Social interactions like Facebook comments, likes, and shares, Twitter mentions and retweets, etc. are called social signals.
With the increased importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines are now taking into account social signals when determining website ranking.
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 signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘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 websites that provide value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to rank higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social network in the world. Research shows 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, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google processes data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites, like Google+ or Twitter.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every 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 number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on Google+ every week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(A number of social sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your URL has, how influential the person sharing your URL is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ a site page has amassed, spread rate of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as relevant as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social marketing campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, avert crises, identify potential opportunities for engagement, assess competitor activity and mind share, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific brands, businesses, products, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, social media monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including PR staff, marketing teams, market researchers, sales teams, agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, many small businesses do not can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various technology providers have developed tools and solutions to facilitate the tracking of a wide range of social media channels, enabling you to track what is being said online about your products or brand allowing you to react to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have created a detailed article listing a number of social media monitoring tools and technologies that will help you identify new business opportunities, track competitor activity, see what conversations are taking place online that can affect your business,etc. To learn more, visit this page:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor social signals?)
This article explores a simple plugin for WordPress users for monitoring social media signals and increasing your social media influence online.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make growing your social media influence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – the tool measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. Your objective is simple … convert more red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of 2,000+ sites 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 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, improving your social marketing can result in higher search rankings, more traffic and increased revenue!)
Learn more here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Set Up. Ready To Use In Very Little Time.
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to turn more reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social campaigns need you to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to track and monitor social activity from networks like Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Digg, and LinkedIn directly from your WP dashboard.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social media 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 of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors the social media sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
Social Metrics Pro provides web site owners with many great features. Below we have listed just a few:
- Fast and simple to install and implement. Be up and running in no time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. Access updated stats from your WP dashboard, add socially popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- 1-click upgrades. Update Social Metrics Pro in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when a new version is released.
- Minimal consumption of hosting resources. Metric reports are generated very quickly, consuming very little server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time it took to retrieve information and the server memory used to compile data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by publishing date, post authors, post type, or category.
- Export Data: You can export and plot data 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 reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are a few of the testimonials that plugin users have submitted for SocialMetricsPro:
”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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”Social Metrics is one of the recipes for Social WordPress. You can integrate it quickly and easily on your WordPress site to view your performance on social networks” Jean-Francois Arseneault, Arseneault Consultation (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Product Tips
A practical guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
The plugin is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full refund guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This lets you activate Social Metrics Pro on one domain only. Cost includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This license option enables you to run Social Metrics Pro on multiple websites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing details of Social Metrics Pro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the price when this content was written. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the product author when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Our Recommendation
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account a range of 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 you immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and guides you how and where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP admin area.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social marketing measurable.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
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