Social recommendations like Twitter retweets and mentions, Facebook comments, shares, and likes, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
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 so many things change quickly on social media. 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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide real value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media network on the planet. It has been estimated that an average post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your site, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter andGooglePlus.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out every day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social site naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on Google+ each week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(A number of social sites provide important signals that can affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person retweeting your information is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on GooglePlus a URL has, authority of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number 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 engine traffic and rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by site reviewers [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 monitor and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your brand, company, or services on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, be alerted to crises, spy on your competitors, and identify new opportunities for engagement. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific topics, products, businesses, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to monitor activity on 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 marketing teams, market researchers, PR companies, professional sales reps, social media marketing agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, smaller businesses don’t have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately various technology providers have developed affordable tools to facilitate the active monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict what customers, competitors, critics, and supporters are saying about your products or brand so you can react to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely fashion.
We have created a detailed article listing several social media measurement tools and technologies that will help you keep track of online trends, monitor competitor activity, see what conversations are taking place online that could affect your business, etc, see what online conversations are taking place that affect your business,etc. More info:
(Are you searching for an effective tool that can help you measure social signals?)
This article explores a simple, yet highly effective social tracking plugin for your WordPress-based digital presence and improving your social media exposure.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users increase their social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The user’s goal is to change reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that any user can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with highest number of shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of over two thousand websites over a period of three 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 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can result in better search rankings, increased traffic and increased revenue!)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Benefits
Here are just some of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Quick Installation
SocialMetricsPro installs just like any other plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your administrator login and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to change more red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social marketing campaigns need you to invest more effort and which campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track The Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you monitor social activity from social networks like Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon directly from your WP dashboard.
Social Metrics Pro 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 is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors the social media sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers many great features to WordPress users. Below we have listed some of those features:
- Quick and easy to install and set up. Be up and running in very little time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. View updated stats right on your WP admin bar, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click auto-upgrade functionality. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications when new versions are released.
- Minimal server resources usage. The plugin generates reports in seconds, using very little hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time it took to retrieve information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort and filter data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, category, publishing date, or by post type.
- 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 Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is very simple to use … just convert all red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are just some testimonials that customers have provided for the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”Our entire marketing strategy relies on social media. Each post on the site has viral potential, but we needed one place to see which social networks are performing the best for us…We went ahead and got the PRO Version of Social Metrics.” Syed Balkhi, Founder of List25 and WPBeginner.com
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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 (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
The software is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This allows you to run Social Metrics Pro on 1 domain only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This edition lets you install SocialMetricsPro on multiple web sites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost of purchasing the Social Metrics Pro software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the product is selling for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the software seller when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Highly Recommend This
As mentioned earlier, with the rise of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing are now taking into account a range of social signals when determining 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 website owners immediate feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and shows them how and where 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 right from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social campaigns.
For more details, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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