Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on Google+, 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 businesses 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. 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 short, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to rank higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media network on the planet. It has been estimated that one great post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes 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 andGoogle+.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest 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 on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking 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 interacting on GooglePlus every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track various social signals, including:
- 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 number of people sharing your URL, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus your web page has amassed, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search traffic and rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as important as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your results online)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your brand, products, or company on social media, be alerted to impending crises, measure the impact of campaigns, assess competitor activity and market dominance, and spot new market opportunities. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific topics, brands, products, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, social monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by various groups that include marketing teams, PR agencies, market research, professional sales reps, social engagement and community personnel, and social marketing agencies. Typically, many small businesses do not have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various service providers have created tools to facilitate the active tracking of a broad range of social media channels, allowing you to track consumer behavior around your brand so you can react to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely manner.
We have created a detailed article listing many social media tracking tools and technologies that you may want to check out. For more details, go here:
(Do you know how to effectively track social signals?)
This article explores a simple, yet highly effective social media monitoring tool for your digital presence and improving your social media presence online.
Announcing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to make growing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s job is to convert reds into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts that get shared the most display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can result in better search engine rankings, more web traffic and more revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro is very easy to install. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your WP admin user login and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to change more red squares 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 which ones need to be better optimized.
Track Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social media activity across leading social media networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Digg 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 of this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
SocialMetricsPro offers site owners with many unique features. Below we have listed some of those features:
- Quick and simple to install and use. Be up and running in very little time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. Access the latest stats right on your WordPress admin bar, display socially popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. Update the plugin with a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications whenever new versions are released.
- Minimal consumption of server resources. The plugin generates social metrics reports very quickly, using minimal hosting resources. Reports also display the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory consumed when gathering data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter information however 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 and plot data 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 really simple to use … just turn all the red squares into greens!)
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback that plugin users have written about Social Metrics Pro:
”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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”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
Useful Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full refund guarantee.
Product Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This license option allows you to activate SocialMetricsPro on a single web site. It includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Edition – This enables you to install SocialMetricsPro on multiple domains that you own. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Current pricing for the Social Metrics Pro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price shown above was correct at the time this article was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the software seller when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing information here:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Recommend
As mentioned earlier, with the growth of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines have started taking into account various social signals when determining website ranking.
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 WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and shows them how to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to make social media marketing work for you.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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