More than just a name change, this has been a long time coming. Ever since we first released the SEO Booster in June of 2012 we knew it was a cutting edge and powerful SEO plugin and for quite some time we have recognized that the Social SEO Booster Pro is more than an SEO “booster”. The plugin is a highly sophisticated and functional SEO and Social Media Optimization plugin for WordPress. One which we consider to be essential for every WordPress website owner.
With that in mind, we have now renamed the WP Social SEO Booster Pro plugin to the “WP Social SEO Pro” plugin.
Critical SEO and Social Media Optimizations
The Social SEO Pro Plugin comes with several key optimizations and integrations which are critical to your WordPress website’s SEO and Social Media Optimizations. It is important to note that Social Media Signals and how they are shared across all the different Social platforms (Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, LinkedIN, Pinterest) can make or break your SEO. As of last Summer it was already noted by SearchMetrics and MOZ that Social Media Signals dominate the top ranking factors for Google Search. Along with that, Google has now attributed more ranking factors to Schema.org Rich Snippet Microdata through in-depth “Article” attributes, Authorship, AuthorRank, Reviews, Videos, and much, much more. The WP Social SEO Pro plugin takes care of all this and it goes above and beyond what other “SEO” plugins do.
Why Do I Need a Social SEO Plugin for My Site?
This is probably one of the most common questions we receive. Why do I need a plugin like this? The answer is simple to an SEO, yet it might sound very complicated to the every day user. You see, Social Media Signals are sent from your blog to the different social networks each and every time a piece of content is shared from your site. If you simply let Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, LinkedIN, Pinterest, and all the other smaller networks grab any title, description, and image they want from your site; you lose any potential optimization you may have. With a plugin like the SEO Pro you not only are able to optimize each of these for each social network individually, you also are able to go beyond that and use the vast array of utilities the API’s of these services offer as we outlined here previously.
With the SEO Pro Plugin, you can optimize every facet of the social media optimization experience with Titles, Descriptions, Images, Content Types, Videos, APPs, Locations, Product Information, and more. You can see all the settings in the Image Gallery here.
Plus, with the plugin we have gone way beyond the basics of SMO and now have it fully integrated with other highly powerful SEO aspects as well.
Google and Facebook Authorship
The SEO aspects begin with Google Authorship and Google Publisher status. What most people do not even realize is there is now Facebook Authorship and Publisher status as well and the Social SEO Plugin is the only plugin which currently has this integration for your entire site. With Facebook Authorship you are now able to stamp your name and your Business’ Brand on content which is shared by you personally (Authorship) and that which is shared by your Fan Pages (Publisher status). This allows Facebook users who are NOT your friends and NOT Fans of your Fan Pages to quickly Subscribe to you and/ or become a Fan of your Pages quickly whenever your content is shared by someone on Facebook or from your website. This is extremely powerful and it is something you need to do now if you are not already.
Schema.org Rich Snippet Microdata
Google’s latest push has been on using what they confusingly call Structured Data. Everyone else commonly knows this as microdata from Schema.org or “rich snippets” These snippets are used to provide Google and other search engine which support it with essential information which cannot always be garnered via the indexing of your content by the GoogleBOT. Information like Ratings and Reviews, Product information and Pricing, Event information and details, Business Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP), Recipe information, and much, much more.
Putting it All Together
With the SEO Pro plugin this is all integrated into everything else we have provided, giving you the ability to tell Google (and other search engines like Bing) everything about your site and its content versus “hoping” they will figure it out. This all contributes to providing you, your business, and your website with the ability to rank higher in search for more search terms in a highly specified manner, transmit highly focused social media signals to Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, LinkedIN, and Pinterest, and optimize your site beyond basic SEO like you get from tools like the WordPress SEO Plugin from Yoast and the All in One SEO Pack plugin (which the Social SEO Pro plugin integrates with both).
There is a lot more that the plugin has to offer, so I invite you to take a look at the newly renamed WP Social SEO Pro plugin here.
