Do social signals pass through a 301 redirect?
-
Does value from social signals have the ability to pass through a 301 redirect?
-
Hi Bimmer,
Thanks a lot for reporting your results.
I agree that it is easy for Google to figure out that if Page A 301 redirects to Page B (regardless of which domain each page is on), they can look up the Opengraph counts for both the old Page A and the new Page B and pass the value to Page B.
They just haven't publicly acknowledged doing so. That said, Google is a data monster, and OG is open. There's no chance on earth they're not trying to make the most of whatever of that data they can touch.
In regards to people changing the OG:url property, I know that there is a way to do that, but, I personally would prefer any new likes to apply to the new domain, and not to an old URL. If Google comes out and says they're passing social value of 301s, then I might reconsider that belief.
Thanks again for your feedback, very helpful!
-
I recently 301 redirected an old domain to a new domain...
Facebook:
Unfortunately, Facebook Likes don't pass through. I have read a few articles that recommend editing the meta property og:url to the old URL, as well as changing the data_href on the Like button to the old URL. But I haven't seen it work, and the Facebook Object Debugger throws an error.Google+
The +1's from the old domain did transfer to my new domain. I can tell that the +1 counter didn't start from 0 again, plus, since I +1'd a couple of my own pages last year on the old domain, I can see those +1's in my Google+ profile. It shows me that I did indeed +1 pages on the old domain last year, and if I go to those pages on the new domain now, the +1 button is red and lets me know that I publicly +1 it. It looks like those transfer just fine.So Google+ share counts seem to transfer, but not FB Likes. Is there a way that Google can know a page on the old domain has a lot of FB likes, and even though the count doesn't transfer to the new domain, they use the old domain social signal and pass its authority to the new domain? The more I think about it, probably.
My old domain had importance, and soon after the 301 my new domain seemed to reap a lot of the old domains value. Even if Google can't pull up my old FB Like count in the same way that I can't, there's probably still a social signal value that Google has stored.
So the more I think about this, even though my FB Like Count for a specific page went from 2000 Likes on the old URL to 0 Likes on the new URL, I think Google still passed that authority to the new URL. I don't have hard facts, just what I've observed. I do wish I could get my old Like Counts back though.
-
We know that when you change the permalink structure of a site, that page loses it's "button count" for Facebook likes, Tweets, and LinkedIn shares. The Facebook opengraph doesn't currently support any sort of URL changes, regardless of redirects in place on the site itself.
It is very hard to say whether or not Google has implemented the ability to (A) detect a 301 redirect, (B) check the opengraph stats for that former URL (since they can't check twitter or linkedin to my knowledge), and (C) apply those stats to the new URL. This is essentially the process that they'd have to go through in order to pass any value from social likes, etc.
I haven't seen any testing that would suggest either way. My hunch is that they don't.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Article previews on social media not showing
Hi there, hoping for some help. I have a hunch but I can't be sure. Whenever I go to publish a link on social media, I no longer see previews with the featured image or relevant meta. We have changed servers lately so I think maybe somethign has gone wrong with OpenGraph? Happens on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Social Media | | Whittie0 -
Knowing audience through social share
Is there any way I can search on Google or use any tool to find my audiences who have shared my blog post on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn or anywhere else? If Moz provides this functionality then where can i find it. Also, How can i find the same information on competitors blog?
Social Media | | musigma0 -
Social Media Tool
Hello Everyone,
Social Media | | vndflkvnlkzdfnv
I'm trying to find a tool that allows me to post to twitter, facebook and google+ at the sametime. Does anyone have a recommendation? Thanks!0 -
Researching where your brand is mentioned in Social Media
Greetings from Hot & sweaty Wetherby 😉 Ok imagine you want to launcg a socaila media campiagn for a client but before you jump into creating a facebook business page you decide to do some research first ie youw want to know if & where you brand is being discussed. So my question is: "What social media tool can you use to identify which social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook etc) is being used to discuss a brand" Thanks in advance,
Social Media | | Nightwing
David0 -
What is the usual amount of sites to use sharing with social media
yes i am wanting to share my articles with social media sites, what is the amount of sites you should use and not over do it
Social Media | | equotes0 -
UK Social Media Training
Anyone recommend a good mid level social media training company in the UK. Ideally would want on site training for about six people. We are based in Salisbury in Wiltshire. Thanks in advance.
Social Media | | highwayfive0 -
Do i direct traffic to all social platforms or not?
Hi ...I have a brand that is very strong socially..specifically facebook and twitter and this is where we have directed all strategy and traffic. We recently wanted to establish a presence on google+ and have done so. My feeling at this point is to maintain a presence on google+ but only direct social traffic to facebook and twitter from the brands website....so we can keep the focus here aswell as the stronger community. I have noticed other brands doing something similar.....is this a good strategy or should we be directing traffic to all the platforms from the site?...bottomline should we be linking to all our social platforms from the brands website or keep it linked to the stronger platforms and just maintain a presence on the others? thank you
Social Media | | nomad-2023230 -
Website Competiton - sharing the entry on social media
Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you could help me with this. Basically one of our clients will host a competition on their website soon. Once a visitor completed the entry form I would like to have social media buttons on that page that automatically place text into your social media account if you chose to "share" or "tweet" your entry. For example it could automatically place "I have just entered to win .... You should try it out as well!" into the twitter or Facebook posting field. I have tried looking around, but honestly I am not sure what the look for. How could this be achieved or what it is called? Thank you
Social Media | | Michael-Goode0