The Internet Marketing Driver

  • GSQi Home
  • About Glenn Gabe
  • SEO Services
    • Algorithm Update Recovery
    • Technical SEO Audits
    • Website Redesigns and Site Migrations
    • SEO Training
  • Blog
    • Web Stories
  • Contact GSQi

Archives for August 2016

How To Save Social Shares In WordPress When Changing Domain Names, Moving To HTTPS, or Switching Permalinks (Using Social Warfare)

August 30, 2016 By Glenn Gabe 2 Comments

Using Social Warfare to recover social shares.

It’s no secret that changing urls can be dangerous SEO-wise. In the past, I’ve written heavily about the dangers of website redesigns, migrating to a new CMS, and changing domain names. Basically, whenever you mass change urls on your site, you can run into serious SEO problems. And that includes migrating to https (which many sites are doing now).

For example, there are a number of things you need to do in order to maintain search equity during the change. That includes nailing the redirection plan, properly changing canonicals, handling the site move correctly in GSC, updating your CMS settings, and more. And the redirection plan is a critically important step that enables you to pass all signals from the old urls to the new ones (on a one-to-one basis). If you don’t, you can pay dearly.

But while many people focus on the SEO aspects of changing urls (for good reason), there’s another issue that often gets overlooked. And it can also have a big impact on your business. It’s the dreaded loss of social shares.

Losing social shares can feel like this.

URL Changes Are Inevitable
Every website needs to be redesigned at some point, and now many are switching to https. So, changing urls is inevitable for many business owners.

And if you have spent a lot of time publishing killer content that has built many social shares across posts, then the last thing you want to see is a major loss of shares. Social proof can be powerful, and watching a post go from 1,546 shares to 0 is enough to make even the toughest digital marketer cringe in horror.

So, we’ve got a tough situation. On the one hand, you want to improve your site, migrate to https, etc. And on the other hand, you can potentially lose all of your social shares in one fell swoop. And the social networks aren’t helping matters. Try and find solid documentation from them about retaining shares when you change urls. There’s really no strong documentation that covers the situation, which is unfortunate.

By the way, the major social networks should follow Google’s lead support-wise. Google provides an outstanding site move section in their webmaster support area. I wish Facebook, LinkedIn, and others would do the same, but that’s for another post.

Therefore, I guess we’re all in a tough situation when changing urls, right? Goodbye to those precious social shares… Woe is me…

BUT HOLD ON!

Drop the pity routine! You don’t need to settle for disappearing social shares. You don’t need to watch social proof disappear into thin air. I found an excellent solution to the problem and I’m going to share it below (and walk you through how to use it). Enter Social Warfare, your social proof savior. I think you’ll like it. <- You see what I did there? :)

Social Warfare To The Rescue With “Share Recovery”
I started using social warfare a while ago for displaying social shares on my blog and it’s a great plugin with a boatload of functionality. But, it ends up they added even more functionality that is mind-blowing, especially for someone like myself who helps a lot of companies with website redesigns. They added “Share Recovery”.

As you can guess, the smart people at Social Warfare developed a solution based on a global need. And you might actually build a statue for them after using it (as you stare at your glorious social shares from your old urls, combined with shares from your new ones). Based on my experience, it’s been a great solution.

Once you install and set up the plugin, Social Warfare will check both the old url and the new url for shares, and then combine the results. So you will have both the old shares and new shares (including any brand new shares you build over time), all wrapped into one. Awesome, right?

Several options available in the UI, plus an important hack:
I’m sure you’re wondering which types of situations are handled by the plugin? Well, most url changes are covered by Social Warfare. For example, the plugin covers:

  • changing permalink structure
  • migrating to https from http
  • switching from non-www to www (or vice versa)
  • switching to a subdomain, and of course,
  • changing domain names overall

Here is a screenshot of the options in the UI:

Social warfare options for recovering social shares when changing urls.

The UI in WordPress handles most of what’s listed above, but switching domain names is a little trickier (yet still relatively easy to implement). You’ll need to add a small section of code to your theme’s functions.php file instead of using the UI. I’ll cover that scenario below.

