The Social Signal Debate Rages On

Do Social Signals Mean Anything?

Image courtesy of Denis Dervisevic

There’s an ongoing debate in the SEO world about social signals. They’re the likes, shares, +1’s and more you leave on social media, but do they really help in SEO? Some industry leaders believe that social media is absolutely a ranking factor. However, others are adamant that these social signals do not directly affect SEO ranking.

“There’s definitely confusion surrounding this issue, even within the SEO industry and among industry leaders. Search is very rarely cut and dry, but this issue seems to be especially confusing and misunderstood,” says Brent Carduff in an Echelon SEO article.

Search Engine Ranking Factor Research

Image courtesy of Search Metrics

As we’ve talked about before in a previous blog post on citations, there are many different factors that influence local search ranking. Both Moz and Search Metrics each publish correlation studies every year that look at search engine ranking factors. In 2013, Moz found that social signals made up 6.3 percent of the overall ranking factors. Search Metrics also found that social signals “continue to correlate very well with better rankings.” In fact, Google +1’s rank at the top of the list, but Google’s Matt Cutts wants to make it very clear that these studies aren’t the be-all-end-all. It seems like a trend that whenever research is done on this subject, Cutts tries to question it and want to make it clear that correlation is different than causation.

“Just trying to decide the politest way to debunk the idea that more Google +1s lead to higher Google web rankings. Let’s start with correlation != causation,” Cutts said in response to these studies.

Eric Enge
Image courtesy of Dana Lookadoo

Eric Enge and Stone Temple Consulting also conducted a study in November 2013 on the direct measurement of the Google Plus impact on search rankings. In this instance, Enge did intend to measure causation rather than correlation. The study basically confirmed that “links and shares from Google+ and Facebook did behave like traditional web based links” and that Google Plus shares do drive discovery.

Cutts questioned the results after they were released, and Enge did point out that there is room for error in the study and that not everyone agrees with the findings, according to Carnduff. But the same could be said for any study, as there is always trial and error.

Social Signals As Ranking Factors

Image courtesy of Khalid Albaih

Interestingly, two other STC studies had negative results and found that social signals did not have an impact. One study looked at the affect of Facebook activities on Google search rankings and found that Google does not “use Facebook as a discovery, indexing, or ranking factor.” Also, another soon-to-be published STC Twitter study “apparently shows similar results – Twitter signals do not have a direct impact on Google’s search results,” Carnduff says.

Carnduff asked the opinion of many SEO experts in his article. Brian Dean gave a great response and says Google would simply never do something like this.

“Let’s say tomorrow Google made Facebook likes/shares 20 percent of the algorithm. For sake of argument, it worked really well and the quality of search results improved,” Dean says. “The one day (Mark) Zuckerberg has a bad day and blocks (the) Googlebot. The SERPs are in turmoil without warning. Google would never do that.”

Image courtesy of Dana Lookadoo

Carnduff himself believes social signals are not direct SEO ranking signals. He says Google has led to the confusion throughout the years and has tried to make it seem like Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus authorship and more are used as social signals. For example in 2010, Cutts released this confirming that Twitter and Facebook links were at that time used as SEO signals and that Google did use data from social sites in their rankings. However, it seems like Google flip flops on this issue. Carnduff says that in January 2014, Cutts was asked the same question of “are Facebook and Twitter part of the ranking Algorithm?” Cutts responded saying that although Facebook and Twitter results are crawlable, there aren’t any signals that track how many Facebook likes and Twitter followers you have.

“Clearly, it’s Google’s position, according to Cutts, that social signals are not influencing Google SEO – at least not yet,” Carnduff says.

“At SMX West 2014 Amit Singhal stated that Google+ doesn’t have an impact on the relevance of non-personalized search results…That’s the head of Google’s search effort telling you that they’re not even using their own social signals to improve search. So they sure as heck aren’t using Twitter or Facebook, sources in which they have less visibility and trust,” says AJ Kohn in a blog post on social signals and SEO.

Social Signals Do Help Indirectly

Image courtesy of Esther Vargas

“I don’t feel that social signals have a direct impact on search rankings, but there are a lot of ways that social signals indirectly impact rankings,” Connell says in another opinion.

Connell says that indirect benefits of social signals include getting your content out to a much wider audience which in turn increases trust in your brand when your content is shared. Google Plus also provides some opportunities for social signals to make an impact. For example, when someone you follow shares a link on Google Plus, this can appear under search results. Also Google Plus displays your friends’ +1’s in your stream, “giving another opportunity for your content to gain traction,” Connell explains.

AJ Kohn agrees social signals are necessary and provide indirect benefits. Although social signals are no question not a part of Google’s search algorithm, he says, “it’s not the actual social activity that matters, but what happens as a result of that activity.”

However, Kohn warns all social shares are not equal. It doesn’t matter how many people you follow or how many tweets you put out. Kohn says what really counts is the creators or the “1 percent of users who create all the content floating around the Internet.” When these users share your content, they have an impact, and “long story short, the number of creators following someone who shares your content is important.”

What You Can Do Now

Image courtesy of Gwyneth Anne Bronwynne

Carnduff gives some great tips for what you can do in the meantime before social signals officially become a part of Google’s algorithm. Continue to be active in social media, and don’t be discouraged. Also make sure to set up your Google Authorship and interact with others on Google Plus. Build a relationship with industry leaders, and don’t pay as much attention to the number of social shares. It’s more about who is engaging with your content and quality over quantity! Don’t worry about how many followers and friends you have!

What do you think about this never-ending debate? It’s hard to make heads or tails of all the research and the conflicting opinions of SEO industry leaders, but we want to hear your side. Let us know what you think by leaving us a comment below or talking with us on social media!