Social interactions like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook comments, likes, and shares, 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 since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their social media presence 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 social signals, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to the social sphere 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 tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social media 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 dominant social media network in the world. It has been estimated that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a massive amount of sales on your site, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google processes data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites, like GooglePlus or Twitter.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next 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 on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus naturally carries a significant degree of 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 three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include:
- 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, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on GooglePlus a URL has accrued, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your services, brand, or company on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, avert disasters, spot market opportunities, and spy on the competition. It can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific products, businesses, topics, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, being able to monitor activity on social media channels like blogs, forums, wikis, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, Quora, etc., discussion boards, video/photo sharing sites, and user-generated content is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including PR companies, market researchers, marketing teams, social marketing agencies, sales teams, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, smaller businesses don’t can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different providers have developed affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the active tracking of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to track consumer behavior around their products or brands allowing them to react to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely fashion.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore over 30 social media monitoring tools and technologies that will help you identify new business opportunities, track competitor activity, see what conversations are taking place online that affect your business,etc. More info:
(Are you measuring your social signals effectively?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress-powered websites and blogs for monitoring social signals and increasing your social media exposure online.
Our Recommended WordPress Product Is …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin that is designed to make increasing your social media exposure online 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. The user’s task is simple … convert all red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any website owner 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 plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of over two thousand sites 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 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in higher search rankings, increased traffic and more revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Implement. Ready To Start Using In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to turn red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals so you know which social marketing campaigns need you to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to track and monitor social media activity across leading social media networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest.
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 are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro offers many great features to site owners. Here are just some of those:
- Quick and easy to install and configure. Ready to start using in very little time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. View the latest stats right on your WordPress admin bar, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click auto-updating functionality. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Plugin uses minimal server resources. Metric reports are generated in seconds, using very little server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server resources used to gather the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort and filter data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, category, or 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is really simple to use … just change red squares into greens!)
Testimonials From Customers
Below are just some testimonials and feedback users have provided for Social Metrics Pro:
”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 Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
SocialMetricsPro comes with a practical, step-by-step guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Product Licensing Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This allows you to configure Social Metrics Pro on a single site. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Edition – This lets you run SocialMetricsPro on multiple domains that you own. It includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The price of this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing shown above was current when this content was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the software developer when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get This Plugin
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 immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and shows you how to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool 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 save time and resources by focusing on under-optimized networks.
For more details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
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