How To Save Social Shares When Changing Domain Names
Below, I’ll cover step-by-step how to retain social shares when changing your domain name. Again, you can handle several url changes using Social Warfare, but I’ll focus on switching domain names for this example. I’ll use domain1.com and domain2.com to keep this simple. Also, you obviously need to be running WordPress so you can use the Social Warfare plugin.

1. Buy, Install and Register Social Warfare
The Social Warfare plugin is not free, but it’s extremely reasonable pricing-wise. A single site license is just $29, while a package for up to five websites is $135. Once you buy the plugin, go ahead and install Social Warfare just like any other plugin. Once it’s installed, you’ll need to register the plugin.

Register Social Warfare.

2. Activate Share Recovery
Once you customize the styles for your plugin (optional), you can head to the “Advanced” tab. Scroll down until you see “Share Recovery” with an on/off toggle for “Activate Share Recovery”. Click the button to activate share recovery (the button will toggle and turn green.)

Activate share recovery in Social Warfare.

3. Review Previous URL Options
Note, you don’t need to change anything here when just changing domain names. But it’s good to review this list in case you had permalink changes, you are migrating to https, etc. I mentioned these options earlier in the post and this is where you would select or enter the options matching your own specific url change. But again, for straight domain name changes, you don’t need to change these options. Keep them as-is. But again, you must still activate share recovery like we did in step 2 for domain name changes.

Social warfare options for recovering social shares when changing urls.

4. Copy and Refine Code For Your Theme’s functions.php File
I mentioned earlier that a straight domain name change isn’t handled via the options in the UI. Instead, you’ll need to use the code below and paste it into your theme’s functions.php file. Then you’ll need to edit two lines of the code. Note, if you don’t know where that file is located, contact your designer or developer. They can point you to the file quickly.

Also, make sure you back up your site before making any changes. You should be doing this anyway, but it’s always good to ensure you have a backup before you make any changes (even minor ones like this). And make sure you have a backup of your functions.php file so you can always re-upload that older version if needed.

Here’s the code you need to copy :

//* Custom Share Recovery for Social Warfare
add_filter('swp_recovery_filter','custom_recovery_filter');
function custom_recovery_filter($permalink) {
$current_domain = 'http://www.domain1.com/';
$former_domain = 'http://www.domain2.com/';
$permalink = str_replace($current_domain,$former_domain,$permalink);
return $permalink;
}

5. Edit The Code, Add Your Own Domain Names
The only two lines of code you need to edit are the current domain and former domain lines. This should match your WordPress install. The easiest way to know what to put here is to check your General WordPress settings. For example, if your install is in a directory, then that will look different than a root install.

General settings in WordPress.

For this example, let’s say the WordPress install is in the /blog directory of your website. Then the two lines of code you enter would look like this:

$current_domain = ‘http://www.domain1.com/blog’;

$former_domain = ‘http://www.domain2.com/blog’;

Again, check your General Settings in WordPress, which will provide exactly what you should include in the code. If you don’t match that exactly, then share recovery will not work. I repeat, if this doesn’t match perfectly, your old shares will not show up.

6. Testing The Setup
Remember, “Share Recovery” must be turned on in the UI for this to work (covered earlier). So even though you are adding code to your theme’s functions.php file, you still need that option turned on in the WordPress settings for the plugin.

Next, once you upload the new functions.php file, there are querystring parameters you can add to your urls that will show the previous url at the top of the post (using the old domain name), while also rebuilding the Social Warfare cache. This will help you debug and test the setup. If you don’t clear the Social Warfare cache, then you might not see the true share count. So it may be working, but you simply won’t think it’s working. Note, the old url will only show up for you, since you are using the parameters I’ll give you in a second. Normal visitors will not see the old url.

So, add the following querystring parameters to the end of any url you want to test that has older social shares. Once you do, and refresh those urls, you should see the old url at the top of the post and then the share count should reflect shares from both the old and new urls.

