The Google Webmaster crew is back at it again, giving us straightforward answers to important SEO questions. Given the rise in popularity of social media portals like Facebook and Twitter, it is important to consider what kind of importance Google places on links from these websites.
This recent Google Webmaster video answers the question of how Google evaluates social media links.
The following points are what I consider to be the highlights from the video:
- Google doesn’t treat social media links any differently than it treats links from any other website
- Website reputation, and here Cutts specifically mentioned Google PageRank, plays a vital role in evaluating the source of the link
- Facebook and Twitter profile information must be public for Google to index any of the information
- Contrary to popular belief, links from social media websites, as well as .gov and .edu domains, do not receive any special weight beyond the normal ranking factors that apply to all pages and links
All in all, some really good information to keep in mind when link building with social media websites.
