Influencer marketing and why you should include it in your SEO strategy

Our marketing executive, Lily, discusses the rise of influencer marketing and why it is helpful for SEO.

It originally started out as celebrity endorsements and the occasional blogger. Now, however, influencer marketing has grown and diversified into a fully-fledged career. But how does it help with your SEO?

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is where an influencer will collaborate with a brand to promote a product or service. They have been known to help increase web traffic and improve search engine optimisation.

The Influencer marketing hub expects the industry to be worth $13.8 billion globally in 2021 and will continue to increase. 

How effective is influencer marketing in your SEO strategy?

Brands that focus on a long-term partnership have seen positive outcomes. 80% of marketers suggest that influencer marketing is effective. Due to the increase in popularity, Google and other search engines recognise it as a contributing factor to your SEO strategies. It is a great way to increase reach and engagement online, attracting people to your brand.

Influencers are able to reach people on a level that lots of small and large brands are not able to do. According to Hubspot, 49% of consumers actually depend on influencer recommendations before they purchase an item. 

What are the benefits of influencer marketing and why should I use them with my brand?

You may be thinking why should I consider using one? Well below are some great benefits as to why.

Increasing brand awareness with social media influencers

This is a great way to put your brand out there and get people buying your products or services. They already have an audience who look up to them for inspiration and advice and have built trust with these people.

Therefore when your brand appears on the influencer’s social media, their followers will trust what is being advertised and are more likely to visit your site and check out what you are selling. Hubspot reports that influencer marketing has increased brand awareness for businesses by 85%.

How influencer marketing can boost reach, visibility and engagement

Improving visibility and increasing your rankings to beat competitors is not always a straightforward task. Especially if you are starting out on social media and trying to get your brand out there – it’s not always easy to reach your target audience. 

However, the more you engage people the more traffic you will drive to your site. Influencers will be used to creating appealing content on social media and finding the right ways to attract people, therefore, increasing reach, visibility and engagement. This then helps towards higher sales and increased ROI (return on investment) which all contribute to good SEO. According to mediakix, 48% of marketers say that ROI from influencer marketing is better than other marketing channels.

Building link profiles using influencers

Firstly, what are link profiles?

These are a group of links that come from one site and direct to yours. Usually referred to as inbound links. 

Link building is a key part of SEO because it helps Google decide how well a page should rank in the Search engine results pages (SERPs). Ideally you want to rank on page 1 and as high up as you can. Good quality links that Google knows are of high value will help to increase your rankings. 

When you’re trying to target larger brands to help boost your authority it can be difficult. This is where it can come in handy. Many influencers and bloggers can be classed as industry experts.

Influencers who you work with can create content and include a link from their blog to your website which will massively help with your website\’s authority. It will also help to improve your EAT as collecting high-quality backlinks from high ranking sites will help to improve expertise, authority and trust on your site.

Creating a campaign where they feature you in their blog and link to your website can be a great start to improving your authority. Expert bloggers/ influencers who have a high authority can also really help with acquiring other high-quality links for your site. 

Summary

Influencer marketing is a great way to get your brand seen. Whether that’s on social media posting about your product and services, or a mention in the form of content from a well-known blogger. These are all great opportunities to improve your positioning within Google as well as increasing your authority online.

So how can you start to improve your SEO  strategy with influencer marketing? It’s pretty straight forward. Start working with an influencer of any size and you are likely to see a positive effect on your traffic and engagement on social media. 

With influencer marketing on the rise and people shifting their trust to the word of mouth reviews and recommendations, it is definitely a strategy worth looking into.