Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook comments, 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 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. Google’s own head of its web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. Without a perfect ‘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 develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to rank higher in its search listings.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social community in the world. Research shows that one great post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one seems to be 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 when determining 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 second biggest 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 importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social site, Google+ naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are starting to interact socially on GooglePlus every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other sites worth getting to know, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search engine rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your URL has, how influential the person tweeting is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, authority of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can indirectly 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 low quality by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, spy on your competitors, measure the impact of campaigns, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied customers, and identify market opportunities. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific products, brands, businesses, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, social media signal monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by various people including market research, digital reputation specialists, marketing professionals, social engagement and community personnel, sales teams, and social marketing agencies. Typically, smaller businesses do not have the budget to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of technology providers have developed affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the active monitoring of a wide spectrum of social media channels, allowing you to identify and even predict consumer behavior around your brand so you can respond to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have created a detailed article listing over 30 social media tracking tools and technologies that will help you keep track of online trends, monitor competitor activity, see what online conversations are taking place that could affect your business, etc, see what online conversations are taking place that can affect your business,etc. Visit this page to learn more:
(Are you searching for an effective way to measure your social signals?)
This article explores a simple, yet effective social tracking plugin for WordPress and increasing your social media influence.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make increasing your social media exposure online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – the system measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your job is to change all reds into greens.
(A system that any website owner can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber or red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can result in higher search engine rankings, more traffic and increased revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Quick & Easy Installation
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your administrator section and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s goal is to convert all the red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals so you know which campaigns need more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to monitor social media activity from networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Pinterest directly from your WordPress admin area.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer 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?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly tracks social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WordPress users with a number of features. Here are some of those:
- Quick and simple to install and set up. Ready to use in no time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access updated stats from your WP dashboard, add socially popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrading. You can update Social Metrics Pro in a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when a new version is released.
- Consumes minimal hosting resources. Reporting is fast, using little hosting resources. Report generation also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to 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 by 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 Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just change all the reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials that users have written about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
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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
Plugin Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Plugin Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This enables you to set up Social Metrics Pro on one site only. Price includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This enables you to set up SocialMetricsPro on unlimited domains that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The price of the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing shown above was correct at the time this content was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the software developer 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 the latest pricing:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, Google has been elevating the importance given to 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 you instant feedback on the success of your social marketing campaigns and guides you where to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP admin area.
We recommend this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to improve social visibility and see more of your keywords getting ranked on search engines.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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