Test the setup using hte following querystring parameters:
?swp_cache=rebuild&swp_recovery_debug=true

For example, if your new url was:

http://www.domain2.com/blog/sample-post/

…then the url with the parameters would be:

http://www.domain2.com/blog/sample-post/?swp_cache=rebuild&swp_recovery_debug=true

And if you already have querystring parameters at the end of your urls, then you need to append these parameters. To do that, use an ampersand (&) versus the question mark (?)

For example:
http://www.domain2.com/blog/?p=264&swp_cache=rebuild&swp_recovery_debug=true

7. Enjoy your updated share counts and benefit from social proof again.
If the share count changed (increased), you’re good to go. Please send chocolates, golf balls, or new darts to the address listed on my site. :) You can rest assured that your older posts will reflect shares from both the old url and new one (combining domains). That’s for most urls. More about that next.

Side Note: What’s up with Facebook?
Note, I’ve seen some very strange things with Facebook counts (and this is NOT just a Social Warfare issue). For some reason, Facebook will sometimes not show the accurate number of shares from the old url. It does work for many, but not for all. I can’t explain why that’s happening and I’m pretty sure nobody can. So, you might see some urls that regain almost all of their Facebook shares, while others don’t get all of them back.  Hey, those are the breaks. You can’t win them all.

Summary – Recover Social Proof Using Social Warfare For WordPress
Changing urls on a site can be a risky proposition. And although many people focus on the SEO impact, social can also take a hit. When changing urls, you can end up losing all social shares, which can be horrible when you’ve spent a lot of time and resources building those shares! But by using Social Warfare, you can regain those lost shares (and keep building them as time goes on).

I recommend trying Social Warfare. I think you’ll dig it. Good luck.

GG

 

Filed Under: facebook, google-plus, seo, social-media, tools

Do Google users outside of SEO understand what AMP means in the mobile search results? [Survey Results]

August 5, 2016 By Glenn Gabe 5 Comments

Google AMP Survey Results

On Tuesday, Google announced a demo of accelerated mobile pages (AMP) in the standard search results. That was huge news and should have every website that’s publishing content take notice. Until the demo was announced, amplified pages would only show in very specific areas of the mobile search results, like the “Top stories” section (via a carousel).

But with the demo, Google is showing that any AMP could potentially show up in the standard search results, from any site, and in any country. That would mean AMP could jump out of the carousel and into the main search results. Again, that’s big news.

And for those of us in SEO, it’s easy to get ultra-excited about this. Although there won’t be a direct ranking boost based on having amplified pages (yet), enabling users to quickly launch near-instant pages from the search results, along with the display an AMP icon in the SERPs, is exciting (and we believe this can give us and our clients an advantage).

–But does it?–

A Tweet That Got Me Thinking
Right after tweeting out the demo, Ari Roth replied to me asking if I thought the average user even knows what AMP is? And if they understand what the AMP icon is, and that it would mean a better user experience on their phones?

Tweet conversation about Google AMP in the SERPs

And at that moment, I realized I might have been viewing AMP through an SEO lens only. Sure I know about AMP and its benefits, but what about everyone else in the world outside of the search industry? I replied to Ari saying that was an excellent point.

Looking back the demo and seeing both AMP icons + mobile-friendly tags, I couldn’t help but think that the average user might understand mobile-friendly way more than AMP with a lightning bolt. And if that’s the case, wouldn’t that yield mediocre results for amplified pages in the search results (at least in the short-term)? And couldn’t that possibly lead to even more click through to mobile-friendly pages versus amplified pages?

There’s not much data from publishers yet performance-wise, and again, AMP is only displayed in limited areas right now in the search results. But Barry Schwartz recently provided some stats based on Search Engine Roundtable implementing AMP. He is seeing lower click through rates from AMP, and that got me thinking that maybe the lower CTR is due to an AMP perception problem. I wanted to learn more.

A Quick AMP Poll:
So, I fired up survey monkey and created a really simple two-question poll. I basically wanted to know if people outside of SEO knew what the AMP icon was and what it meant. And then I wanted to know if they would be more apt to click the AMP result or the “mobile-friendly” result.

