or service at least once a month thanks to influencers on social networks. You might think that SEO and influencer marketing work in separate ways. However, deeper analysis highlights a more interconnected relationship. So, how can you implement an influencer marketing strategy to optimize your SEO and achieve your visibility objectives?
How does influencer marketing interact with SEO?
Google has recognized the complementarity between influence and SEO by ensuring that brands that integrate these two strategies benefit from a competitive advantage. Indeed, influencer marketing supports off-site SEO strategies, by generating more targeted traffic, increasing engagement around the company and improving ranking in the SERPs (search engines). Influencers, by sharing content about a brand via platforms, strengthen the notoriety, communication and credibility of a website in the eyes of search engines.
What are the benefits of an influence strategy on natural referencing?
Generation of qualified traffic
Influencers generally share the same interests as their community. Therefore, when creators showcase products or services, their followers are more likely to click on the links and visit your website. More qualified traffic equals better rankings. This targeted traffic also helps drive favorable metrics that demonstrate relevant content to Google, such as a lower bounce rate, longer page views, and higher click-through rates. This traffic is valued by Google, which categorizes these visits as a sign of reliability and improves your ranking.
Improved E-E-A-T
And yes, influencer marketing can strengthen the E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness) of your site. If the influencer inserts a link to your website in their content, this directly generates a high-quality backlink (valid for certain social networks). Backlinks, these inbound links from other platforms, play a key role in optimizing a company's ranking on search engines, especially when these links come from professionals in its sector of activity. Thanks to these inbound links from influencers specialized in your field, the legitimacy and reputation of your brand are strengthened. Google attaches increased importance to your site thanks to links from reliable external sources (netlinking). The more you obtain naturally thanks to influencers, the more your authority will improve… and the higher you will rise in the search results.
Ranking increase with social signals
Social networks are not a direct ranking factor but have an indirect impact on natural referencing. In fact, the more your content is shared, commented on and liked, the more it gains visibility and engagement. This content can generate a snowball effect, encouraging other sources to share your brand, mention it in their communication and visit your website, thus strengthening your digital strategy. This greater exposure often leads to an increase in brand searches, when users search for your brand by name. This in turn builds the authority and trustworthiness of your brand in the eyes of search engines.
How to optimize your SEO using influencer marketing?
Make the right choice of influencers who generate qualified traffic to your site
This is a key step in defining an effective strategy combining influence, SEO and marketing objectives. The most important thing is to select influencers aligned with your brand values, your company strategy and the interests of your target audience. We should not give importance only to the size of the audience (nano-influencers, micro-influencers, etc.). In addition, make sure they are in line with your storytelling so that your objectives are aligned.
How to choose an influencer for your marketing campaign?
- The theme and niche of the influencer must be related to your sector of activity (tech, fitness, finance, etc.).
- The engagement of your community must be optimal: an audience that is too passive could be counterproductive (check the engagement rate, ROI, etc.).
- Their ability to generate traffic with diverse and quality content (blogs, YouTube videos, Instagram descriptions, etc.).
Develop clear specifications with SEO elements
A successful partnership with an influencer is based on a clearly defined relationship, with precise expectations and communication objectives to maximize the impact of the campaign. So include specific guidelines in the specifications.
Elements to include in the influencer’s specifications
- Inserting links to your website in the content to generate qualified backlinks.
- Define the most relevant formats such as blog articles, stories, etc.
- Plan an editorial calendar to ensure sustainable performance.
Encourage the use of UGC to extend the influence of your brand (User-Generated Content)
UGC is a great way to promote your brand. UGC is content created by a brand’s users. This generates a signal of authenticity, which is positive for Google’s E-E-A-T criteria.
What marketing strategies should be implemented to encourage UGC?
- Organize challenges on social networks with the help of influencers.
- Ask influencers to launch campaigns that invite audiences to be active with contests.
- Create branded hashtags to encourage users to post their own content…
Launch competitions
Consider setting up a collaboration with influencers to organize competitions and giveaways on social media. Organizing competitions allows you to increase engagement around your brand with an increase in shares and mentions on networks. The influencer community amplifies your message by sharing your contest, creating a domino effect. This leads to more website traffic, which improves your site's appeal to search engines.
Some actions to take to organize a competition
- Define your conditions of participation: require brand mentions from participants, subscription to your accounts and reactions (likes, comments, tags, etc.). Please note, some platforms more or less strictly regulate games and possible requests for action from Internet users.
- Include a mandatory link in influencer campaigns to your website to increase visits.
Conclusion
Combining influencer marketing and SEO can significantly improve the visibility and authority of your brand on the web. By exploiting the influencer trend, you generate better targeted traffic, obtain natural backlinks and strengthen social signals, factors which directly optimize your natural SEO. It is therefore essential to choose your influencers carefully, structure collaborations and encourage UGC.
And you, are you ready to integrate influencer marketing into your SEO?
At FIRSTCOM, your digital communications agency in Paris and Marseille we support you with a tailor-made influence strategy . Combining influencer marketing and SEO to maximize your growth, we collaborate with influencers to create high-performance campaigns that generate both engagement and conversions.
Contact us for a tailor-made analysis and recommendations