How many Tweets does it take to get a significant boost in page rankings? According to a new study from b3Labs titled, Tweets vs. Rankings, a strong correlation was found between the number of times a link is re-tweeted and where it comes up on Google’s search results page.
The study, one of the largest of its kind, found that pages enjoy a significant boost in ratings when they’ve been Tweeted around 500 times. Beyond the 500 mark, pages see small boosts, but nothing big until they get around 7,500 Tweets.At 7,500 pages were virtually assured a top page ranking.
Still trying to build a Twitter following? Check out How Affiliates Can Gain Twitter Popularity
What They Found
b3Labs used data from their popular Twition website that allows users to simultaneously sign a petition and Tweet about it, too. Using data from over 8,500 Twitions, they measured page ranking based on the Twition’s title. That sample group was enough to establish a strong correlation between the number of times a link is Tweeted and its overall page ranks.
Their biggest findings were that 1-50 Tweets have a good influence on page rankings, but that influence levels off between 51-1000. Once it tops 1000, page rankings can climb even higher.
According to the study, links that hit the 7,500 Tweet mark are virtually assured an above the fold first page ranking. That’s a high mark to aim for, but a pretty sweet prize if you can hit it.
Finally
The takeaway for affiliates is that social media matters and getting readers actively engaged in re-tweeting and sharing links is more important than ever.
SEO, as the folks at b3Labs are the first to admit, isn’t a hard and fast science. There are plenty of other factors that can positively and negatively influence a page ranking.
We highly recommend CAP readers check out the full report here where b3 staffer Felicity Crouch has a great summary of the report and a link to the raw data, too.
Have you noticed a connection between Tweets and Rankings? Let us know on our SEO Forum.