So I took a quick screenshot of a lyrics search (I’ve helped a number of sites in that niche and Google even said to test out lyrics searches in the demo). Then I created the poll and started emailing friends of mine that were not in the SEO industry.

In the past day or two, 44 people have now taken the poll, and most of the people are between the ages of 25 and 50. But I even received a response from a 9-year-old (yes, 9-year-olds search Google too), as well as a response from a 75-year-old. None of the respondents are involved with SEO. Most of the respondents consisted of professionals from several different industries.

The results were fascinating, and made a lot of sense when you take a step out of the SEO bubble for a minute. Read on.

Important note: I’m not saying that 44 people represent all internet users… It was just a quick poll to people I know outside of SEO. But almost all of their responses were identical. My core point is to simply raise the important question of whether the average Google user has any idea what AMP means, and if that would get them to click the AMP listing versus another that says “mobile-friendly”. Also, I understand that using a lyrics search result with AMP listings could have some people thinking there’s a music connection. That just happened to be the screenshot I pulled. That said, it doesn’t take away from the point that users might not understand what AMP is. In other words, if someone thought it was connected to music, then they don’t understand what AMP is overall.

And I encourage you to ask people you know outside of SEO the same questions! You might see different results than I did. Or, you might see the same results. It’s important to understand user perception before taking the AMP plunge. And I think it’s important for the future labeling of AMP in the Google search results. In other words, should it be labeled AMP, or maybe something more descriptive? More on that later.

The AMP Poll Results
The first question was a simple, open-ended one. I provided an image of a mobile SERP with both AMP results and mobile-friendly results. Then I asked, “Do you know what AMP means in the image below?” Here is the image I displayed:

AMP in the search results

Out of 44 responses, only three people answered the question accurately. Almost all respondents answered “I don’t know” or some variation of it.

Here is a sample of the responses:

I don’t know.

No idea

I don’t know.

Any mobile platform.

I don’t know.

No idea what amp means.

Something for mobile phones.

Gives you faster access to the content.

I am not familiar with the acronym. I only know of one “amp” related to music, but I’m certain this has nothing to do with this music website.

I believe it to mean some sort of quicker connection. AMP with the electric bolt.

My first thought is that the page is amplified … plays music, perhaps or has extra content that amplifies it some way. But this is likely not correct.

I don’t know what it means, and probably would not open the link until I found out what it means.

First look, I have no clue, but think something to do with publishing?

I don’t know what AMP means.

It doesn’t mean anything to me. First thought was some kind of electrical “amp”.

No idea! Will have to Google it. =)

Amplify? I actually have no idea.

Alternative mobile page.

I’m actually not sure what that means.

AMP seems like it may be the name of a music website, especially in the context of music lyrics. Or it could stand for some kind of premium service, like a result that is “amped-up” beyond the regular result. It adds a little confusion because I’m not clear what it is that I’d click on.

I don’t know what it is.

No idea.

It looks like an acronym for some group related to music and copyright.

I don’t know.


Question 1 Recap
After seeing the responses, I couldn’t help but think that the low click through rates some sites are seeing could be due to overwhelming confusion about what AMP is. Only three people knew what it was, and most had no idea. And then you have “mobile-friendly” sitting right below it, which is extremely clear about what it means for users. That’s a great segue to my second question.

Question 2 – Which result would you choose?
The second question simply asked respondents if they were on their phone, would they be more apt to click the AMP result or the “mobile-friendly” result below it.  I also provided a third option that read, “I don’t care about which tag is displayed.”

Out of 44 responses, 29 chose “mobile-friendly”, 13 selected “I don’t care which tag is displayed”, and only 2 people chose the AMP listing.

Would you click on the AMP result or the

WOW, only two said they would choose the AMP listing! Three people actually knew what AMP was, but one of those three still chose to select the “mobile-friendly version”. So based on a quick poll to 44 people outside of SEO, it seems most didn’t know what AMP is, and they would be more willing to click the clearer message of “mobile-friendly” versus the AMP listing.

