Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook comments, 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 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 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 true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media network on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a massive amount of sales on your website, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses 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 active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest 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 on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
Google’s own social site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are starting to interact socially on GooglePlus every week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other sites that provide important social metrics, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Google and Bing track a number of social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, comments, and likes you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person retweeting your information is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, number of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [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 grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your services, company, or brand on social media, spot market opportunities, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and spy on your competition. It can also provide you with valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific brands, businesses, topics, or products.
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, typically carried out by a cross-section of groups that include marketing professionals, market research, PR companies, social engagement and community staff, sales teams, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many technology companies have developed tools and solutions to facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to identify and even predict consumer behavior around their products or brands allowing them to react to conversations and interact with consumers in various social media platforms.
Go here if you want to learn more social media measurement tools that are worth knowing about:
(Are you searching for an effective tool to help you track your social signals?)
In this article, we look at a simple, yet highly effective social media tracking plugin for your web presence and increasing your social media presence online.
Our Recommended WordPress Product Is …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help you increase your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your goal is to change more reds into greens.
(A system that any user can operate … 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 Social Metrics Pro 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 their metrics on “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 campaigns can significantly affect your search rankings, traffic and revenue!)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the benefits 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. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs like every WP plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your admin section and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s objective is to change all red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know which campaigns need more effort and where to optimize.
Track Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro provides a powerful dashboard to track and monitor social activity from networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Digg, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn directly from your WP admin area.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns 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 actively monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro provides a number of great features to WP users. Below we have listed some of those:
- Quick and easy to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access updated information right on your WP admin bar, add popular content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updating. Update SocialMetricsPro with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications whenever new versions are released.
- Low-resource consumption. Reporting is in seconds, consuming minimal hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to compile data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post type, post authors, publishing date, or category.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot filtered, sorted data and custom queries in 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is very simple to use … just convert reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are a few of the testimonials that plugin users have submitted for the SocialMetricsPro 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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”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
Product Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Plugin 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, 100% money-back guarantee.
Product Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This option lets you configure SocialMetricsPro on 1 website only. It includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This lets you install Social Metrics Pro on multiple web sites that you own. Cost includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Current pricing for the Social Metrics Pro plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The price above was current when this content was published. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin seller when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro 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 the importance of social media. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives website owners instant feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and shows 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 directly from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to see measurable results.
For more information, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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