Social Signals and SEO - How to Boost Your Google Rankings
No matter where you look whether it is here at WA or elsewhere online, people are always wondering how to boost their rankings so they can improve their SEO. Well unfortunately people there is not one magic silver bullet to accomplish this. It will take an accumulation of a bunch of things. However I am not going to cover all of them here because we pretty much know what most of them are. I’m going to show you one way in how to boost your Google rankings.
What I want to focus on in this blog post is what you can do AFTER you have created and published your website. Yes the bulk of what you do while creating your website will determine how well the SEO is, but there are some things you can do after you have created your website that will help you as well. Then again you are never really finished with a website because you should always be adding new content and tweaking which in turn will also help your rankings.
So what can you do after publishing your website? Social Sharing or more importantly, socially sharing on Google Plus. This is one of the reasons why Kyle has expressed in his lessons on Google Plus, that we should all become members of it, beyond just for Google Authorship.
THE MIGHTY GOOGLE PLUS
This is a quote from Kyle’s lesson, “Google owns Google Plus, Google OWNS Search.” As Kyle reveals in Level 4, Lesson 6 of the Certification Course, Google owns 65% of all online searches and 98% of all mobile device searches. So yes, Google is who you want to please when it comes to SEO rankings and Google sometimes makes it easy, as long as you follow the rules.
But did you know that Google Plus will help you to boost your rankings more than any other social network? They seem to be the only one that will give you more credit for sharing your content. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn do not give you as much credit as Google Plus does. This is how it works.
THIS COULD BE CONFUSING
Clear your mind because this may be hard to absorb. These are all of the ways Google Plus will credit you. You will get a +1 added to your Social Signals on your webpage and post when:
•You share a picture, page or post on Google+
•You +1'd your own picture, page or post on Google +
•You re-share your own picture, page or post on Google +
•You +1'd your own re-shared picture, page or post on Google +
•Someone else +1'd your picture, page or post on Google +
•Someone else shares your picture, page or post on Google +
•Someone else comments on your picture, page or post on Google +. This means that one person has the potential to add up to 3 social signals to your total by +1'd, share, and comment of your link. NOTE: It does not matter how many comments that person leaves, as you will only get credit for the first comment.
•Someone else +1'd the shared picture, page or post of your original shared picture, page or post on Google +
•Someone else re-shares the shared picture, page or post of your original shared picture, page or post on Google +…and so on.
I know, it’s crazy to wrap your mind around all of that and it took me a couple of weeks to get a handle on it myself but Google seems to be bending over backwards to make sure your picture, pages and posts on Google Plus get the credit they deserve. None of the other social networks go that far in giving your picture, page or post that social signal credit.
SOCIAL SIGNALS
What do I mean by giving you more credit for sharing? I am talking about your social signals, those numbers that appear above or next to your social share and like buttons at the top and/or bottom of all of your website pages and blog posts.
MY EXPERIMENT
PIC - 1
PIC - 1: I took a picture from a page from my flu shot website that was about the importance of taking vitamin D3 supplements. When I started out as you can see, the social signals were 0 = Twitter, 0 = Facebook, and 2 = Google +. Even though I shared this picture and link to the webpage on Facebook as well as Google Plus, for this explanation we will just focus on the 2 = Google +.
PIC - 2
PIC - 2: I posted the picture and link on the Home Page of a Natural Health Google Plus Community and received a Google +1 social signal making my total = 3 (1+2 from PIC - 1).
PIC - 3
PIC - 3: Then I received 6 community members who +1’d my picture and link, 1 member commented and the last member re-shared my picture and link. So that is 6+1+1= 8. Now add that 8 to the total of 3 from PIC - 2 and we have a grand total of 11 social signals.
PIC - 4
PIC - 4: Then the last community member who re-shared my picture and link had 1 person comment on it. Well guess what? I still get credit for that comment on my picture and link that was re-shared by the community member. So we now add 1+11 from the total on PIC - 3 and we have a grand total of 12 social signals as seen in PIC - 5.
PIC - 5
DO YOU NOW SEE WHY SHARING ON GOOGLE PLUS IS AWESOME?
That boost in Social Signals happened within a 24 hour period and as you can see Google Plus almost tripled what I received from Facebook in that same 24 hours. I did the same exact thing on Facebook as I did on Google Plus, I shared my content with a target audience.
There are a lot of great reasons for sharing your content beyond the confines of Wealthy Affiliate. However in order to get the above to happen you really need to share your content with a target audience and not just the members of WA and/or family members.
HOW TO BUILD A TARGET AUDIENCE
This is something you need to cultivate over time. It is not something you can do in an hour or two. I have been building 3 different target audiences for my three websites for the past 2-3 weeks. A Natural Health target audience, a Video Game target audience and an Internet Marketing target audience. How did I do it? I simply went into my Google Plus account and I did a search for communities in those 3 categories and then I joined the communities that had the most members and posts. For me it was no less than 1,000 members unless it was a specifically targeted audience and even then I wouldn't go below 500 members.
