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Twitter VS Facebook VS Google+

by EricBaglio
42 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Everyone knows Social Media is taking more and more of an active part in SEO. Panda Hit, it keeps hitting and it WILL continue hitting as Social Media becomes more important in the future.

My question is has anyone actually split test to determine which of the big three (Google+, Twitter, or Facebook) have actually had the most biggest impact on increasing their rankings. IMHO Facebook Likes are a little stronger than Twitter Tweets but I feel like Google is going to to want to put more emphasis on it's In-House Platform +1.

Anyone have any proof or views on this?

::This is a question on which is stronger. We all know diversity is overall the smart strategy::
#facebook #google #twitter
  • Profile picture of the author a2k
    I think that, unless we use ONE of these medias only for a longer time, it is almost impossible to measure the ranking affects of those sites. Their strength is more on the social/viral side, but Google is definitely taking 1+ recommendations into account.

    Especially for +1 and Google+ we are in the early days, but the good thing about +1 is that your image get added to the SERPs or people in your circles; enhancing the probability of getting traffic from those.

    I have plenty of articles on my site gplus-guide.com covering Google+ and the +1 button.
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    • Profile picture of the author EricBaglio
      Originally Posted by a2k View Post

      I think that, unless we use ONE of these medias only for a longer time, it is almost impossible to measure the ranking affects of those sites. Their strength is more on the social/viral side, but Google is definitely taking 1+ recommendations into account.

      Especially for +1 and Google+ we are in the early days, but the good thing about +1 is that your image get added to the SERPs or people in your circles; enhancing the probability of getting traffic from those.

      I have plenty of articles on my site gplus-guide.com covering Google+ and the +1 button.
      I guess it makes sense that Google+ wouldn't have as much influence in these early stages. Thanks!
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      • Profile picture of the author EricBaglio
        Originally Posted by theebookcavern View Post

        I'm not sure on the impact of direct ranking but in terms of referring traffic, Facebook is definitely top for me. In fact it's in my top 5 referring websites.
        That's impressive. I was more curious in the rankings but too see how much of your traffic comes from fb shows that I need to focus on this more on social traffic as well.

        Originally Posted by Egrove Systems View Post

        Hi Eric,

        From my experience i felt Facebook is stronger than twitter and Google plus
        I thought so too but I've only tested this in a limited capacity so I enter more opinions - thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Egrove Systems
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author a2k
      How did you measure this? Did you pause all other positioning campaigns, or do you refer to traffic only?

      Originally Posted by Egrove Systems View Post

      Hi Eric,

      From my experience i felt Facebook is stronger than twitter and Google plus
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Well Google+ only has about 7 users so far, so really it is between Facebook and Twitter. One has over 800 million users. The other doesn't.
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    • Profile picture of the author Capitalist_Pig
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      Well Google+ only has about 7 users so far, so really it is between Facebook and Twitter. One has over 800 million users. The other doesn't.
      7? I disagree.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by Capitalist_Pig View Post

        7? I disagree.
        You're right. They had a big week and moved up to 11 total users now.
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        • Profile picture of the author EricBaglio
          Originally Posted by bfas View Post

          Be careful making statements out of opinion or hearsay. It's interesting to hear the differing opinions, but as with so many things, this is where many marketers go astray - taking opinion or hearsay and basing decisions on it.

          In fact, Google has said they do use 'social signals', and has specifically said they use Twitter and Google's +1 as ranking signals. They've said these are used both in Google News and general search rankings, though not strongly.

          Google has also said it indexes Facebook comments, but hasn't said it uses Facebook 'Likes' - though SEOMoz did a pretty compelling analysis that concluded Google might very well be using Facebook shares (Does Google Use Facebook Shares to Influence Search Rankings? | SEOmoz).

          (Bing has also said similar things, going even further than Google in copping to using some social signals for ranking).

          The general consensus among serious SEO's is that these three are being used to a small degree now, and that these and others are going to become increasingly stronger ranking factors.

          Michael
          When you say, Google and Bing have said they use Twitter and Google +1s, what is your source? I believe you. I'm just curious so I can start watching that source as well. Thanks for the SEOmoz article. That was a cool read.

