Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on Google+, Facebook comments, 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 for several years now.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social presence 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 signals, as social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide real value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to rank higher in its search listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social network in the world. It has been estimated that an average post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 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 social 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 monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking site naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus every week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other sites worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include:
- 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 a URL has, how influential the person retweeting your posts is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, spread rate of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search engine rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [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 marketing in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your products, brand, or company on social media, spy on your competition, identify potential opportunities for engagement, avert crises, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific brands, topics, products, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, social monitoring 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 market researchers, digital reputation managers, marketing professionals, social engagement and community personnel, sales teams, and agencies. Typically, smaller businesses do not can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately a number of service providers have made available affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to identify and even predict what is being said online about your brand or products so you can respond to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article on social media measurement tools that are worth checking out and knowing about here:
(Are you searching for an effective way to measure your social signals?)
This article discusses a simple social tracking tool for WordPress and increasing your social media exposure online.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make growing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s task is to turn red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin 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 everything “green”. From these tests, they noticed a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in better search rankings, increased traffic and an increase in revenue!)
For more details go here:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Very Easy To Install
Social Metrics Pro installs just like every other WP plugin. Just upload a zip folder that contains the plugin to your Plugins folder via your admin user section and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s objective is to change all the reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you centrally track and monitor social activity from social networks like Twitter, GooglePlus, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Digg directly from your WP dashboard.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to 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 Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors the social media sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides WP users with many great features. Here are some of those:
- Fast and simple to install and use. Ready to go to work in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. SocialMetricsPro displays updated stats from your WordPress admin bar, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- 1-click updating. You can update Social Metrics Pro in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal server resources use. Social reports are generated fast, consuming minimal hosting resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, category, publishing date, or post authors.
- Export Data: You can export data to 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 very simple to use … just change red squares into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are a couple of the testimonials plugin customers have published about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
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”I give Social Metrics a big thumbs up and I recommend it to anyone who’s serious about tracking their social sharing analytics.” James Johnson, Senior Editor at The Inquisitr
SocialMetricsPro Plugin – Useful Tips
A practical guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Plugin Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This license option allows you to set up SocialMetricsPro on 1 web site only. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This allows you to install Social Metrics Pro on all domains that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Price details for the SocialMetricsPro product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the software retails for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing details here:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Highly Recommend This
As mentioned earlier, with the increased importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account various social signals to help determine a site’s ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. 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 media marketing campaigns and guides them how and where 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 right from your WP dashboard.
We recommend SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social marketing or train your staff to manage your campaigns in-house.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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