Social recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook likes, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their social presence 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 own 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 reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide true value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to rank higher in its search engine.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social network in the world. It has been estimated that an average 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 Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter andGoogle+.
(Number of monthly 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 single 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 amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
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 Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are starting to interact socially on Google+ each month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
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 media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your site has, the authority of the person sharing the URL, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, spread rate of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search rankings and traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only develop your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, assess competitor activity and mind share, identify opportunities for engagement, measure the impact of campaigns, and avert crises. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific topics, products, brands, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, 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 a cross-section of people including market researchers, online reputation management (ORM) companies, marketing professionals, sales teams, social marketing agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately many providers have created tools to facilitate the monitoring of a broad spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to track consumer behavior around your brand or products so you can respond to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely manner.
We have written a comprehensive article on social media measurement tools that you may want to check out here:
(Do you know how to effectively track social signals?)
This article discusses a simple, yet highly effective social monitoring tool for WordPress and increasing your social media exposure.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help you increase your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – the plugin measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The user’s objective is simple … change more red squares 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 show up green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of 2,000+ websites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping their metrics on “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 media marketing can positively can have a dramatic effect on your search rankings, traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Ready To Use In Minutes
SocialMetricsPro installs just like every plugin. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to change all reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know where to put more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you monitor social media activity across leading networks like Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, Digg, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
Social Metrics Pro 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 are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro provides many unique features to website owners. Here are just some of those:
- Fast and simple to install and implement. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. Access the latest information from your WP admin bar, add social content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrades. Update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification whenever a new version is released.
- Plugin uses minimal server resources. Reporting is very quickly, using minimal hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources used to gather the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter your data 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 publishing date.
- 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just turn more reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Here are a couple of the testimonials and feedback that users have published about Social Metrics Pro:
“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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”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
SocialMetricsPro – Useful Tips
A step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Product Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This license option allows you to use SocialMetricsPro on one website only. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This license option lets you run SocialMetricsPro on unlimited sites that you own. It includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing details of the SocialMetricsPro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the software sells for the pricing shown above. 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 you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Recommend
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 immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing strategy and shows them where to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to save money on outsourcing your social media marketing campaigns.
To learn more, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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