Many people ask the question, "Is social media necessary to get good search engine rankings?" In my opinion, that question is all wrong. I think the dye has already been cast on the importance of social media and whether or not it is an integral part of SEO (it is.) The real question is, "Can SEO survive without social media?" To that, I firmly believe the answer is "no". Not today and not for as long as social media continues to play a role in shaping society. Until the great EMP hits, I don't see social media losing it's grip on how we live our lives. Which means, search engines will always find ways to use it to influence their search engine rankings. And rightly so. Social media, essentially, is the real-time pulse of what we like, dislike, love, loath and enjoy. It only makes sense that search engines want to measure this in order to make rankings more relevant for both the masses and each person individually.

1. 1
@StoneyDStoney G deGeyter
CAN SEO
SURVIVE
WITHOUT
SOCIAL
MEDIA?

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@StoneyDStoney G deGeyter
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED SEO FOREVER

3. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
How to get rankings in 1999
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED SEO FOREVER
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SEO &
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Social Content Usability Conversions

4. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
How to get rankings in 2014
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED SEO FOREVER
SEO &
Links
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Social Content Usability Conversions

5. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Question: Do social shares help with SEO?
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED SEO FOREVER
http://moz.com/blog/google-plus-correlations
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6243451
The REAL Question: Does social media help with SEO?

6. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Correlation vs. causation
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED SEO FOREVER
Source: http://xkcd.com/552

7. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Correlation can assist causation
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED SEO FOREVER
Social Media -----------> Rankings

8. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Social media increases ranking opportunity
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED SEO FOREVER

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@StoneyDStoney G deGeyter
HOW SOCIAL CORRELATION IMPACTS SEO

10. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Quick indexing of socialized pages
HOW SOCIAL CORRELATION IMPACTS SEO
Pages posted to
can be crawled within
six seconds!

11. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Grows exposure
HOW SOCIAL CORRELATION IMPACTS SEO

12. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Increases traffic to site
HOW SOCIAL CORRELATION IMPACTS SEO

13. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Indirect increase in links
HOW SOCIAL CORRELATION IMPACTS SEO

14. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Demonstrates popularity
HOW SOCIAL CORRELATION IMPACTS SEO

15. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Signal of relevance
HOW SOCIAL CORRELATION IMPACTS SEO

16. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Adds branding
HOW SOCIAL CORRELATION IMPACTS SEO

17. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Builds authority
HOW SOCIAL CORRELATION IMPACTS SEO

18. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Effects personalized results
HOW SOCIAL CORRELATION IMPACTS SEO

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@StoneyDStoney G deGeyter
WHERE IS SEO GOING?

20. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
If this is how to get rankings in 2014
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED SEO FOREVER
SEO &
Links
$
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$ $
Social Content Usability Conversions

21. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Then this is how to get rankings in 2016
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED SEO FOREVER
SEO &
Links
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
Social Content Usability Conversions

22. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
If all your money is going here
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED SEO FOREVER
$
$
$
SEO &
Links
Social Content Usability Conversions

23. CAN SEO SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? @StoneyD #pubcon
Your rankings are going here
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED SEO FOREVER
2008 2010 2012 2014 2016

24. Thank You!
@StoneyDStoney G deGeyter