When I join a community I always post a greeting by saying hello and introducing myself with a little paragraph as to why I want to join the community, which I always say is to network with like-minded people. Then I would +1 and/or comment on a couple of posts and then that's it. I do not post or share any of my content on the first day of joining because I do not want to come off as a spammer.
Then when I post a page, blog post or a picture with a link and then someone would +1, re-share and/or comment on it, I would add them to the respective circle and hope they respond back with a follow. I would have to say that I get no less than 50% of the people following me back. That is how I build my target audience. It is something that will be an ongoing thing but it does help to boost your Google rankings just a little bit.
GOOGLE USES YOUR SOCIAL POPULARITY TO HELP RANK YOU
Google’s Matt Cutts says that Google does look at social signals because it takes into account how socially popular you and your content are when they determine your rank. It is just one of the many things that they consider. Even Kyle says this at the beginning of Level 4 Lesson 6. You can read it for yourself there or right here. Kyle says, "What do you think they do with authors that are popular? They use this to help determine higher rankings based on the # of Google+ that you get on your content."
Do you see why having a Google Plus account is extremely important and why building target audience circles will help you with not only marketing your products but also boosting your rankings?
BUILD YOUR SOCIAL AUTHORITY
So when you have the time and I normally take 30-60 minutes before I call it quits after a day of working on my websites, go on to your Google Plus account and start looking for popular communities in your respective niche and join them. Introduce yourself and then starting the next day, slowly start posting the webpages and blog posts that you want to get your social signals to increase on. You should also do this on Facebook too but Google Plus is owned by Google and because of that the social signals will be a higher quality from them.
Again I want to show you what Kyle says about being socially popular on Google Plus by posting his words from Level 4, Lesson 6 below.
"What do you think they do with Google plus items that are popular? They rank them in the search engines."
"What do you think they do with authors that are popular? They use this to help determine higher rankings based on the # of Google+ that you get on your content."
"This is not weighted heavily, but it can definitely have a positive impact on social engagement as well as search rankings. Like the old saying goes, "you are killing two birds with one stone"."
Recent Comments
64
What was kind of obvious you got the proof for it! Great job! Also for how to grow the circles I was wondering and thx to you now I know how to. Thx for sharing!
That was my plan. It was kind of obvious that social signals would go up more so with Google + than any other social network. I wanted to show my readers how this happens and why it is extremely important to share your content on Google + to increase traffic to your website and increase the social signals to your website.
We all should know by now, if you have completed the training here at WA, that both traffic and the amount of social engagement via comments and social signals are ways that Google determines higher rankings.
Plus there are many people who just see Google + as a place to share content and don't realize it is way more important to your online business than just sharing. There are so many marketing plans that can be accomplished through Google +
Thank you for reading and commenting on my Blog post.
Thanks man, I was trying to figure out how to use google+ to my advantage. This clears many of my questions up. Thank You!
You're welcome. I have found Google + to be an AWESOME way to drive traffic to your website through the use of their targeted communities. I wish Facebook and some of the other social networks worked out this well. - Thank you for reading my blog and for your comment.
I would like to connect with more people on plus.google. We can share and whatnot. Let me know. It would be nice to connect with more people. I know we need followers and customers too. I am on there Twitter and Facebook too....Just check my profile blog: TO THE OLD AND NEW WA....my information is on there...just let me know you are from WA. THANKS, Robert!
Once you have your Google Plus account set up you will need to take some time and search for Communities that are in your respective niche and join them. It is best to join the ones that have the most members and a lot of posts. This way you will know if it is an active community. If the community isn't big and active it will be a waste of your time.
When you are searching for communities it will show how many members it has and how many posts. So all you do is enter the community, browse around and see if any posts have been made recently. If there are recent posts and there is a decent amount of members, then join the community and leave an introductory post by introducing yourself and tell them that you like their community and hope to learn, share and network with them in the coming days.
Then maybe comment on a couple of posts and/or +1 them but don't make any posts the first day you join. Just wait a couple of days before you start because you don't want to be labelled as a spammer, even if that is what you are sort of doing.
Thank you! It took me a couple of weeks to understand the actual power of using Google Plus over that of Facebook and Twitter. Only Pinterest comes close to Google Plus when it comes to viral sharing.
I was looking for this post all day, and you did not disappoint boomer. Well done! I appreciate your expert advice on this matter; in less than a day's time, you have helped me spot a big flaw in my approach. I sincerely thank you for that & for such a diligent post.
Say, have you given any thought to monetizing this advice? It sounds to me like a nice, simple little fiverr PDF gig. Or something more lucrative, perhaps?
Actually I was thinking about creating an eBook on the techniques I have been learning and utilizing from Google Plus. But right now I am trying to build my target audience circles. Of the 3 I am building, only the internet / affiliate marketing one is the smallest and hardest to grow. And I am growing it without the members from WA, they are all in a WA circle. WA members do not fall into the target audience circle because we are all from WA.
Kyle provided a list of about 25 different target audiences that would be good to market WA to so I am trying to build that audience circle above all the others but it takes time to do all of this. I'm talking weeks. But once I have a nice sizable target audience I can then do email marketing and offer an eBook.
