Hello friends,
I’m back in your inbox, and if you’ve seen my LinkedIn recently then you’ll know why I’m emailing you on this fine Thursday.
There I was earlier this week, moaning about this week’s newsletter being boring because of the sheer lack of interesting social media updates. And then Google just casually drops my favourite update of the year.
Anyway, this will only be a quick one from me but it’s everything you need to know about Google Search Console’s new feature: Platform Properties.
Google Search Console has introduced Platform Properties which allows you to track which search terms lead people to your social media accounts and posts.
HALLELUJAH.
The feature is rolling out gradually and it’s starting with just four platforms which are Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube. Once it’s available to you, you’ll be able to see:
Performance reports: View total clicks, impressions, and additional metrics. Filter and sort this data to see which specific posts and queries are driving the most traffic. If you prefer to analyse performance using another tool, you can export the data.
Insights reports: View an overview of your recent traffic trends, top performing posts, and how people discover your account in Google.
Achievements: Track growth and celebrate milestones.
cc: Barry Schwartz
💡 Why You Should Care: This feels like a huge step towards social becoming a bigger part of search because until now, we’ve had plenty of advice (especially from me, HA) about how to optimise social content (like Instagram and TikTok) to appear in external search engines like Google but with very little data to show what’s actually moving the needle. And this update starts to change that.
The best part (for me) is the impact it has on us folks working in social. We’re finally getting something we’ve been missing in this new era of social SEO — actionable data. What search terms are leading people to your content? Are these posts performing well in these social platforms AND in Google? What gaps can you spot? How can you leverage high performing search terms? It’s so exciting. And not to sound cringe, but social SEO really isn’t optional anymore and it’s so so important to start thinking about including it in your marketing ecosystem.
REMEMBER: Social media doesn't have to live in a silo (!!) and if you’re able to chat to the SEO or content team (even with mutuals on LinkedIn) now is the time to compare notes and see how you can create content that's built for both discovery and engagement.
If you need a place to get started with your social media SEO strategy, then now feels like the perfect opportunity (hehe) to plug my free workbook that walks you through everything from keyword research to creating your first optimised post. I mostly focused on Instagram and TikTok here because the likes of YouTube and Pinterest are such behemoths, and have been social-search hybrids long before IG and TikTok.
Anyway, that’s all for now folks. See you next week for your usual edition of The Social Tea.
(And if you enjoyed this newsletter, please let me know. I definitely, totally, absolutely don’t need an inbox full of you guys saying “wow this was an amazing extra newsletter Annie.”)
TTYL,
AM @ Girl Power Marketing xx