Social interactions like Twitter mentions and retweets, Facebook shares, etc. are called social signals.
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, rather than 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 assessing social media signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a reliable ‘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 tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to rank higher in its search listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social media 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. It has been estimated that an average post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter andGooglePlus.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the amount 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 a significant degree of authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus each year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine 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 shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person retweeting your posts is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, spread rate of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate 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 traffic. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to find ways to develop 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.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your brand, services, or company on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, spot potential opportunities for engagement, avert impending crises, and spy on your competitors. It can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific products, topics, brands, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, social signal 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 online reputation management (ORM) companies, marketing professionals, market research, agencies, social engagement and community staff, and sales teams. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately different technology providers have developed affordable tools to facilitate the active monitoring of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to identify consumer behavior around their brands so they can respond to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely manner.
If you want to learn more about social media monitoring tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about, see this article:
(Are you tracking your social signals effectively?)
This article discusses a simple, yet effective plugin for WordPress users for monitoring social media signals and improving your social media exposure.
Our Featured WordPress Product …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make increasing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – the system tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s objective is to convert more reds into greens.
(A standard operating procedure 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 display amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ websites over a period of three 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, improving your social marketing can result in higher search rankings, more web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In No Time.
Social Metrics Pro is quite easy to install. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WP admin user account and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to turn red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals so you know where to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to centrally track and monitor social media activity from networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon.
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 are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information can be accessed with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively tracks the sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro offers site owners with many features. Here are some of those:
- Fast and easy to install and configure. Ready to use in very little time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access updated information right on your WP dashboard, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. Update Social Metrics Pro with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Low server resource consumption. Reporting is fast, consuming minimal hosting resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time it took to retrieve information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort, search and filter data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, category, or by publishing date.
- Export Data: 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is really simple to use … just change reds into greens!)
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials that plugin customers have published about SocialMetricsPro:
”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)
Useful Tips
A step-by-step guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
The plugin is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full refund guarantee.
Software Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This license allows you to install Social Metrics Pro on one web site only. It includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This lets you activate SocialMetricsPro on multiple sites that you own. Price includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Current pricing for SocialMetricsPro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the plugin is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the product author when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information here:
Additional Product Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
The Bottom Line
As mentioned earlier, Google has been tracking 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 you instant feedback on the success of your social media marketing strategy and guides you how and where to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to see measurable results.
For full details, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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