Dumb SEO Questions

(Entry was posted by Unique Websites on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 08/30/2013).

Facebook Like button or a Facebook Share button on your site? Or do both have equal value?

Is it better to have a Facebook Like button or a Facebook Share button on your site? Or do both have equal value?

Also, if someone is nice enough to share/like my content, is it best if they share/like the home page or is it better to have various key blog pages with likes/shares?

PS Can I say thanks to everyone for the information received in my last questions! This is a very useful community where people can gain a lot of knowledge.
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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

  • Ranu Jain: A Facebook "Like" is a Vote. It's kind of the equivalent of a Brand or a business getting friended.

    A "Share" is completely different. It is only someone sharing your content with their followers or friends or both. They do not necessarily need to have liked your page or be your friend to share your content (depending of course on privacy settings).

    I believe that people tend to "Like" more is because "Like" only takes a click and there are things that are easy to be liked but not always to be shared. But yes, content that is Sharable will inevitably be Likeable as well.

    Both are very valuable in different ways. A "Like" shows how influential your brand or page is. The "Share" indicates how interesting and engaging your content is to other people. Research says that Brands Favor Social Shares Over Likes.

    So, I think you may have both the buttons.

    I read an interesting post on Mashable about Facebook "Like" Button Takes Over "Share" Button Functionality. You may find it interesting. Check it out here: http://mashable.com/2011/02/27/facebook-like-button-takes-over-share-button-functionality/
  • Unique Websites: +Ranu Jain ;Many thanks for the info and link; have read with interest and now understand more.

    Does anyone know if Google can keep a record of the number of Likes you get, especially as many private individuals do not make their pages public?? I assume that, as Facebook shares/likes are thought to help with SEO, Google does at least monitor personal Facebook pages??
  • Ranu Jain: You are Welcome +Unique Websites ;.

    This question was widely discussed by Rand Fishkin from SEOMoz, Matt Cutts from Google and the folks at Seoroundtable. In short - No. FB Likes do not influence SERPs. There is a correlation between higher SERPs and more likes, but correlation is not causation. ;

    What I think and gathered from reading is that when you Like/ Share something is often visible, on public timeline, or on a social widget on the blog of the user who shared / liked. This will create a backlink to a specific page, a well known metric used by search engines. A few references won't create any significant effect, but if the numbers are large, you get the picture.

    Check out these links for deeper insights.

    http://www.stateofsearch.com/how-important-are-facebook-likes-for-search/

    http://moz.com/blog/does-google-use-facebook-shares-to-influence-search-rankings
  • Unique Websites: +Ranu Jain ;Once again, thanks for the very helpful links, which I've read through and bookmarked.

    I notice both are a couple of years old though. Is it still thought that Facebook likes/shares do not influence Google? It seems like most ;stuff  ;I've read this last year all suggests that social signals are becoming an important part of SEO.
  • Jitendra Vaswani: Like button & Share button are imp on websites ;
  • João Leitão: I love this website concept, of how common doubts are explain in detail. thanks! greetings from Rio de Janeiro!

View original question in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 08/30/2013).

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