Matt Cutts on whether social signals are part of the ranking algorithm

[petehall]

This is one of the most interesting videos I have had the fortune of stumbling across.

Matt Cutts answers the following question;

Are Facebook and Twitter signals part of the ranking algorithm?
[youtube.com ]

Matt explains that Facebook and twitter pages are treated like any other pages, and that (to the best of his knowledge) no specifics about a pages popularity are used within the algorithm. In other words, the number of likes or followers a page has does not directly affect your website position in Google.

It’s also stated that Facebook and Twitter pages are treated (crawled and indexed) like any other web pages. This would suggest to me that shared content to your website can work well, as the links to your content (note links, not likes) would appear on any indexed pages.

I think social media is extremely effective when used correctly (as is TV or any other form of exposure) but how many of you continue to promote via social channels in the belief it will help with Google?

[alika]

... how many of you continue to promote via social channels in the belief it will help with Google?

I think social media should be used to help find engaged users, as well as decrease dependence on any one source of traffic such as the search engines -- not really as a means to help with Google.

One client of mine has been tremendously successful in social media (1 million+ likes on FB), and they have managed to seriously downplay Google as a source of traffic. Two years ago, Google accounted for about 65% of their traffic, but they managed to reduce it now to only 4% (no, they were no search traffic decreases and they were not hit by any algorithm). They are focusing on social media as well as email acquisition, and their social media strategy has now evolved from getting likes or tweets to getting more traffic and engagement.

[superclown2]

I can't imagine Mr Cutts or anyone else at Google sharing important information about the algo with us. We will be told what they want to tell us.

One client of mine has been tremendously successful in social media (1 million+ likes on FB), and they have managed to seriously downplay Google as a source of traffic. Two years ago, Google accounted for about 65% of their traffic, but they managed to reduce it now to only 4% (no, they were no search traffic decreases and they were not hit by any algorithm). They are focusing on social media as well as email acquisition, and their social media strategy has now evolved from getting likes or tweets to getting more traffic and engagement.

Like to share a few tips on how they did it?

[aristotle]

Wasn't there a thread here a few weeks ago referencing a news story about how some corporations are buying thousands of Likes, +1s, and Twitter followers? If I recall, the news story said that several companies in places like Bangladesh had been created just for the purpose of selling these Likes, etc, and were making good profits from it.

Edit: I should have made it clear that the news story wasn't talking about companies that had acquired legitimate Likes, etc, but instead was about companies that were buying them wholesale by the thousands.

[brotherhood of LAN]

So they don't other social network's custom metrics... we know that they'd like G+ to be able to replicate those kinds of signals though.

I think there's a basic rule for promotion in Google, they want to see signals that your site is flourishing outside of referrals they send you. Typically that'd involve mentions on Twitter or Facebook since they occupy a huge amount of user-time.

[alika]

Like to share a few tips on how they did it?

Heavy use of data analysis, including competitor analysis. Loads and loads of testing, aggressive content marketing, and near-obsession in converting their social media likes/followers into email subscribers.

Social media is an extremely volatile source of traffic where traffic could swing as much as 50-70% in any direction on any given day so they are constantly on their toes thinking about the type of content their social media audiences want, and giving it to them.

[hannamyluv]

I don't think social signals have much play in the algo. My main site is moving rapidly away from depending on Google traffic thanks to social media growth. I fully expect that by the end of this year, Google traffic will become a secondary traffic source, rather than primary. I have yet to see anything that looks like a bump from Google despite the fact that we now get a significant amount of traffic from social sites.

volatile source of traffic where traffic could swing as much as 50-70% in any direction on any given day

Right now, this is one of my biggest issues. It is really hard to plan around traffic and income when it can fly up and down on a collective whim. We are fortunate in that our business model was (unintentionally) built to appease the need for new content that social media demands. We know what makes them happy but it is impossible to know what will make readers simply happy or make them crazy happy - which can result in a 100%+ boost in traffic for a 24 hour period.

As far as my tips, I would say that the best thing we did was not to treat social media as a place to build a community. Instead, we treat it as a place where people interested in our topic can find content that they can share within their own personal communities (i.e. FB friends & family).