Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook shares, likes, and comments, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s own 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 more importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide true value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine results.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social network in the world. Research shows that an average post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not 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 influence search 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 tweeting posts that provide great value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
Google’s own social networking site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus every month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth getting to know, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, comments, and likes you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your URL has, the authority of the person tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can indirectly influence search rankings and traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your brand, company, or products on social media, avert impending crises, measure the impact of campaigns, spy on the competition, and spot market opportunities. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific businesses, brands, 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 people including marketing teams, market research, PR agencies, social engagement and community personnel, professional sales reps, and agencies. Typically, smaller businesses don’t have the budget to pay a media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different service providers have created a range of affordable and even free tools that facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict what consumers, competitors, supporters, and critics are saying about your brand so you can react to conversations and interact with online users in a timely manner.
We have written a comprehensive article about social media tracking tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about. For more info, see this article:
(Are you monitoring your social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple, yet highly effective social media monitoring plugin for your online presence and increasing your social media influence online.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make increasing your social media influence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. Your objective is to turn all the reds 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 with highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ 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”. According to the plugin developers, they were able to notice 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 Social Metrics Pro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in higher search engine rankings, increased web traffic and increased revenue!)
Learn more here:
Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In No Time.
SocialMetricsPro installs like every WP plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to turn all red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which campaigns require investing more effort and where to optimize.
Track Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social media activity across leading networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Digg, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Pinterest directly from your WordPress admin area.
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 of my posts are the most popular on social media?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides WP users with many features. Here are just some:
- Fast and simple to install and implement. Ready to use in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. Access updated stats right on your WordPress dashboard, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click updating. You can update the plugin in a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification when a new version is released.
- Low server resource consumption. The plugin generates reports fast, consuming minimal server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server memory used to compile data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort 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, category, post authors, or publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: 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 really simple to use … just change more red squares into greens!)
Testimonials From Plugin Customers
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback 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
Useful Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Plugin Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This lets you activate Social Metrics Pro on a single website. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This lets you install Social Metrics Pro on all websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The price of SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the product retails for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the software developer 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 details here:
Additional Plugin Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Product
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing are now taking into account various social signals when determining a website’s ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and guides them how to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress admin area.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to track your social signals automatically.
For more details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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