Does Google allow us to Incentivize Social Shares?

8 replies
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Does Google allow us to ask for social shares in exchange for displaying locked content?

Can I require a social share in order to enter someone in to a contest I'm running?
#google #incentivize #shares #social
  • Profile picture of the author Ryan3
    I dont think it will trigger anything so why not. I dont think google is that advanced
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  • Profile picture of the author jgant
    I do it and since implementing my organic search traffic increased... But I'm not saying the additional likes helped with rankings... it just didn't hurt.

    In fact I've found it to work great getting an additional 100+ plus likes a day which drives more traffic.

    I recommend doing it... just offer something irresistible.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Vick
    Ryan, I'm not worried about Google bots finding these incentives. I'm worried about other webmasters reporting me.

    JGant, Google likes social shares per this article: SEO Ranking Factors - Rank Correlation 2013 for Google USA 2013
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by Mike Vick View Post

      Ryan, I'm not worried about Google bots finding these incentives. I'm worried about other webmasters reporting me.

      JGant, Google likes social shares per this article: SEO Ranking Factors - Rank Correlation 2013 for Google USA 2013
      I would not believe that article. It is just showing a correlation, not any kind of actual proof or facts.

      What they fail to answer in that article is did the sites achieve the rankings because of social signals, or do the sites have a lot of social signals because they were already ranking #1, and thus got a lot of traffic. It is likely the latter.

      I have yet to see a single webpage ranking based on social signals.

      There has been zero evidence that social signals improve rankings.
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      • Profile picture of the author paulgl
        Hmmmm. Like google makes the internet rules?

        I have never let google allow me to do anything. I am my own
        boss, thank you.

        Each individual social site, like FB, has rules. Last time I checked,
        FB forbid the practice. The practice of incentivizing likes/shares, that is.
        Especially contests. But, who cares? Nobody seems to give a rat's
        behind about TOS these days.

        What does google care about FB, et. al, practices? Like google is the social
        share police?

        Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author mkgg
    Originally Posted by Mike Vick View Post

    Does Google allow us to ask for social shares in exchange for displaying locked content?

    Can I require a social share in order to enter someone in to a contest I'm running?
    You can't. Thats against their TOS. When you grab a like/share/whatever button from any of the social media they state you can't use it to force people to like/share your pages.

    I can't remember if it was google/facebook though but i remember reading that when i wanted to do something similar. On the page that you get the social button, read the notes/tos there and see if its allowed.

    EDIT: Here you go
    https://developers.google.com/+/policies

    Don’t mislead your users about what buttons or links included in posts or notifications will do, or trick users into clicking them.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Vick
      MikeFriedman, I agree that the social signals could be correlation. The PDF download from Search Metrics also suggests that some of its findings could be correlation. I do however believe a bunch of G+ shares helped one of my sites get the #1 spot for a competitive keyword phrase. I also see the links from G+ profiles, G+ pages, and G+ communities in webmaster tools. Perhaps G+ shares count and FB and Twitter do not?

      paulgl, for now, I do care what Google "allows" as it's currently my main source of traffic. I know I need to diversify traffic sources, and I will do that eventually. Right now I'm focusing on developing content for a new authority site. I have time off from work and want to maximize the writing time.

      mkgg, I'm not forcing, tricking, or misleading anyone. It's more like quid pro quo. I do see this language in the G+ policies:

      "Don't encourage, facilitate or incentivize repetitive or spammy posts."

      With this language, it seems like Google is singling out repetitive or spammy posts, not all incentivized posts. This could be my own biased interpretation.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    I don't see a problem with requiring an action (Like, Tweet, etc...) in order to download or view content. It's not like your forcing traffic to build links or do anything they don't want to do. If traffic doesn't like something about your site/page, they'll leave on their own.

    The TV in my living room is even loaded with apps that force viewers to Like/Tweet in order to watch full videos. I realize that's not about Google but my point is it's not like content lockers have to be a bad thing.

    BTW, G+ on it's own isn't ranking pages.
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