Again, I’m not saying my poll represents the entire world of internet users, but it could represent more than you think… I’m not sure what I was expecting from the results, but I sure wasn’t expecting only three people to know what AMP is, and only two to say they would click the AMP result versus other listings.

What this means for Google
OK, so we know Google is pushing AMP hard and we know that AMP provides a lightning-fast version of the content. That’s great, but the other piece of the puzzle is having users actually know about that, and then select it in the search results. And based on my poll, I can’t help but think that AMP has a branding problem.

The acronym doesn’t mean anything to many internet users as of now, while “mobile-friendly” is much clearer. I’m sure Google is testing this across many users, but I personally believe the icon and message in the SERP needs to be clearer to users. They need to understand the benefit first, before they click through. I don’t know if the tag should say, “Really Fast on Mobile” or “Amplified For Mobile” or “Loads Instantly”, but I don’t think it should remain as just “AMP” with a lightning bolt. Maybe Google could move towards that once more people understand what AMP actually is.

Also, and this was staring me in the face in the demo Google rolled out, but they might provide a clear message at the top of the search results once accelerated mobile pages roll out to the full SERPs. For example, check out what the demo shows below. See the blue box at the top with a message about AMP? That would be smart to run for a while when AMP hits the search results.

Demo message about AMP in the search results.

Summary – Don’t forget about user perception when rolling out AMP
AMP is hot, Google is pushing it hard, and it provides an incredible, near-instant loading experience for mobile users. But there’s a chance that many users have no idea what AMP actually is. In addition, there are “mobile-friendly” results right above or below AMP listings in the SERPs. And it seems many are more willing to click the “mobile-friendly” listings versus AMP.

I would keep this in mind when deciding whether you should roll out AMP on your own website. There are some publishers claiming low click through rates for AMP articles, and now we may know why. I hope Google addresses this soon, and before AMP hits the full search results. And when AMP moves from demo-form into the full search results, we’ll see if it ends up with an AMP tag with a lightning bolt, or a clearer message for users. Time will tell.

Until then, I recommend polling your own friends and family. See what they say and understand which listing they will click on. You might be surprised what you find. I sure was.

GG

 

Filed Under: google, mobile, seo

Connect with Glenn Gabe today!

Latest Blog Posts

  • How to compare hourly sessions in Google Analytics 4 to track the impact from major Google algorithm updates (like broad core updates)
  • It’s all in the (site) name: 9 tips for troubleshooting why your site name isn’t showing up properly in the Google search results
  • Google Explore – The sneaky mobile content feed that’s displacing rankings in mobile search and could be eating clicks and impressions
  • Bing Chat in the Edge Sidebar – An AI companion that can summarize articles, provide additional information, and even generate new content as you browse the web
  • The Google “Code Red” That Triggered Thousands of “Code Reds” at Publishers: Bard, Bing Chat, And The Potential Impact of AI in the Search Results
  • Continuous Scroll And The GSC Void: Did The Launch Of Continuous Scroll In Google’s Desktop Search Results Impact Impressions And Clicks? [Study]
  • How to analyze the impact of continuous scroll in Google’s desktop search results using Analytics Edge and the GSC API
  • Percent Human: A list of tools for detecting lower-quality AI content
  • True Destination – Demystifying the confusing, but often accurate, true destination url for redirects in Google Search Console’s coverage reporting
  • Google’s September 2022 Broad Core Product Reviews Update (BCPRU) – The complexity and confusion when major algorithm updates overlap

Web Stories

  • Google’s December 2021 Product Reviews Update – Key Findings
  • Google’s April 2021 Product Reviews Update – Key Points For Site Owners and Affiliate Marketers
  • Google’s New Page Experience Signal
  • Google’s Disqus Indexing Bug
  • Learn more about Web Stories developed by Glenn Gabe

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • GSQi Home
  • About Glenn Gabe
  • SEO Services
  • Blog
  • Contact GSQi
Copyright © 2023 G-Squared Interactive LLC. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Are you ok with the site using cookies? You can opt-out at a later time if you wish. Cookie settings ACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. You can read our privacy policy for more information.
Cookie Consent