Social recommendations like +1s on Google+, Facebook comments, likes, and shares, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social media presence as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, instead of 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 can change at a moment’s notice. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much 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 sites that provide real value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social network in the world. It has been estimated that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your business strategy, 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.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social media site 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 interacting socially on GooglePlus every week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your web page has, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus a site page has amassed, amount and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by other users [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your products, brand, or company on social media, spy on the competition, identify new market opportunities, help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by disgruntled customers, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. It can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific topics, businesses, products, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to track online conversations and social activity on social media channels like blogs, internet forums, wikis, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, Tumblr, etc., discussion groups, 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, typically carried out by a cross-section of groups that include marketing teams, digital reputation managers, market research, professional sales reps, social engagement and community staff, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, smaller businesses do not can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately different service providers have created many tools that facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to track consumer behavior around their brands or products allowing them to respond to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article where we explore over 30 social media monitoring tools and technologies that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing campaigns. Go here to learn more:
(Can you track social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple, yet effective social media tracking tool for your WordPress-based web presence and improving your social media presence.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin that is designed to make improving your social media exposure uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – the plugin measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s objective is simple … turn all the red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that anyone can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that receive the most shares display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of over two thousand websites 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 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can significantly affect your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Installation Is Easy And Simple
SocialMetricsPro is quite easy to install. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to convert more red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know which campaigns need you to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Track Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you centrally monitor social activity across leading social media networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Digg directly from your WordPress dashboard.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which posts are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which of my posts are the most popular?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information can be accessed with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly tracks the sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro provides WP users with a number of features. Below we have listed some:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Ready to use in very little time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays the latest information from your WP dashboard, add popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click updating. You can update SocialMetricsPro with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications when new versions are released.
- Minimal server resources use. The plugin generates social metrics reports fast, consuming minimal hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time it took to retrieve information and the server resources used to gather and compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter the information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, publishing date, or category.
- 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is very simple to use … just turn all red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have submitted for the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
“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
SocialMetricsPro Plugin – Useful Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Product Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Product Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This option lets you activate Social Metrics Pro on 1 domain only. Price includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Edition – This lets you install SocialMetricsPro on unlimited domains that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Current pricing for the SocialMetricsPro product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing when this review was written. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the software developer when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information here:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the rise of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account social signals to help determine website ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and shows them where to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to use social signals to get better search rankings.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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