MENUMENU
  • Services
    • Services
      • Search Engine Optimization
      • Local SEO
      • Generative Engine Optimization
      • Digital PR
      • Content Marketing
      • Email Marketing Services
      • Lifecycle Marketing
      • Paid Media Advertising
      • Social Media Marketing
      • Creative Design Services
      • Conversion Rate Optimization
      • Website Design & Development
      • Amazon Marketing Services
      • Franchise Marketing
      • Franchise Development
      • National to Local Marketing
      • Reporting and Data Analytics
      • Digital Marketing Strategy
  • Who We Serve
    • Who We Serve
      • Franchise Marketing
      • B2B Marketing
      • Lead Generation
      • Ecommerce
      • We Build Custom Strategies
      • View Sample Industries
  • About Us
    • About Ignite Visibility
      • Our Story
      • Our Values
      • Our Team
      • Clients
      • Diversity & Inclusion
      • Our Blog
      • Marketing Resources
      • Franchise Marketing Resources
      • Careers
      • Hiring Notice
  • Case Studies
  • Awards
  • Contact
  • 619.752.1955
Home / Search Engine Optimization / Google Does Not Use Social Signals As A Ranking Factor

Google Does Not Use Social Signals As A Ranking Factor

June 10, 2016 By John Lincoln

SEO Buzz What Happened in SEO This Week 6.10.16
SEO Buzz: What Happened in SEO This Week 6.10.16

This week: Bing has a new toy, social signals still aren’t a ranking factor, and a new study shows promising results for AMP ads.

Here’s what happened this week in SEO.

Bing Releases PubHub for Publishers

This week, Bing released a new tool that enables publishers to get their work discovered by more readers.

Bing Launches PubHub
Automatically distribute your content to millions of Windows, Outlook, and Bing users who get their news through Microsoft channels.

PubHub allows publishers to submit their news sites for distribution to Bing’s audience. It seems to be Bing’s version of Google News, but with less stringent requirements for inclusion.

According to Microsoft: “When publishers submit their content through the Bing Publisher Network, they’ve just expanded their reach significantly, giving their stories and outlets even greater exposure.”

Basically, if you’ve got a blog that reports news, you might qualify for inclusion in PubHub. Microsoft evaluates each site based on the following criteria:

  • Newsworthiness
  • Originality
  • Readability
  • Authority

If you think your site qualifies, get the ball rolling today. You might see a nice spike in your traffic.

Study: AMP Ads Lead to Greater Visibility and Higher CTRs

According to a new study, ads on AMP pages have far superior visibility and click-through rates than their non-AMP counterparts.

The research compared the ad performance on AMP and non-AMP mobile pages across 150 publishers representing various business sizes and geographic regions.

amp ads perform better
AMP pages make ads more readable and increase the click-through rates.

The results show promise for people who are early adopters of AMP.

Specifically:

  • 80% of publishers received increased visibility rates for their ads on AMP pages compared to non-AMP pages.
  • 90% of publishers saw improved CTRs for their ads on AMP pages vs non-AMP pages.

We’re still in the early stages of AMP, so it’s too early to call this a trend.

Google: No Plans to Include a Disavowed Links Testing Tool

If your site was ever hit with a manual penalty because of backlink spam, then you probably know that one of the best ways to overcome that penalty is by disavowing the garbage links.

Wouldn’t it be great if Google offered a tool to help you do that?

18 Ways to Avoid Google Penalties - Disavow Links
18 Ways to Avoid Google Penalties – Disavow Links

Yes, it would be.

Unfortunately, it looks like no such tool is forthcoming.

This week on Twitter, John Mueller fielded a question about that subject. In essence, he said that webmasters shouldn’t expect a testing tool for disavowed links.

“Luckily most sites don’t need to bother with that,” he tweeted, “so I don’t see that functionality changing significantly.”

Google Says It Again: No, We Don’t Use Social Signals As a Ranking Factor

Google has confirmed for the 417th time that social signals aren’t a ranking factor.

You might think that you can boost your great content to #1 in the SERPs for a specific keyword just because it got shared a million times on Facebook.

But, according to the Big G, that’s not going to make one bit of difference.

Way back in 2014, Google’s anti-spam cop Matt Cutts made a video (Cutt a video?) in which he said that no, social signals aren’t ranking factors.

Fast forward to a couple of years later, and Google is still putting the exclamation point on that statement.

This week on Twitter, somebody made the following observation: “Some controversy over whether Google takes social into account for SEO — perhaps Louis Gray will settle this in our next session!”

Gary Illyes answered it right away: “[T]he short version is, no, we don’t.”

Google: hreflang Won’t Affect Your Search Rank

As you probably know, you can use the hreflang markup to tell Google which URL should show in the SERPs based on location. That way, if your site uses multiple languages, the page showing the right language will be displayed based on the location of the person performing the search.