*Remember, you can get this Plugin and ALL of our other Products at WPSocial.com for one low price here.
Looks good Mike. Glad you’re continuing to make updates and changes. Thanks for sharing.
Jeff Burritt No problem. Thanks Jeff. We have to keep pushing ahead. Our goal here is to continue to get better and better.
Mike
Is this plugin necessary when you are using SEO by Yoast and SEOPressor?
Do I have to update it in my blogs? It still says “WP Social
SEO Booster Pro” in my plugins page.
I believe the WP Social SEO Pro Plugin is strictly social media SEO – and Yoast is everything else SEO. Mike or someone can validate this, or please correct me if I am mistaken.
patsfanxxx I am trying to understand if both are needed or complete each other in some ways. So many plugins it is getting confusing.
Prisqua patsfanxxx
Sorry about that – I would say they both are needed, as Wp Social SEO Pro is geared for Social SEO and social signals etc. and Yoast is best for standard SEO.
Together, both will provide a one-two punch and give Google what it wants covering all bases. And Mike is right when he talks about structured data and rich snippets. WP Social SEO Pro is exactly what you want for this.
Yes, they are extremely complimentary to each other. They have a slightly different mission and are very manageable because they are separate.
If you have only 2 plugins for SEO – which should really be all you need anyway, these 2 are it.
With that said, yes there is a LOT to take in here (I am a developer license holder here so I know) and the best approach is to set up one or two of these plugins from WP Social at a time and get very comfortable with them. WP Social SEO Pro should be one of the first one to start with along side of WP Social Traffic Blaster (in my opinion)
I hope I didn’t add to the confusion, I have a tendency to ramble – lol
patsfanxxx You are correct. In fact, the Social SEO Pro plugin works together with the Yoast Plugin. We actually remove their post “Social” settings and replace them with ours. Yoast only does a fraction of what we do for Social. Take a look at the WordPress SEO Social Settings tab and you’ll see what I mean when you compare.
Prisqua Take a look at my reply below.
I’m using “All In One SEO Pack” instead of Yoast. Should I switch to Yoast to get the maximum benifits of the Social SEO Pro Plugin?
MikeJohnson patsfanxxx I had a look but itn looked so confusing. Now I have been using SEOPressor since if first came out and sometimes I use SEO by Yoast. I have read so many reviews between the two. One one of my blog though I had to remove yoast because when sharing a post on Facebook it would show some codes and I do not have that issue with SEOPressor. But the one thing I have noticed is when sharing on Google+ it only shows the title and the website. Would WP social pro fix that?
GlennF I recommend using the Yoast SEO plugin over the All in One SEO Pack even without the Social SEO Pro. it is a much better plugin. To answer your question though, yes it does integrate better as well.
Prisqua Google + post formatting is set by their API. How they look cannot be changed as this is controlled by Google. As for Yoast’s plugin, they have released a ton of new updates over the last few weeks and the latest versions are looking very good. Still short on Social, but great for SEO.
Thanks Mike, I just deactivated All-In-One SEO” and installed and activated the Yoast plugin. I just left all the default settings in Yoast. No need to change them, right?
Also, will the updated SEO Pro plugin fix the Google AuthorShip with the missing thumbnail picture or is that in Google control only? My name appears under the post title but not the image for months now which has effected many people.
GlennF Here is a guide on the best way to setup the Yoast SEO Plugin:
http://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-install-and-setup-wordpress-seo-plugin-by-yoast/
As for Authorship, I am sorry, but that is all Google and how they rate your content just like I said here:
http://wpsocial.com/google-authorship-changes-affects/
What are the updates for this and when will they be available?
GlennF This was a name change which simply accompanied a service update. The plugin already has all the above listed capabilities. Please read the beginning of the post again. 🙂
Thanks Mike, Will we have to update the plugin in our blogs? Mine says “WP Social SEO Booster Pro” is at v3.0.8 and is up to date.