Social recommendations like Facebook comments, likes, and shares, Twitter retweets and mentions, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their brand on social media 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 assessing social media signals, 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 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 display higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media community in the world. Research shows 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 processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter orGooglePlus.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million 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 followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus every month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, the authority of the person sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people are following you, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as relevant as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, identify new opportunities for engagement, take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by embittered customers, and spy on the competition. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific brands, products, businesses, or topics.
As a tool for business intelligence, 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 groups that include PR companies, marketing professionals, market researchers, sales teams, social engagement and community personnel, and social marketing agencies. Typically, smaller businesses do not have the budget to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately different service providers have created a range of tools to facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict consumer behavior around your brand or products allowing you to react to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a detailed article about social media tracking tools that are worth knowing about. For more details, go here:
(Do you know how to effectively track your social signals?)
This article discusses a simple, yet effective social media monitoring plugin for WordPress and improving your social media presence.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to help you increase your social media presence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s task is to convert all the red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … 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 are colored amber and red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ sites 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 marketing can result in higher search engine rankings, increased traffic and an increase in revenue!)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Set Up. Ready To Go To Work In No Time.
SocialMetricsPro is really easy to install. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WP admin section and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to turn all red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals so you know which social campaigns need you to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you track and monitor social activity from networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Digg, and LinkedIn directly from your WordPress admin area.
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?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors the sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
SocialMetricsPro offers many features to site owners. Here are a few:
- Fast and simple to install and implement. Be up and running in no time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. Access the latest stats from your WP admin bar, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click updates. You can update Social Metrics Pro with a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when new plugin updates are released.
- Low server resource consumption. The plugin generates social metrics reports in seconds, using minimal hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources used to gather and compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter the information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by publishing date, post type, post authors, or category.
- Export Data To Excel: 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just change all red squares into greens!)
User Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have written about 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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”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 Plugin – Useful Tips
A step-by-step guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, complete refund guarantee.
Plugin Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This enables you to use Social Metrics Pro on 1 site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This lets you activate Social Metrics Pro on multiple web sites that you own. Cost includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Price details for SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the plugin is selling for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the software developer when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Highly Recommend This
As mentioned earlier, Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 WordPress users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing strategy and guides them 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 directly from your WordPress admin area.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to use social signals to improve your search rankings.
For full details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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