          Originally Posted by a2k View Post

          Looks like you want to provoke a discussion .... Well, Google+ has about 60.000.000 users, in less than 4 months, with companies adopting the professional pages quickly. Again, considering that the question is how far they affect SEO, we should bear in mind that Google WILL take their +1s' and streams into account, and therefore it is maybe not a matter of how many mention your site, but IF it gets mentioned at all; and therefore adds value to the formula of the search algnorithm
          I also believe that Google is going to favor their own network to a degree and am actually planning on a couple of case studies to see if I'm right or not. I'm also thinking about trying a case study to see if there is a difference between the three networks which is what sparked this question in the first place.
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    • Profile picture of the author a2k
      Looks like you want to provoke a discussion .... Well, Google+ has about 60.000.000 users, in less than 4 months, with companies adopting the professional pages quickly. Again, considering that the question is how far they affect SEO, we should bear in mind that Google WILL take their +1s' and streams into account, and therefore it is maybe not a matter of how many mention your site, but IF it gets mentioned at all; and therefore adds value to the formula of the search algnorithm

      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      Well Google+ only has about 7 users so far, so really it is between Facebook and Twitter. One has over 800 million users. The other doesn't.
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  • Profile picture of the author theebookcavern
    I'm not sure on the impact of direct ranking but in terms of referring traffic, Facebook is definitely top for me. In fact it's in my top 5 referring websites.
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    • Profile picture of the author addison.agnote
      I think Twitter and facebook have a huge impact in rankings of a website.
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  • Profile picture of the author jeresteem99
    FACEBOOK
    TWITTER

    They giving much traffic from my site. I use them to much. Google+ maybe next year why not, its still a GOOGLE.
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  • Profile picture of the author egrovesys
    Most of the internet users are spending their time among these three networking sites. so as previous warrior replied to your post, its better to share your time to spend on these three sites.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      twitter, facebook, google+1 are all different.

      But then, judging by your sig, I guess we know
      the reason for the post.

      Since none don't do anything for organic SEO, I
      always say leave the social to social. I don't give
      a rip about what my friend's aunt's next door neighbor
      liked at that chinese food place in bumf$%%^.

      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author damasgate
    I haven't done any testing, but getting more fb likes has definitely hleped me out in the SERPs
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  • Profile picture of the author faceblogger
    They are the giant sources for social traffic.
    Though some people believe +1s, likes, tweets improves the authority of a page I don't see any significant SEO benefit.
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    • Profile picture of the author a2k
      I agree with you that their MAIN benefit is social traffic, but we also need to take into consideration that Google's main goal is to show relevant results, and there are more than 200 criteria that factor into the algorithm.

      One of the most important criteria are links pointing back to your site. Likes, +1s and lots of tweets contain links, and will most likely count more than any massively distributed article or press release; specifically because it are "personal" recommendations/votes. I do believe, therefore that they are a factor, the question is up to what point, and how can we clearly measure it. :rolleyes:

      As with other SPAMMY links accounts (i.e. social bookmarking, poor quality article directories, ect,) if there is no real activity and communication going on, but only constant link blasting, Google will know to distinguish the valuable from the scam.

      Originally Posted by faceblogger View Post

      They are the giant sources for social traffic.
      Though some people believe +1s, likes, tweets improves the authority of a page I don't see any significant SEO benefit.
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  • Profile picture of the author bfas
    Be careful making statements out of opinion or hearsay. It's interesting to hear the differing opinions, but as with so many things, this is where many marketers go astray - taking opinion or hearsay and basing decisions on it.

    In fact, Google has said they do use 'social signals', and has specifically said they use Twitter and Google's +1 as ranking signals. They've said these are used both in Google News and general search rankings, though not strongly.

    Google has also said it indexes Facebook comments, but hasn't said it uses Facebook 'Likes' - though SEOMoz did a pretty compelling analysis that concluded Google might very well be using Facebook shares (Does Google Use Facebook Shares to Influence Search Rankings? | SEOmoz).

    (Bing has also said similar things, going even further than Google in copping to using some social signals for ranking).

    The general consensus among serious SEO's is that these three are being used to a small degree now, and that these and others are going to become increasingly stronger ranking factors.

