A couple of blogs ago I made the point that Facebook Like probably does count as a ranking factor on Google. I can’t see why it wouldn’t be – since the USP of the Google natural search algorithm is quality, it would be pretty dumb not to count Facebook Like. The SEO industry is rather more interested in measuring whether Twitter is a ranking factor (indeed, SEOMoz had pretty conclusive data that it was before analysis of Facebook). Of course, we also have our new kid on the block Google + and the somewhat strange looking plus button (don’t you think it looks like LEGO block?). Now that one really must count as a ranking factor – I don’t really think I need any analysis to say that.
What’s the Most Important?
So now we have a logical belief that all of these social buttons have an influence on Google rankings. Now let’s assess which is the most important. But wait, here’s that toilet again:
The notion is nonsense. Facebook Like, the Tweet button and Google + all do different things. We shouldn’t worry about them as ranking signals. What we should be thinking is if a user of Twitter came to my page, would they tweet this? But then, what is a user of Twitter? Where is the context?
We must consider the likelihood of our audiences to be active on the social networkins when we offer the options of buttons. It could be thought that it’s better to have all the options available – but I disagree. Sometimes I look at the options a site provides and think – who the hell would use that?
Not entirely convinced a Netvibes button was ever worth it
If we have a site that’s heavily used by single males from North America, who work in technology and are aged 25-45, then it’s time to get your Google + button out. For Twitter, consider if your content fits a news agenda and has the latent currency necessary to be ReTweeted – the Tweet button makes sense. For Facebook Like, consider that a lot of people don’t share stuff that’s slightly nerdy or related to their job on Facebook – for fear of looking like a complete dork in front of their friends. On Twitter, their crowd will almost certainly be different and often aligned to their job. There are different people using different networks, and they use them in different ways because of the people they are connected with.
People Signals
In SEO, I’d like to see our obsession with ‘ranking signals’ die off. Social buttons probably do influence rankings, but the notion of pursuing social shares for this end makes no sense. Let’s have a little example:
On Tuesday Lily Allen (or Lily Cooper as she now prefers) opens up her shop in Covent Garden. Grazia go down there and check it out, then write a post about it. Lily Tweets this post to 3,000,000 followers – boom – there’s the traffic! It’s not going to come from ranking high ‘lily allen shop’ or ‘lucy in the skies’ – people won’t be looking for your content anyway – they’ll probably be looking for the shop website.
What Grazia did is write a piece that appeals to a particular person and that person has shared it. That she Tweeted the post is not a ranking signal, or a social signal – it’s a person signal. When more than one person shares it, it’s a people signal. The more influential people share it, the more people you’ll get to your site. I doubt they’ll come through a search engine.
