Are Social Media Signals a Google Ranking Factor?

This video was released almost 2 years ago in Dec 2010.? Fast-forward now to July 2012 and it?s pretty clear Google is now using social signals as a pretty big ranking factor.?? But more importantly the take away here is not just any old social signals, but they are looking at authorship trust on social accounts.

Matt Cutts: ?In the same way that page rank depends on not just the number of links, but the quality of those links, you have to think about, what are the followers who mean quality? You know, who are the people who actually are not just bots, you know, or some software program, or things like that??

Machine Learning

This basically means, not all Tweets or Facebook mentions are created equal.? I think Google has been working with algorithms that are machine learning. The algorithms can now tell (very well) the difference between ?real? social accounts/authors vs spam accounts. Can it detect all spam? No.? But the algorithms have only gotten better over time and now that they are using machine learning technology it?s only going to become more accurate.? We seen the power of it with understanding the quality of backlinks (Penguin Update) and on-page content (Panda Update). ? Just look at this video and the things you can do if you want to connect to their prediction API.?? And now that their entire product based is and has been coded to tie into their new social network Google+ proves that social signals are not going away in search.?? In fact, it?s being deeply integrated.

What Should a Small Business Do With This Information?

Get social! If you do not have Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, Google+, & Pinterest accounts set-up yet, then get it done ASAP.? Then start participating.? It?s not hard once you get their a bit.? Social media marketing is just like networking at ?live? event/conference.? Treat people like humans, be helpful, & participate in the conversions.?? Essentially, be social.??

The goal is to develop social friends and build a loyal audience/group of followers.?? The more quality followers you have, the more opportunities you have to send targeted traffic/links/mentions back to your website.?? Google will see these signals and you?ll have better chances at ranking well in Google?s search engines.

Are You Participating in Social Media Marketing?

Tell us in the comment section below.? Are you participating in social media marketing??? If so, let us know what you are doing and your success stories.? If not, let us know what your questions are about social media marketing and we?ll answer them.

Source: http://www.smallbusinessonlinecoach.com/blog/social/social-media-signals-google-ranking-factor/

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