Is a spike in Facebook likes considered spam?

[ScubaAddict]

I have a website that is 17 years old. All original content - was very popular prior to Google Panda 1. Been fading ever since - now down to about 10% of pre-panda traffic.

Since panda I have started a facebook page to represent my website (when we update our website, we tell our facebook 'fans').

In 2.5 years we gathered 15K facebook likes, up to about 11 days ago. Since then we have had a BIG ramp up in daily likes. Now up to 33K. So first 3 years = 15K, last 11 days alone = 18K (avg 1,600 a day and increasing).

Now Google has pretty much killed us off, but we still are getting some traffic from them. The facebook likes appear real, but no significant increase in related traffic to our website.

Does google penalize for people showing that they like a site in great abundance? I can't believe I am actually asking this question, but this wacky google run world has left me paranoid. Anyone know how to investigate facebook likes?

[dethfire]

Don't know, but highly highly doubtful

[netmeg]

No; my sites are very seasonal so every year I get ginormous FB and Twitter spikes over a few weeks. Never had an effect on search that I could tell.

[engine]

The spikes may be coming from a viral link. I've seen that coming it before. Lots of links that are not search engine indexable. Social media links are transient; they come and go, and you need to keep working at it.

I'm not sure that's the same as you, but just what i've seen.

[mihomes]

I would hope not - can you imagine getting on national tv or a good magazine that resulted in a huge spike in your social traffic only to find Google penalized you!?

That is something you can't control and as the poster above mentioned... seasonal traffic is another perfect example.

[ScubaAddict]

Thank you. I guess that makes sense. I am continually penalized even though I put up the best content (among my prevailing competitors), so I guess I am just a bit jumpy.

Thank you again for your replies.