    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author Fryde Markus
    If this is a race, perhaps Google is the least so far...But we never know what will happen in the next few years.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin pitt
    Twitter and facebook both have vital role in the SEO for the improving business.google+ has own advantages but still twitter and Facebook are better.
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  • Profile picture of the author Iain Key
    It's anecdotal evidence I know, but I know of a lot of people that jumped on google+ at the start and now don't bother with their pages.

    I'd say Facebook is still number one
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  • Profile picture of the author webdevpro
    As of now Facebook and Twitter are better, but over the time Google+ may overpower them. Use all of these an keep eyes on analytic reports to check which one gives most of the traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author EricBaglio
    It seems like the general consensus is Facebook. I added a poll to the thread to give everyone a quick glance on the outcome of this discussion.

    My question now is if Facebook is the best, what holds more weight, likes or status updates sharing the link to the site?

    Also, thanks everyone for your input. I'm surprised that more people weren't on the side of Google+. I guess that would be pretty narcisistic of Google to love itself more than FB.
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    "TAKE ACTION" is the first thing everyone tells you and then they leave it at that. I'll add a second part: TRACK EVERYTHING" - It's the only way to ensure your ACTION leads to results.

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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Samurai
    I go through status updates holds more weight in compare of likes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gooplex
    I will vote for Facebook, Reason behind this is the number of active user/ Audience on facebook. It's much higher on Facebook as compare to Twitter and Google+
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  • Profile picture of the author ninar
    I think that Facebbok has more possibiliies.
    Twitter is...minimalistic somehow )
    But Twitter is a quick service - quick transmitter of the info you need to share in a few seconds. If you have a good organised network, Twitter will give you best results.
    Google + ...Nothing interesting to be said...
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  • Profile picture of the author bryanrego
    friends all these 3 social networks are unique ... used smartly can help you achive better seo.. examlple.. twitter - i personally get good traffic from it , from google plus - my posts get indexed soon and better quality traffic, search engine & organic .. facebook is here to stay..... :-) ... i have used google plus and keeping a close watch feel not to ignore google plus as the +1 is more than facebook like . you can get good insights on this site .... just search for your topic. techspins.com ...
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  • Profile picture of the author Webbatron
    Google +1 is for me by far the best of all 3 if you are looking purely at impact on ranking in Google. Clearly they are massively biased!

    Real time Example.

    Review Website launched 3 weeks ago. Brand new domain name. Over the 3 weeks I have written or had written about 20,000 words of reviews and articles The reviews have been entered onto the site as they have been done.

    The only link building I have done is through twitter and google +1. Haven't got a facebook page for the site yet. I get traffic from Google+ and not a lot from twitter. Infact I have stopped twitter as much as it make my bounce rate higher.

    The main keyword gets 850,000 searches a month globally. Their are 43m + competing pages. Until yesterday when I did a few changes with my Google+ I was nowhere really- page 15. I now have 2 website pages on page one- about half way, and my google + page on page one!! So traffic from 3 sources into the site.

    NB: this has not just happen for one key word. The changes I made have lifted every internal page that targets a "sub niche" keyword onto the front page of google.

    Now whether I stay there or not is a whole new story but I am enjoying it whilst I can maintain it)))

    Google+ wins...!
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    Michael Webb

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  • Profile picture of the author melovedogs
    I vote for facebook. The thing is Google invented many projects which shut it down such as Google video player, google answers, google wave, google page creator and the last google Buzz. I'm not sure if Google Plus will stay.
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  • Profile picture of the author Targeted Traffic
    In the ranking factors for 2011 release Facebook has WAY more influence on Seo then Twitter
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  • Profile picture of the author rasel786
    I think among them facebook is the best.

    SEO TIPS
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  • Profile picture of the author blacktigers
    Fb and twitter still the best way to get traffic
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    • Profile picture of the author EricBaglio
      Originally Posted by Webbatron View Post

      Google +1 is for me by far the best of all 3 if you are looking purely at impact on ranking in Google. Clearly they are massively biased!

      Real time Example.

      Review Website launched 3 weeks ago. Brand new domain name. Over the 3 weeks I have written or had written about 20,000 words of reviews and articles The reviews have been entered onto the site as they have been done.

      [...]

      The main keyword gets 850,000 searches a month globally. Their are 43m + competing pages. Until yesterday when I did a few changes with my Google+ I was nowhere really- page 15. I now have 2 website pages on page one- about half way, and my google + page on page one!! So traffic from 3 sources into the site.

