Does Social Media Impact Your Google Rankings?
What Kiwi Businesses Need to Know
This is a question we hear all the time from Kiwi business owners at Redemption Digital. If you are posting regularly on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, does that actually help your website rank higher on Google?
The short answer is yes and no.
Does Social Media Directly Affect Google Rankings?
Social media activity does not directly impact your Google rankings. Likes, shares, comments, and follower numbers are not used by Google as ranking factors.
So posting every day on social media will not automatically push your website to the top of Google search results.
But that is only part of the story.
How Social Media Helps SEO Indirectly
While social media is not a direct ranking factor, it can still support your SEO in ways that matter. This is something we factor into every SEO campaign at Redemption Digital.
Driving More Website Traffic
Sharing your website content on social media helps get more people onto your site. Blog posts, service pages, and landing pages can all attract visitors when shared with the right audience.
More traffic means more opportunities for people to engage with your site, read your content, and make enquiries. Over time, this supports stronger results when paired with a well planned search engine optimisation strategy.
Building Brand Awareness in New Zealand
The more people see your business online, the more likely they are to remember your brand. When people later search for your business name or services on Google, that brand recognition builds trust.
At Redemption Digital, we help Kiwi businesses build brand visibility across search and social so they are recognised before customers even click on a competitor.
Creating Opportunities for Backlinks
Quality content that gets shared on social media can be picked up by blogs, industry websites, or online publications. When those sites link back to your website, it helps build authority.
Backlinks remain one of the strongest ranking factors in SEO, and social media can help kickstart this process when combined with good content and smart SEO planning.
Helping Google Find New Content Faster
When you publish a new blog or update a page, sharing it on social media can help Google discover it sooner. While this does not guarantee higher rankings, it helps your content get indexed faster.
This is particularly useful for businesses that are actively investing in SEO with Redemption Digital and want their content working sooner rather than later.
Why This Matters for Kiwi Businesses
In New Zealand, online competition can be tight, especially in local markets. SEO works best when all digital channels support each other.
At Redemption Digital, we take a full picture approach to SEO. That includes technical SEO, on page optimisation, content creation, local SEO, backlinks, and how your brand appears across the web.
Social media plays a supporting role by helping your content get seen, shared, and trusted.
Social media will not directly change your Google rankings. But it plays a valuable supporting role in a successful SEO strategy.
When social media is used alongside professional SEO, it helps drive traffic, build brand awareness, and create opportunities that Google does reward over time.
If you want to improve your search rankings and build a stronger digital presence in Aotearoa, SEO and social should work together.
Keen to chat? Check out Redemption Digital’s search engine optimisation services and let’s get your website working harder online.