So much to do, so little time to do it all. - Thanks for commenting on my post.
Believe me, it's my pleasure! Obviously, a sharp guy like yourself could see the potential in the knowledge and insight offered in the post. After reading it, the thought 'WSO' immediately popped into my head - or *ahem!* something similar. Indeed you're on the right track. I just hope to follow at some point.
And please tell me, which of the trainings does kyle mention the target audiences? I'm on the beginning lesson of Level 3 - taking my time, you see.
My mistake. Kyle mentions 60 different target audiences not 25. This was a tutorial training he did back in 2011. I found the link to the training on the Dashboard in the Top !0 list of Training modules. Here is the link.
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/target-audiences-for-wealthy-affiliate
WoW, great stuff boomergp08! Much appreciative of all of your help.
(can I like, click a couple of your adsense banners or something?)
KIDDING, I'M KIDDING!!!
Thanx again for the help though.
One more thing; what do you have against adsense? I did browse you sites & I didn't see any adsense on any of em. How come?
(I am choosing not to put adsense on my 1st WA site for now, but have it on other sites. I consider that & Amazon the par-for-the-course stuff)
GOTTA add this to your repertoire: www.google.com/AdSense
That's my 2 cents.
I don't have anything against it and I actually signed up for it for my flu shot website but I got caught up with other things and never added it. This is something I intend to do for the near future.
I would strongly recommend it. I have some sites (before WA) that aren't really doing much of anything -- although I do intend to rescue them -- & they're earning adsense $$$$. If you're getting any kind of traffic whatsoever, any sites with adsense will earn.
"It's like Novocaine. Give it time, always works."
Sorry for the multiple posts, but I have one more thing to add; the simplest way to get adsense is to set up a blogger blog. Publish 4 or 5 posts (I believe 5 is the magic number) & then apply. Don't be surprised if you get approved that same day. It's that easy.
I will be getting to setting that up during the Christmas break because I will have more time. Right now 50-60% of my time is taken up by my eBay business and the rest of the time with WA. As soon as Christmas arrives the eBay business will slow down to about 30% of my time and then I can concentrate some more on tweaking my sites.
Thanks for the encouragement!
Excellent information Robert. I have been kinda doing this, but now I will be able to refine my methods!
Thanks James! I believe I did see you make a post in one of the Internet / Affiliate Marketing Communities I belong to.
I was telling another member today that I have been denying my websites some new content for the past 2 weeks because I've been busy going through this Google Plus experimentation and in the process seeing my traffic and social signals increase. And as we all know from Kyle's training, both traffic and social signals are two more ways that help to raise Google rankings.
So I told this member that Google Plus is like an addicting drug and I have to force myself not to get involved with it until right before I am ready to turn the computer off at night otherwise I can be in there sharing pictures and posts, networking, building my target audience circles and searching for other communities to join. It's a vicious cycle. lol
Hi Robert, thanks for writing this post. Prior to reading it, I knew very little about how Google Plus works. I'm not up to that training yet; I'm still on the Affiliate Bootcamp course Phase 2. Based on the info from your post, I will definitely consider joining Google Plus when I'm ready. ~ Deidre
Hi Deidre. You will be ready to join Google Plus when you get to Bootcamp Phase 3 Lesson 4 because that is the lesson you will need to set up your Google Plus account. So you have time before you will have to worry about setting it up. But once you do there is so much that it can help you with.
It helps you get more traffic to your website and gives a little boost to your rankings like I state above. Plus there is so much more that it can help you with, I haven't even mastered all there is to know about Google Plus yet but what I do know I really like!
Thanks for checking out and commenting on my blog post and make sure to check it out again when you are ready to utilize Google Plus to help build traffic and rankings for your website. :)
Robert, I have bookmarked your post as I had planned to study up on G+ and/or Twitter over the holidays. I was debating which one I should focus on first, and upon reading your post, I realize that G+ must take priority. Useful info, thanks. ~ Jude
Yes Google Plus should have priority over the rest because like Kyle says, "Google owns Google Plus and Google OWNS Search". All I know that these tactics I am employing have made the traffic to my webpages and posts go up quite a bit and is also giving a little bit of a nudge to my rankings as well.
My focus on social media is as follows in the order of most important to least important: Google Plus, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
Thanks Jude for commenting on my post!
Thanks for recent follow. I had not considered Google + but I appreciate your quantitative approach to the research. Still on Course 1 so will get to the social media area soon. Keep up the informative posts.
Yes, there is no need for you to join Google Plus now. You will eventually have to as part of your training. But when you do it will be a great boon for spreading and sharing your content, as Kyle will explain. - Thanks for reading my post.
See more comments
Always there when I need clarity and help. Thanks Robert. Now I know how to build target market. To me your post is a birthday present...thanks
Glad I was able to help you out. It took me about 2.5 weeks to come up with the content for this blog post because I first wanted to test out the features to make sure they worked. And yes they do! - Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog post Margaret and Happy Birthday!