      NB: this has not just happen for one key word. The changes I made have lifted every internal page that targets a "sub niche" keyword onto the front page of google.

      [...]

      Google+ wins...!
      Wow, that's a pretty good testimony for Google+ which seems to be in the minority. I am surprised to see a Google+ actual page on page 1 in such a competitive niche. Hopefully for you it sticks!

      Originally Posted by melovedogs View Post

      I vote for facebook. The thing is Google invented many projects which shut it down such as Google video player, google answers, google wave, google page creator and the last google Buzz. I'm not sure if Google Plus will stay.
      I don't personally think Google+ is going anywhere anytime soon. It's integrated in to just about every single piece of Google from Google Music, to Google Search, to GMail, to Google News. I think they're putting way too much work into making it an integral part of their overall company to let it fizz out.

      Just an opinion of course..
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  • Profile picture of the author laurief
    Right now facebook is on top but i think this gonna change with google+. Just imagine how it would be if fb likes have impact on SERP's...
    Google+ just need a little more users/time (since even many gmail users ignore its existence)
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  • Profile picture of the author Tracyyang
    Google+ is something we need to pay special attention to, since Google is the ranking king, but up to now, concerning popularity, Google+ is far behind facebook.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      If you want marketing aspect, twitter wins, hands down.
      Urls in tweets have indeed been shown to get much more
      clicks than facebook at least for the ads on facebook.
      Twitter is free. The sheer lameness of facebook ads
      is one sign that facebook is not the end all to end
      all for marketing. Social, sure. But I don't really care what
      my next door neighbor had for lunch, nor does that effect
      my marketing efforts online.

      Just because facebook has 800 million members, in no way
      means they have 800 million users. They don't.

      One word for for people who think facebook is all that. Myspace.

      One could also add delicio.us, linkedin, ...

      As far as google+, the jury is out. One thing google wants
      to crack down on is the spam effect. That has ruined
      twitter and facebook. What a concept. Keep social social.

      Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author EricBaglio
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        If you want marketing aspect, twitter wins, hands down.
        Urls in tweets have indeed been shown to get much more
        clicks than facebook at least for the ads on facebook.
        Twitter is free. The sheer lameness of facebook ads
        is one sign that facebook is not the end all to end
        all for marketing. Social, sure. But I don't really care what
        my next door neighbor had for lunch, nor does that effect
        my marketing efforts online.

        Just because facebook has 800 million members, in no way
        means they have 800 million users. They don't.

        One word for for people who think facebook is all that. Myspace.

        One could also add delicio.us, linkedin, ...

        As far as google+, the jury is out. One thing google wants
        to crack down on is the spam effect. That has ruined
        twitter and facebook. What a concept. Keep social social.

        Paul
        The Spam Effect is definitely something that seems to be a considering factor with how many Fiverr Gigs there are for buying Likes, Tweets, and +1s. It'll always be there. I guess it's all about how natural it looks.

        As for Tweets vs FB ads, I think that's like comparing apples and oranges because FB ads are PPC and Tweets are just sharing a link. FB allows you to share links as well so I think in that regard their pretty similar.
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        "TAKE ACTION" is the first thing everyone tells you and then they leave it at that. I'll add a second part: TRACK EVERYTHING" - It's the only way to ensure your ACTION leads to results.

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  • Profile picture of the author epathj
    Largest Impact On SEO?
    Absolutely G+
    Largest Impact on SEM,I will choose FB
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  • Profile picture of the author johnsander1
    All these social media sites have their own importance and can help in SEO field very much, but there is more need to use these site properly and on the right way, we should make our business profile pages on all these social media sites then work on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author jeresteem99
    I had google+ for 5 minutes. didn’t like it. doesn’t have any unique reason for me to use it over facebook, which contrary to common belief, does everything that google+ does really. i am planning to start using twitter more when iOS5 comes out, because it has some unique opportunities that Facebook does not offer.
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  • Profile picture of the author dows
    google- is the odd thing out in this line
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  • Profile picture of the author GetFacebookFriends
    Great topic! I think Google + is young and still needs to cauch on and is still not big with my friends and I do not hear much about it. Twitter is huge and Facebook is right there. It would have to be out of Facebook and Twitter. I wanna say Twitter has it.
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