Social interactions like Facebook likes, Twitter retweets and mentions, etc. are called social signals.
With the increase in importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account a range of social signals to help determine a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages website owners 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 media, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘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 websites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media network in the world. It has been estimated that one great post on Facebook 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 the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter orGooglePlus.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great emphasis 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+
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 actively using Google+ every week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your web page has, the authority of the person sharing the URL, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search engine traffic. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only 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 overall visibility on social media, spot new opportunities for engagement, take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by online users, spy on your competitors, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific businesses, products, topics, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to track 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, online reputation specialists, market researchers, sales teams, social engagement and community staff, and agencies. Typically, many small businesses do not can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many technology companies have developed tools to facilitate the active tracking of a broad range of social media channels, enabling companies to identify and even predict consumer behavior around their brands allowing them to respond to conversations and interact with online users in a timely manner.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore a number of social media tracking tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about. More information:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor social signals?)
This article discusses a simple WordPress plugin for tracking social media signals and increasing your social media influence.
Our Recommended WordPress Product Is …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin that is designed to make growing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – the tool tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s objective is to turn red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any website owner can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most 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 sites 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 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, improving your social marketing can impact your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below are just some of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Set Up. Ready To Start Using In Very Little Time.
SocialMetricsPro is very easy to install. Simply upload a zip folder that contains the plugin to your Plugin folder via your WordPress admin user area and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to convert red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which campaigns require more effort and which need to be better optimized.
Select Only Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to monitor social activity across leading social media networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which posts are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors the social media sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WordPress users with a number of features. Below we have listed some of those:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. View the latest information right on your WP dashboard, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- 1-click updating. Update Social Metrics Pro with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal use of resources. The plugin can generate social metrics reports in seconds, consuming very little hosting resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory used to gather and compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort, search and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, category, or publishing date.
- Export Data: You can export and plot filtered 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is really simple to use … just change all red squares into greens!)
User Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials plugin users have published about Social Metrics Pro:
”Our entire marketing strategy relies on social media. Each post on the site has viral potential, but we needed one place to see which social networks are performing the best for us…We went ahead and got the PRO Version of Social Metrics.” Syed Balkhi, Founder of List25 and WPBeginner.com
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro comes with a practical, step-by-step guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Software Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This option allows you to set up SocialMetricsPro on 1 website only. Cost includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This license option enables you to configure SocialMetricsPro on multiple websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Price details for SocialMetricsPro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing shown above was correct at the time this content was published. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the software author when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing here:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Our Recommendation
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 users immediate feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and guides them how to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to track your social signals automatically.
For more details, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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