Social recommendations like +1s on Google+, Facebook comments, etc. are called social signals.
With the increased importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing are now taking into account social signals when determining a website’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. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s own web spam team 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 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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social community on the planet. It has been estimated that one great post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence website 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 half a billion tweets sent out every day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting socially on GooglePlus each month. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines track various social signals, including:
- 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, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus a URL has amassed, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can indirectly influence search engine rankings and 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 poor quality by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways 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 what people are saying about your services, company, or brand on social media, help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by embittered customers, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, assess competitor activity and market share, and spot opportunities for engagement. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific topics, products, brands, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, social signal monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various groups that include marketing professionals, market researchers, online reputation management companies, agencies, social engagement and community staff, and sales teams. Typically, smaller 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 various service providers have created a range of affordable and even free tools to facilitate the active tracking of a broad spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict what consumers are saying about your brand so you can respond proactively to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely fashion.
We have written a comprehensive article about social media tracking tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. For more info, see this article:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor your social signals?)
In this article, we review a simple WordPress plugin for tracking social media signals and increasing your social media influence.
Our Recommended WordPress Plugin Is …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make growing your social media influence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – the plugin tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The user’s job is to convert more red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any user can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin 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”. From these tests, 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can result in better search engine rankings, increased web traffic and more revenue!)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs like any WordPress plugin. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your administrator area and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s objective is to convert more reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to apply more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you track and monitor social media activity from networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Digg, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social 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 Social Metrics Pro, all of this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
SocialMetricsPro provides many great features to website owners. Below we have listed a few:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Ready to start using in very little time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays the latest information right on your WP admin bar, add popular content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updates. Update Social Metrics Pro in a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Low server resource consumption. Social metrics reports are compiled in seconds, consuming minimal hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources used to gather data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to 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 post authors, category, publishing date, or by post type.
- Export Data: 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 Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is very simple to use … just change all red squares into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback customers have written about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”Social Metrics is the easiest way to see at a glance which posts have performed well on social networks.” Kevin Muldoon, Founder of WPMods.com
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”If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve.” Goes one of the most important sayings in business. And this is particularly true for tracking of your social mentions I found. There were two things that helped me a great deal to increase sharing after installing Social Metrics: First, I was able to see that some of my articles would perform much better on networks I wasn’t particularly using, such as StumbleUpon for example. Secondly, I could filter out the best performing content more easily and analyse what makes my readers share. Since then I have focused strongly on producing and replicating those posts that performed best.” Leo Widrich, Co-Founder of Buffer
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
The software is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Plugin Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This lets you use Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Cost includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Edition – This lets you use Social Metrics Pro on multiple domains that you own. Cost includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing details of SocialMetricsPro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the product is being retailed for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the software developer when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing information here:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
The Bottom Line
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and 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 website owners instant feedback on the success of their social media 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 right from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to see measurable results.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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