Social recommendations like Twitter retweets and mentions, Facebook comments, likes, and shares, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and 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 assessing social media signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social network in the world. It has been estimated that one great post on Facebook 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 uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter orGooglePlus.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million 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 half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
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 starting to interact socially on GooglePlus each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Google and Bing track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, shares, and comments you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your site has, the number of people sharing your URL, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, 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 rankings and traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by other users [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users, spy on the competition, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and identify opportunities for engagement. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific products, topics, brands, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to monitor volume and sentiments of online conversations and activity on social media is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by various people including PR staff, marketing teams, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, social media marketing agencies, and professional sales reps. Typically, smaller businesses don’t can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of service providers have created tools that facilitate the monitoring of a wide spectrum of social media channels, allowing you to track consumer behavior around your products or brand so you can respond to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely manner.
We have written a detailed article where we explore over 30 social media tracking tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about. Visit this page to learn more:
(Do you know how to effectively measure social signals?)
This article discusses a simple WordPress plugin for monitoring social signals and increasing your social media exposure.
Our Recommended WordPress Plugin Is …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to make increasing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your job is to change all red squares into greens.
(A system that anyone can operate … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin 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 everything “green”. According to the plugin developers, 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 the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can dramatically affect your search rankings, traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Easy And Quick To Install
SocialMetricsPro is really easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to change red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to put more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Track The Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro provides a powerful dashboard to track and monitor social media activity from social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, Digg, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which of my posts are the most popular?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks social signals from the social media sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro offers many unique features to web site owners. Here are just some:
- Quick and simple to install and implement. Ready to go to work in no time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. Access the latest stats right on your WordPress admin bar, add socially popular content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click upgrading. You can update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal usage of resources. The plugin generates social metrics reports fast, using very little server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources used to compile the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort and filter information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, publishing date, or category.
- 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 very simple to use … just convert all the red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials and feedback that users have submitted regarding 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 Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Useful Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Product Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This enables you to install SocialMetricsPro on one domain only. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This enables you to use Social Metrics Pro on unlimited sites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Current pricing for the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing above was current when this article was written. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin seller when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing details:
Additional Product Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Recommend
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google are now 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 you immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing campaigns and guides you where and how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
We recommend this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to see measurable results.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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