Social recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook shares, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
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 assessing social media signals, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine results.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social community on the planet. Research shows that an average post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google processes data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over half a billion 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 great value to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social media site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth getting to know, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track various social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person tweeting is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, number 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 signals that can indirectly influence search traffic. 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 other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze social performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your company, services, or brand on social media, assess competitor activity, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by embittered customers, and identify market opportunities. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific products, topics, brands, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to track social activity, trends, and conversations on social media channels like blogs, forums, wikis, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, Tumblr, etc., discussion boards, video/photo sharing websites, and user-generated content (UGC) 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 people including PR staff, market research, marketing teams, social engagement and community staff, social marketing agencies, and sales teams. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately various service providers have made available affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the active monitoring of a broad spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to identify consumer behavior around your brand or products so you can respond to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a detailed article where we explore over 30 social media monitoring tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about. Go here for more information:
(Are you looking for an effective tool to help you track your social signals?)
In this article, we review a simple, yet effective plugin for WordPress users for tracking social signals and growing your social media influence.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to help you increase your social media exposure in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The user’s goal is to turn more reds into greens.
(A system that any user can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of 2,000+ websites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping their metrics on “green”. From these tests, 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can result in higher search engine rankings, increased traffic and increased revenue!)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Configure. Ready To Go To Work In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs just like any plugin. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugin to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to convert all reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know which social campaigns need you to invest more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Track The Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social media activity across leading social media networks like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Digg, and LinkedIn directly from your WP admin area.
Social Metrics Pro 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 are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly tracks the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WP users with a number of great features. Below we have listed a few:
- Quick and easy to install and implement. Be up and running in very little time.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with external and built-in widgets. Access the latest information right on your WP dashboard, add popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click auto-update functionality. You can update Social Metrics Pro in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification whenever a new version is released.
- Uses minimal resources. The plugin generates reports in seconds, using minimal hosting resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to gather data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter the information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, post authors, publishing date, or post type.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export data to Excel for further analysis. Data can be exported in tab-delimited and comma-separated file formats, and imported to the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is very simple to use … just turn all the red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Plugin Customers
Below are a few of the testimonials that plugin users have submitted regarding SocialMetricsPro:
“Social Metrics Pro is the essential plugin we use to monitor how our content performs on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It’s simple, neat and works precisely as you would expect it. When we work with our clients such as T-Mobile, the .Me domain name registry and others, Social Metrics Pro is the plugin we use to create reports as well as keep track on each bit of content to optimize it for future performance.” Ivan Brezak Brkan, Editor of Netokracija.com, TechCrunch EU Contributor
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Useful Tips
A practical guide on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Software Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This lets you configure SocialMetricsPro on one website only. Price includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This edition enables you to install Social Metrics Pro on all websites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost to purchase Social Metrics Pro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the product retails for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the product developer when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing details:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account various social signals when determining website 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 guides you where and how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social media marketing campaigns.
For more details, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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