Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on Google+, Facebook likes, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
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. Google’s own head of the web spam team Matt Cutts 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 short, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to rank higher in its search engine.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media community on the planet. Research shows that one great post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your website, don’t be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search engine rankings of all 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 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 followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on Google+ every week. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals 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, likes, and comments you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, number 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. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to find ways to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your social media marketing campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by embittered customers, identify potential opportunities for engagement, and spy on your competitors. It can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific businesses, brands, products, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to monitor trends, social activity, and volume and sentiments of social conversations on social media 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 market researchers, digital reputation management (ORM) companies, marketing teams, agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and sales teams. Typically, many small businesses do not can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately various technology companies have developed affordable tools to facilitate the tracking of a broad range of social media channels, enabling you to track consumer behavior around your brand or products allowing you to respond to conversations and interact with consumers in various social media platforms.
To learn more about social media tracking tools that are worth checking out and knowing about, see this article:
(Are you searching for an effective way to monitor your social signals?)
In this article, we look at a simple, yet highly effective WordPress plugin for tracking social signals and increasing your social media influence.
Our Featured WordPress Product Is …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help you grow your social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The user’s task is to convert all the reds into greens.
(A system that any user can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most display green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing can dramatically impact your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Ready To Use In Minutes
Social Metrics Pro is quite easy to install. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to convert more red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals so you know which social marketing campaigns need more effort and which campaigns need to be better optimized.
Choose Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to centrally monitor social activity from networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Digg, and LinkedIn directly from your WP admin area.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which posts 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 can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro offers many unique features to WP users. Below we have listed just some of those:
- Fast and easy to install and use. Ready to use in minutes.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. View updated stats from your WordPress dashboard, display social content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click updates. You can update Social Metrics Pro in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications whenever new versions are released.
- Low server resource consumption. Reports are generated in seconds, consuming little server resources. Report generation also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, category, post type, or by publishing date.
- 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 very simple to use … just turn all reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback plugin users have submitted regarding the SocialMetricsPro 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 Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
SocialMetricsPro Plugin – Tips
Social Metrics Pro comes with a practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Product Support
The software is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, complete refund guarantee.
Plugin Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This edition lets you set up SocialMetricsPro on one web site only. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Edition – This license lets you set up SocialMetricsPro on unlimited domains that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing for SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing when this article was written. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the product author when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download The Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the increased importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account social signals to help determine a site’s ranking.
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 WordPress users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and guides them how to direct their efforts in order 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 admin area.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to improve social visibility and see more of your keywords getting better rankings on search engines.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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