Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook likes, comments, and shares, Twitter retweets and mentions, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages website owners 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 assessing social media 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 the social sphere 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 value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media community on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your site, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter andGooglePlus.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next 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 emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social 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 interacting socially on Google+ every week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other sites worth getting to know, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines track a number of social signals, including:
- 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 site has, how influential the person retweeting your posts is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ your URL has amassed, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate 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 social media-related factors that can influence search engine rankings and traffic. These include desirable and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze your social marketing performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your brand, company, or services on social media, spy on your competitors, identify potential market opportunities, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and avert crises. It can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific businesses, brands, products, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, social signal monitoring 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 digital reputation management companies, marketing professionals, market researchers, social media marketing agencies, social engagement and community staff, and sales teams. Typically, small businesses don’t have the budget to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different technology companies have developed a range of affordable and even free tools to facilitate the monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, allowing you to track what consumers are saying about your products or brand so you can respond to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely manner.
We have written a detailed article listing a number of social media tracking tools that you may want to check out. More information:
(Do you know how to effectively measure your social signals?)
In this article, we look at a simple social media tracking plugin for your site and increasing your social media influence online.
Our Recommended WordPress Product …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to make improving your social media exposure online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The user’s job is to change all red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any user can follow … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, improving your social media marketing can result in higher search rankings, more traffic and an increase in revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Ready To Use In No Time
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to convert all red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social marketing campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Track Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to monitor social media activity across leading networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Digg.
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 Social Metrics Pro, all of this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro provides WordPress users with many features. Here are some of those:
- Fast and simple to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. View updated information from your WordPress dashboard, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click upgrades. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when a new version is released.
- Minimal use of hosting resources. The plugin generates reports fast, using very little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server resources used to compile the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, post type, post authors, or by publishing date.
- Export Data: 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 very simple to use … just change all the red squares into greens!)
Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials that plugin users 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
***
”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
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Useful Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license allows you to configure Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This lets you install SocialMetricsPro on unlimited websites that you own. Cost includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The price of the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price shown above was current at the time this review was written. This may not be the actual price charged by the software author when you visit the website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing here:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install The Product
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. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and guides you where and how to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to outperform your competitors on social media.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
***
***