Social interactions like Twitter retweets and mentions, Facebook shares, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
Note: Google encourages businesses 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 tend to change too quickly to fully map out. 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 sites that provide value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social community on the planet. Research shows that an average post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all 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 half a billion tweets sent out every single 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 volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ a URL has accrued, amount and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search traffic. These include desirable and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by other users [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 social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, identify opportunities for engagement, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, be alerted to crises, and assess competitor activity and mind share. It can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific topics, products, brands, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to track social media is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including market research, marketing teams, PR staff, sales teams, social engagement and community staff, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, many 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 various technology companies have developed a range of tools that facilitate the tracking of a broad range of social media channels, allowing companies to identify and even predict consumer behavior around their products or brands so they can respond proactively to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
We have created a detailed article where we explore over 30 social media measurement tools and technologies that you may want to check out. To learn more, visit this page:
(Do you know how to effectively track social signals?)
In this article, we review a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress-powered websites and blogs for tracking social signals and increasing your social media exposure online.
Announcing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users grow their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The user’s goal is to change more red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that any user can operate … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of 2,000+ 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”. From these tests, they were able to notice 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, improving your social marketing can result in higher search rankings, increased traffic and increased revenue!)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Easy To Install And Use. Ready To Go To Work In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro is really easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your objective is to change all red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know which campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to monitor social activity from networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Digg, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer 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 Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors the social sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
SocialMetricsPro offers many unique features to WordPress users. Here are just some of those features:
- Fast and simple to install and configure. Ready to go to work in very little time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. View the latest stats from your WP admin bar, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click auto-updating functionality. Update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal usage of server resources. Reports are compiled fast, using little hosting resources. Reports also display the amount of time used to retrieve information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post type, category, publishing date, or post authors.
- Export Data To Excel: 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just convert all the red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials that customers have published about SocialMetricsPro:
“Social Metrics Pro is the essential plugin we use to monitor how our content performs on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It’s simple, neat and works precisely as you would expect it. When we work with our clients such as T-Mobile, the .Me domain name registry and others, Social Metrics Pro is the plugin we use to create reports as well as keep track on each bit of content to optimize it for future performance.” Ivan Brezak Brkan, Editor of Netokracija.com, TechCrunch EU Contributor
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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
Useful Tips
A practical guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, complete refund guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license lets you set up SocialMetricsPro on 1 website only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This lets you set up Social Metrics Pro on all sites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost to purchase the Social Metrics Pro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the price at the time this article was written. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software author when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download This Product
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. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives users instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and guides them how to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save time and resources by focusing on under-optimized social campaigns.
For more information, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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