Social interactions like +1s on Google+, Facebook shares, comments, and likes, etc. are called social signals.
With the rise of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines now take into account social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their social 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 media, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide true value normally 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 in the world. It has been estimated that an average post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google processes data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus 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 socially on GooglePlus each year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a site has, the number of people sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, number and growth rate of +1s, 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 engine rankings and traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your services, company, or brand on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by online users, spot market opportunities, and spy on your competitors. It can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific products, topics, brands, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to track 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, market research, marketing teams, social engagement and community staff, sales teams, and social marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately different providers have developed affordable tools that facilitate the monitoring of a wide spectrum of social media channels, enabling companies to track what consumers are saying about their products or brands allowing them to respond to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
We have created a detailed article listing several social media tracking tools that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing campaigns. To learn more, visit this page:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor social signals?)
This article discusses a simple WordPress plugin for monitoring social media signals and improving your social media exposure.
Our Recommended WordPress Product Is …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users increase their social media exposure online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The user’s goal is to change all reds into greens.
(A system that any user can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that get shared the most display green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of over two thousand sites 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 noticed 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, improving your social marketing can positively impact your search rankings, traffic and revenue!)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Benefits
Here are just some of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use. Ready To Go To Work In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s goal is to change all red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to apply more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to monitor social activity across leading networks like Twitter, GooglePlus, Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors the social sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WP users with many unique features. Here are just a few:
- Fast and simple to install and set up. Ready to go to work in minutes.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. View the latest stats right on your WP admin bar, display social content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. You can update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Minimal server resources consumption. Reports are generated fast, using minimal server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time used to retrieve information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort and filter information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, post type, publishing date, or post authors.
- Export Data: You can export data to 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 simple to use … just change all the reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are just a few of the testimonials plugin customers have provided for 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 Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro – Useful Tips
A practical guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Support
The software is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Software Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This edition enables you to activate SocialMetricsPro on 1 web site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Edition – This license allows you to configure Social Metrics Pro on multiple sites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing details of the SocialMetricsPro software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing above was correct at the time this article was published. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software developer when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the rise of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account a range of social signals when determining a website’s ranking.
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 WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and shows them how to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
We recommend getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to shorten your path to success with social marketing.
For more information, visit the plugin website here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
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