Facebook Like vs Facebook Share. What Is The Difference?

[JChronicle]

I use sharethis.com share tools.  They offer both the facebook like button and the facebook share button.  I currently have both on my sites.  Is there an advantage to one over the other?  I am not a fan of having two facebook buttons on each page of my site.

SEO wise does one help more than the other?  Do either help at all?

[danatanseo]

Hi James! A Facebook Like is a vote for your page. It's kind of the equivalent of a Brand or a business getting "friended." You can't get friends on a Facebook page, only your Facebook profile. Vice versa, you can't get "Likes" on your personal profile, only "Friends.:

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

Both are very valuable for SEO in different ways. One (the "Like") sort of gauges how influential your brand or page is. The other (a "Share") indicates how interesting and engaging your content is to other people.

Hope that makes sense and helps explain a bit the difference.

[JChronicle]

Those type of "likes" weren't what I was referencing.  For example if you scroll down to the bottom of my webpage you will see what I mean...

Mashed Up Atlanta SEO Page

[danatanseo]

Hmmm. Understood. In that case it is a measure of popularity, a vote, where a "share" again would be a measure of engagement or potential that content has for going viral.

I noticed on your homepage that your "Follow us on Facebook" link isn't working yet. Do you guys have a Facebook page? If so can you send me the link so I can "like" it?

Likes and share also display quite differently on timelines. They display a bit opposite from what you'd expect. For example, when I "liked" your homepage, My Timeline said:

Dana likes Mashed Up Atlanta | Atlanta SEO Firm | Social Media Marketing | Reputation Management | Mobile Websites.

...and I did not have the opportunity to add a comment.

When I shared a link, my timeline said:

Dana shared a link.

You'll notice a like produces a link with anchor text, a share does not. However, a share gives you the opportunity to comment on the content you are sharing.

From this perspective, it seems a "Like" would be better than a "share" for SEO purposes in Facebook Timelines.

[nyanainc]

My friend I can ask you something? I noticed that on this page here http://www.socialseomanagement.com/seoatlanta you have 2.5k likes. From where they come from this likes, from  moment that your homepage have only 14 likes and one of them is mine? Plus the fact that your site is ranked like this on alexa ? http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/socialseomanagement.com# You bought them or I don't see good? there where writes 2.5k I suggest that if you bought them remove them because Google can track it. I am not judging you or something but is better for your site if you remove them and keep only the real ones.

[danatanseo]

Is it possible to remove "likes" as a page administrator? I am not sure it is. I think this can only be done by Facebook.

Can anyone chime in on this?

[vbestic]

Both like and share are great benefit for your business, but if you must chose one, it really depends what do you need.

Like = It's a vote for your brand, this is better if you are looking for long term authority building

Share = This is great if you have some content with viral potential, it can grow fast. But if you don't have viral content, it's good for generating some traffic burst.

My choice is to use like for promoting business homepage and use shares to promote blog posts.

I hope I helped!

[JChronicle]

No I did not buy them. I had a friend ask her sorority to all like a couple of the pages but unfortunately she directed them to the SEO page http://www.socialseomanagement.com/seoatlanta on my site and not to the homepage. Supposedly the sorority "liked" and also emailed out to their contacts to do the same. Also I am not sure there is an way to remove facebook likes from a page. I have never experienced anything negative from this either....

[Atlanta-SMO]

Which do you think has more SEO or SMO impact?  Google plus votes, Facebook Likes, or Facebook shares?