The long and short of the answer would appear to be yes. Both Google and Bing admitted late last year to using "social signals" to help rank search results. Additionally Google has a Beta test version of social search under is Labs tools that directly signals which social media outlet it has pulled results from, as well as it's Beta version of the "+1 button" which is it's answer to the Facebook "Like" button.
From Bing:
“We do look at the social authority of a user. We look at how many people you follow, how many follow you, and this can add a little weight to a listing in regular search results.”
And from Google:
“Yes, we do use [tweeted links and RTs] as a signal. It is used as a signal in our organic and news rankings. We also use it to enhance our news universal by marking how many people shared an article.”
The bottom line is this. Social signals do matter from an SEO standpoint, but they aren’t strong enough to justify artificially padding your Facebook “likes”, Twitter “tweets” and Google “+1s.” Instead, providing your website readers with social tools that make sharing your content on social networks easy to do and encouraging them to share articles they enjoy on social networking sites should be enough to grow your social signals profile in an effective and sustainable way.
From Bing:
“We do look at the social authority of a user. We look at how many people you follow, how many follow you, and this can add a little weight to a listing in regular search results.”
And from Google:
“Yes, we do use [tweeted links and RTs] as a signal. It is used as a signal in our organic and news rankings. We also use it to enhance our news universal by marking how many people shared an article.”
The bottom line is this. Social signals do matter from an SEO standpoint, but they aren’t strong enough to justify artificially padding your Facebook “likes”, Twitter “tweets” and Google “+1s.” Instead, providing your website readers with social tools that make sharing your content on social networks easy to do and encouraging them to share articles they enjoy on social networking sites should be enough to grow your social signals profile in an effective and sustainable way.
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