Social recommendations like Facebook comments, shares, and likes, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social 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 so many things change quickly on social media. Without a perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more 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 value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to display higher in its search listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social media community in the world. Research shows that a single post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a massive amount of sales on your website, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search engine rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter andGoogle+.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social site, Google+ naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are starting to interact socially on GooglePlus each year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that provide important social metrics, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Google and Bing track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your URL has, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, authority of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can influence search traffic and rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze your social media campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your results online)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your company, products, or brand on social media, be alerted to impending crises, spot market opportunities, measure the impact of campaigns, and assess competitor activity. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific brands, businesses, products, or topics.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to monitor 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 a cross-section of groups that include market researchers, PR staff, marketing professionals, social engagement and community personnel, professional sales reps, and social marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of providers have developed a range of affordable and even free tools that facilitate the active monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to identify what is being said online about their products or brands so they can respond proactively to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article about social media tracking tools that are worth checking out and knowing about. Go here to learn more:
(Are you searching for an effective way to track social signals?)
In this article, we look at a simple social tracking tool for your website and increasing your social media exposure online.
Introducing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users improve their social media exposure in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – the plugin tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The user’s objective is simple … convert red squares into greens.
(A system that any user can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts with the highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of 2,000+ websites over a period of 3 months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping their metrics on “green”. According to the plugin developers, they were able to notice that their top 10 best performing sites saw an improvement of up to 360% more traffic, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can can have a dramatic impact on your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Very Easy To Install
Social Metrics Pro installs just like any WP plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to convert reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals so you know where to put more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you centrally monitor social activity across leading networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Pinterest directly from your WP admin area.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which of my posts are the most popular?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WP users with many features. Below we have listed a few:
- Quick and simple to install and implement. Be up and running in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access updated stats right on your WP admin bar, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updating. You can update SocialMetricsPro in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification when a new version is released.
- Plugin uses minimal server resources. Reports are generated fast, consuming very little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, post type, post authors, or publishing date.
- Export Data: You can export and plot filtered, sorted data and custom queries 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 the reds into greens!)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback plugin customers have published about Social Metrics Pro:
”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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”Social Metrics is one of the recipes for Social WordPress. You can integrate it quickly and easily on your WordPress site to view your performance on social networks” Jean-Francois Arseneault, Arseneault Consultation (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Plugin Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, complete refund guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This license enables you to run Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This allows you to configure Social Metrics Pro on unlimited sites that you own. It includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing details of the SocialMetricsPro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the software is selling for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the product seller when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing information:
Additional Product Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, with the increased importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing are now taking into account social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you instant feedback on the success of your social marketing campaigns and shows you how and where to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
We recommend Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to measure your social media marketing results professionally.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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