Hi Steven
I believe you are right (but of course no one knows for sure). Google probably track social where they can, and clicks of course (they know the referrers in our analytics) but when you sit down and think about it, it does not make sense for them to rely on outside data for ranking. Facebook could cut them off at any time, and then their ranking would suddenly be all wrong. So they will not risk that.

But I am sure G+ will play a big role at some point, even if it is just more focus on authorship.
have a good one
ashley

Hey Samir
If you pop over to Brent’s post you will see that research about +1 and Google. That is the reason I got him on the show. His statement that social signals are not a ranking factor were very well thought out and backed up.
thanks for dropping by
ashley

I love the social media signals and ranking debates. For a while it was determined that social media absolutely affects rank. Then Matt Cutts debunked that in about two and a half minutes haha!

I do feel that Google tracks social signals but not as a ranking factor as of yet. All Google does is track and gather as much information as possible. In a previous post I wrote when Matt Cutts put of the video on this, I did some digging around Googles products. I also went to some authority blogs and came up with the conclusion that Google tracks the popularity of your links through social media by the amount for clicks you get from each network.

That is something they can track. You get several hundred shares on social media with no clicks, then there’s no significance in it. Now get those shares with plenty of click throughs now that’s something to pay attention too.

No one really knows other than Google what they have up there sleeve but I enjoy trying to figure it out every now and again 🙂

Nice Podcast! Take care!

A new perspective view on current SEO state and I must say I’ve learned something new today from this post. I was also thinking that social media has no impact towards ranking but I’m not sure about google plus. May be a deep research is essential.

Thanks