Social recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook shares, likes, and comments, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their social media presence as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, instead of aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Google’s own head of its web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, 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 websites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to rank higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social network in the world. It has been estimated that one great post 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 Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites, like GooglePlus or Twitter.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every 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 Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting socially on GooglePlus every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(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 shares, comments, and likes a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person tweeting is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search traffic and rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by other users [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 and analyze social marketing performance in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spy on the competition, identify new market opportunities, and be alerted to impending crises. It can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific products, businesses, topics, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to monitor social media channels like blogging, forums, news sites, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, Quora, etc., message boards, video sites, and user-generated content 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 people including PR companies, marketing professionals, market researchers, social marketing agencies, sales teams, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, small businesses don’t have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many providers have developed tools and solutions to facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to identify what is being said online about your products or brand so you can respond to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
If you want to learn more about social media tracking tools and technologies that are worth knowing about, refer to this article:
(Are you searching for an effective tool to help you measure social signals?)
In this article, we look at a simple, yet effective social tracking plugin for a WordPress-based web presence and growing your social media influence online.
Our Featured WordPress Plugin …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin that is designed to help users grow their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The user’s goal is simple … turn reds into greens.
(A system that any user can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ sites 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing can result in better search rankings, increased web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Installation Is Easy & Fast
Social Metrics Pro is quite easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP administrator area and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s job is to turn all reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know where to put more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you track and monitor social activity from networks like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors the social media sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WordPress users with many features. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- Fast and simple to install and set up. Ready to use in no time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. Access updated information right on your WordPress dashboard, display socially popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrades. You can update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when a new version is released.
- Plugin even works on the smallest hosting. Reports are compiled fast, consuming little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources used to compile the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter the information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, publishing date, post type, or by post authors.
- Export Data To Excel: 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just change reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are a couple of the testimonials that customers have published about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”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
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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)
SocialMetricsPro Plugin – Useful Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Product Support
The software is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full refund guarantee.
Software Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This allows you to activate Social Metrics Pro on 1 website only. Price includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This enables you to activate Social Metrics Pro on multiple sites that you own. Cost includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost of purchasing the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price shown above was correct at the time this article was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product author when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Product Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, with the growth of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines have started taking into account a range of social signals when determining website 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 where and 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 right from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to outperform your competitors on social media.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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