Image courtesy of Moz.com

Some people have been under the impression that hreflang affects search rank. In fact, it doesn’t.

Here’s what John Mueller had to say at a Google+ hangout this week:

Kind of think if you didn’t have those local pages would the dot-com pages rank in the local search results? And if they would rank then we’d like to swap at the URLs out against the appropriate local versions. So if if you have a website, I don’t know that, that’s targeting furniture and you have a UK website and it doesn’t show it all in in France for example, then just setting up at the href lang with completely new pages for France wouldn’t change anything because we wouldn’t have anything to swap out. It wouldn’t be that your UK page would be excessively ranking.

 

Related Posts

  • #1 Ranking in Google for Social Media Company

    We are an Internet marketing company, so we get excited when we get a #1…

  • What Google’s New Map Location Ranking Test Means for Businesses

    I am not sure if this is a new Google test or not, but I…

  • Google to Increase Importance of HTTPS as a Ranking Factor

    Most website owners at this point know they should be on HTTPS. It increases user…

About John Lincoln

John Lincoln (MBA) is the CEO of Ignite Visibility, a top performance marketing agency backed by Mountaingate Capital. A digital marketing strategist and keynote speaker, Lincoln has managed over 1,000 marketing programs for brands like DoorDash, HBO, Tony Robbins, and Experian. Under his leadership, Ignite Visibility has been named a leading digital marketing agency in the U.S. and made the Inc. 5,000 list six times. Lincoln also spearheaded the development of CertaintyTech, a cutting-edge media mix modelling and forecasting platform. An award-winning marketer, Lincoln has authored three books, including Advolution (2022), and produced films such as SEO: The Movie. Recognized as a Top Business Leader, he has been featured in Forbes and The New York Times and spoken at global events like Web Summit and SMX. Lincoln's mission is to empower businesses through innovative digital strategies while reinvesting in clients, employees, and the community.

About Ignite

Ignite Visibility is a premier full-service digital marketing agency. We were founded in San Diego, CA but are now a 100% remote-first company with Igniters and clients around the globe.

Ignite Visibility is one of the highest awarded digital marketing agencies in the industry, works with some of the biggest brands in the world and is a 6x Inc. 5000 company.

noun-trading

Our Services

Ignite Visibility offers Award-Winning Services including comprehensive full-funnel digital marketing strategies. Learn more about our most popular service offerings below:

  • SEO Search Engine Optimization
  • PPC Pay Per Click
  • Email Marketing
  • Social Media
  • Creative
  • View All Services

Contact Us. Let’s Chat!

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form

Marketing Guides

SEO In 2020: How To Prepare For Major Disruption

"SEO: The Movie" - Have You Seen Our Film? Watch Now

"Social Media Marketing: The Movie" - Have You Seen Our Film? Watch Now

Amazon Seller Central vs Vendor Central

Listen To The Podcast Featuring The Best Minds In Marketing

John Lincoln Interviews Global Director of Digital Marketing & Strategy at Qualcomm, Jessica Jensen

Check Out 227 Free Online Marketing Classes

The 2020 Guide To Dominating SEO With Advanced Schema

Learn More About Our Digital Marketing Agency

Learn More About Our SEO Services

Learn More About Our Paid Media Services

SELECT CATEGORY

Become A Contributor

Interested in writing for Ignite Visibility?

APPLY NOW

noun-chat

Let's Chat

Ready to grow your online visibility and sales?

Request Your Free Proposal

Work With Us

NEWSLETTER // SIGN UP NOW










noun-strategy

Free Marketing Resources

  • Digital Marketing Resources
  • Marketing Strategy Videos
  • Weekly Marketing News Recaps
noun-strategy

Most Popular Blogs

  • How Long Does SEO Take?
  • Multi-Location SEO: Top Strategies
  • Google AI Overviews: Everything You Need to Know
  • Technical SEO 101
  • 18 Google Ad Extensions You Should Use
  • Complete Guide to Google Responsive Display Ads
  • Capitalizing on Local Service Ads
  • How SEO and PPC Work Together
  • Community Management Best Practices
  • B2B Social Media Marketing Guide
  • VIEW ALL BLOGS
noun-letter

Join Our Newsletter

CONNECT WITH US

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • linkedin

Services

  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Generative Engine Optimization
  • Pay Per Click Management
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Email Marketing
  • Conversion Rate Optimization
  • Website Design & Development
  • Creative Design
  • Content Marketing
  • Digital PR
  • Franchise Marketing
  • Digital Marketing Agency Services

About

  • Our Team
  • Our Values
  • Clients
  • Industry
  • Reviews
  • Careers
  • Marketing Resources
  • Privacy Policy & Service Terms
  • Advertising Disclosures
  • Sitemap

Contact

4370 La Jolla Village Drive
Suite 320
San Diego, California 92122

619.752.1955

Join The Newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest from Ignite Visibility.











google parther logo

©2025 Ignite Visibility. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy and Terms of Service