Social interactions and recommendations like Twitter mentions and retweets, Facebook shares, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, instead of aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a reliable ‘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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social community in the world. Research shows that an average 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 power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
Google’s own social media site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus every year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites that provide important social signals, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, how influential the person sharing your posts is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ your URL has accrued, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can influence search engine rankings and 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 visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze your social media performance in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your services, brand, or company on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, assess competitor activity, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied customers, and identify opportunities for engagement. It can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific brands, businesses, products, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to track conversations and social activity on social media is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including online reputation specialists, market researchers, marketing professionals, sales teams, agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, many small businesses do not have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different technology companies have developed a range of affordable and even free tools that facilitate the tracking of a broad spectrum of social media channels, allowing you to identify and even predict what is being said online about your brand or products allowing you to respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a comprehensive article about social media tracking tools and technologies that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing campaigns. To learn more about this go here:
(Can you monitor social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple plugin for WordPress-powered sites for tracking social signals and improving your social media presence online.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make improving your social media presence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The user’s objective is simple … turn red squares into greens.
(A system that any website owner can operate … turn 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 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”. From these tests, 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing can result in better search engine rankings, increased traffic and more revenue!)
For more details go here:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below are just some of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Set Up. Ready To Use In No Time.
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to turn reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know where to put more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you monitor social media activity from networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest.
Social Metrics Pro 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 on social media?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors social signals from the social media sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
SocialMetricsPro offers site owners with many unique features. Here are just a few of these:
- Fast and easy to install and use. Ready to use in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. View the latest stats right on your WP admin bar, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click updates. You can update SocialMetricsPro in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever a new version is released.
- Plugin suits even the smallest hosting. The plugin generates reports very quickly, using little hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort and filter data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, publishing date, post authors, or post type.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export filtered data and custom queries 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 simple to use … just convert all reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Below are a couple of the testimonials that customers have written 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
***
”If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve.” Goes one of the most important sayings in business. And this is particularly true for tracking of your social mentions I found. There were two things that helped me a great deal to increase sharing after installing Social Metrics: First, I was able to see that some of my articles would perform much better on networks I wasn’t particularly using, such as StumbleUpon for example. Secondly, I could filter out the best performing content more easily and analyse what makes my readers share. Since then I have focused strongly on producing and replicating those posts that performed best.” Leo Widrich, Co-Founder of Buffer
Useful Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, complete refund guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This allows you to install SocialMetricsPro on a single web site. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This edition enables you to activate SocialMetricsPro on unlimited web sites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase the SocialMetricsPro 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 pricing set by the software seller when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
The Bottom Line
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines are now taking into account social signals when determining website ranking.
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 users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and guides them how to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to avoid wasting resources on over-optimized social media marketing campaigns.
To learn more, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
***
***