Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook likes, comments, and shares, +1s on Google+, 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. 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 full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social media community 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 business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research shows that 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 next biggest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social media 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 GooglePlus every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares you have, growth rate of shares and likes, 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 followers on GooglePlus your URL has amassed, amount and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can influence search rankings. These include positive and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only find ways to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your social marketing campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, spy on your competition, spot opportunities for engagement, and avert crises. It can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific businesses, topics, products, or brands.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to monitor social media channels like blogs, internet forums, social networking sites, micro-blogging platforms, message boards, video sites, and user-generated content (UGC) 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 market research, marketing teams, digital reputation management companies, social engagement and community personnel, professional sales reps, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, smaller businesses don’t have the budget to pay a media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many service providers have made available many tools that facilitate the active monitoring of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to identify and even predict consumer behavior around their brands so they can respond to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article listing many social media tracking tools that will help you identify new trends and opportunities, track competitor activity, see what online conversations are taking place that affect your business,etc. For more details, go here:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor social signals?)
In this article, we explore a simple, yet highly effective social media tracking plugin for WordPress and improving your social media presence online.
Our Recommended WordPress Plugin Is …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin that is designed to make improving your social media presence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your objective is to change more reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any user can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of over two thousand websites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping their metrics on “green”. According to the plugin developers, 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 the plugin developers, improving your social media marketing can result in better search engine rankings, increased web traffic and increased revenue!)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Configure. Ready To Go To Work In Very Little Time.
Social Metrics Pro is quite easy to install. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WordPress admin login and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to change reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to invest more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Track Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you centrally monitor social activity from social media networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, Pinterest, and LinkedIn directly from your WP dashboard.
Social Metrics Pro 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 are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro provides a number of great features to website owners. Below we have listed just a few:
- Quick and simple to install and set up. Ready to use in very little time.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays updated information right on your WP dashboard, display socially popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrading. Update Social Metrics Pro in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification whenever new versions are released.
- Plugin uses minimal server resources. The plugin generates social metrics reports fast, consuming little server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to 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, post authors, publishing date, or by 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just change more red squares into greens!)
Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback that customers have published about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”Our entire marketing strategy relies on social media. Each post on the site has viral potential, but we needed one place to see which social networks are performing the best for us…We went ahead and got the PRO Version of Social Metrics.” Syed Balkhi, Founder of List25 and WPBeginner.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)
Social Metrics Pro – Useful Tips
A step-by-step 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.
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full refund guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This option lets you configure SocialMetricsPro on one web site only. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This lets you set up Social Metrics Pro on unlimited domains that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Current pricing for Social Metrics Pro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing shown above was current when this content was published. This may or may not be the actual price set by the software developer when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing here:
Additional Product Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and guides them how to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
We recommend SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to shorten your path to success with social marketing.
For full details, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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