Social interactions like +1s on Google+, Facebook comments, likes, and shares, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their social media presence as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Google’s own head of the web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide true value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social network in the world. It has been estimated that an average post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
Google’s own social media site naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus every year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ your site page has, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can indirectly influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include positive and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only find ways to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spot opportunities for engagement, assess competitor activity, and avert crises. It can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific products, brands, businesses, or topics.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to monitor social activity on social media is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by various groups that include marketing teams, PR staff, market researchers, social engagement and community personnel, sales teams, and social marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different technology companies have developed tools and solutions to facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling you to track consumer behavior around your products or brand so you can respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in a timely manner.
We have written a comprehensive article on social media measurement tools and technologies that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing initiatives here:
(Are you monitoring social signals effectively?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple plugin for WordPress sites for tracking social signals and growing your social media influence online.
Presenting …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users grow their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your job is to turn more reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that any user can follow … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ sites over a period of 3 months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping everything “green”. According to the plugin developers, they noticed a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in higher search engine rankings, increased web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
Learn more here:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs like any regular WordPress plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WP administrator section and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to convert more reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social campaigns need more effort and where to optimize.
Track The Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to centrally monitor social activity across leading social media networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Digg, and LinkedIn.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors the sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro provides web site owners with a number of great features. Below we have listed just some of those:
- Quick and simple to install and implement. Be up and running in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with external and built-in widgets. Access updated information from your WordPress admin bar, display popular content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click auto-upgrading functionality. Update Social Metrics Pro in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever a new version is released.
- Low server resource consumption. Reporting is very quickly, using minimal server resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort and filter the information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, category, or by publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot data in Excel for further analysis. Data can be exported in tab-delimited and comma-separated file formats, and imported to Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is very simple to use … just change all reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are some of the testimonials that plugin customers have published about SocialMetricsPro:
”Social Metrics is the easiest way to see at a glance which posts have performed well on social networks.” Kevin Muldoon, Founder of WPMods.com
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”I give Social Metrics a big thumbs up and I recommend it to anyone who’s serious about tracking their social sharing analytics.” James Johnson, Senior Editor at The Inquisitr
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This license option allows you to use Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This license option lets you use SocialMetricsPro on all websites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing for the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the software is selling for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the plugin seller when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download The Product
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing campaigns and guides you how to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress admin area.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to save time and resources by focusing on under-optimized networks.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
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