Social interactions like Twitter retweets and mentions, Facebook 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 website owners to build their brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, instead of aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘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 sites that provide real value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media network on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your website, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites, like Google+ or Twitter.
(Number of monthly 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 each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ 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 socially on Google+ every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social sites provide important signals that can affect your search engine rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people are following you, authority of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can influence search 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 irrelevant by other users [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to find ways to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your company, services, or brand on social media, spy on your competition, take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied customers, spot opportunities for engagement, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific topics, brands, products, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, social media monitoring 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, digital reputation management companies, marketing teams, sales teams, agencies, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, many small businesses do not can’t afford to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various providers have developed tools and solutions to facilitate the active monitoring of a broad range of social media channels, allowing companies to identify and even predict what is being said online about their products or brands so they can respond to conversations and interact with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore over 30 social media tracking tools that are worth knowing about. More info:
(Are you measuring social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple, yet effective social media tracking plugin for your digital business presence and increasing your social media exposure online.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics plugin that is designed to help users increase their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s job is to convert all reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that any website owner can follow … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most are colored green. Posts with low social media activity are colored 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”. From these tests, they were able to notice a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social media marketing campaigns can dramatically can have a significant effect on your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Fast Installation
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to turn more red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know where to apply more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track The Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro provides a powerful dashboard to monitor social activity from networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social 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 on social media?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors the sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro offers a number of great features to WP users. Here are some:
- Fast and easy to install and set up. Ready to go to work in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro shows the latest information from your WP admin bar, add social content to your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click updates. Update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Low-resource consumption. Social reports are generated fast, consuming very little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory used to compile data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort, search and filter the information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, category, post authors, or by publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export filtered data and custom queries 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 turn more reds into greens!)
User Testimonials
Here are a couple of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have published about 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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”I give Social Metrics a big thumbs up and I recommend it to anyone who’s serious about tracking their social sharing analytics.” James Johnson, Senior Editor at The Inquisitr
SocialMetricsPro – Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This allows you to run SocialMetricsPro on a single site. Price includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This allows you to install SocialMetricsPro on unlimited sites that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing details of SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing shown above was correct at the time this content was written. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the product seller when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install The Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the increased importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account various social signals to help determine 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 you instant feedback on the success of your social media marketing strategy and shows you how and where to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress admin area.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to avoid wasting resources on over-optimized social campaigns.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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