Social Signals, do they help? Looking for a solid Yes or No.

[activitysuper]

Hi,

I've read so much lately about social signals and got basically 3 completely different responses.

1. Yes they are going to over take normal link building in 2013 so get on it.

2. Yeah they do help with rankings but not massively, don't focus to much on it.

3. Na they don't help, you need to gain 1000's of signals and even then it will be a short SERP increase and then back down you go.

So... What im looking for now is a straight up Yes or No, should you be on social signals now?

Should time spent on gaining social signals be increased? If your doing 10% of your time on social should this percent now shift to a larger percentage?

Cheers

[NaescentAdam]

I agree with Shane. Look at the language Google use. They are always really careful and they use "Social Signals" not Social links.

So its not really the links its the signals they give off. Look here back in 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM5ap8NqkuY

Matt Cutts is talking about using it to determine authority and reputation.

And here he says it again.

http://www.seroundtable.com/google-links-social-15396.html

Here he's saying it's a complex mix that's getting more social over time with links never really dying.

Like shane says Social is more than just rankings. You get to build brand awareness and keep engagement. Its an awesome tool if used right and you can do it efficiently. For eg. say you create 3-4 types of facebook posts. Come up with 20 or so and schedule them for release at the rate of about 4 facebook posts a week. Keep them short and simple, work out your target audience peak online time and tailor your posts to suit. Try and come up with ideas to share, comment, like etc... then keep up with comments and build social links within the industry people who like and trust you and will share your content and you theirs and you very quickly have a campaign that is managed within 2-3 hours a week.

Not only that if its good content you'd enjoy sharing others as welll as your own.

[Jinx14678]

Just personally I think this is the disconnect, just because something is nofollow does not mean it does not help rankings in an indirect way....

"Google probably still likes to see that you are active and people are talking about you on the web"

Not sure this is a "probably" i think they have come out and said it on many occasions

And this I believe is the point of YES they help, the Algorithm is becoming less and less robotic.... so thinking of it in a sense of Follow and Nofollow is not looking at it in the full perspective.

I also think #2 is not looking at the big picture of, are you in a niche that you could gain more traction from Social than in search?

I am just not sure an SEO answer is correct in an increasingly social world IMHO

So if we are looking at in perspective of what to do on 12/13/12 - #2 might be correct for some niches, but for 12/13/13 and beyond I think #2 and #3 will keep getting more and more wrong.... Not just from a search perspective, but from an Internet Marketing/Marketing perspective as well.

[irvingw]

I'm in this camp:

2. Yeah they do help with rankings but not massively, don't focus to much on it.

they are all nofollowed of course so they pass no page rank. if links on social media sites really directly helped rankings you would see such a sick amount of spam it would be insane. it is my belief that Google looks to see if you are engaged in social media and you get a check mark towards one of the infamous 200 ranking factors they use.

social media can be an incredible traffic driving tool and should be thought of as such, knowing that, yea Google probably still likes to see that you are active and people are talking about you on the web

[Jinx14678]

"I've read so much lately about social signals and got basically 3 completely different responses."

There is rarely one path to success, so as one of the best blogs I have read in a while stated today "Diversity" in all realms is the key in 2013. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/top-1-seo-tips-for-2013

1. is definitely correct, but not in a "Jump on the Bandwagon" sense, you would need to have a Social Strategy to gain the "buzz" - but I am sure you know that.

2. Should you focus 100% well it depends on the niche or even the strategy/ but I would not brush it off in a forward facing strategy.

3. Ehhh, yeah but it is not that hard to gain 1,000's of social signals with a good strategy and content/networking - But this probably comes form someone who is still using more old school tactics, which is cool and they still work (and I still use alot of em too) but I also know they might not always work and I will point out the blog from Dr. pete again, today where he talked about Google MIGHT not always being there, so again diversity.

to the last point on % of time spent..... That is such a tough concept for me personally cause I look at SEO/Internet Marketing more at what needs to be done to defeat competition or per "project"  as opposed to how much time i spend on each item to "rank well" generally But I spend about 40 - 75% of my time in "Social Endeavors" But I also do alot of the coding, design ect.... so I might actually spend more if I was only focusing on the aspect of "Internet Marketing: only - But I will say as Adam points out, I as well am competing with National Brands in the SERPS and holding my own with a probably over 50% "Social Strategy" but again % is hard, I would only say YES it is important, but don't ever put all your eggs in one basket.

I hope I gave some insight

[NaescentAdam]

Yes they help.

How much they help depends on which google market you are in say US vs India. US gets latest algorithm changes first and also depends on what your competitors are doing.

Link Building is still very much the main factor but Social cant be ignored and this will increase in importance. I have a site where social is partly responsible for taking me to page 1 above some very very big brands in the us.

http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors