SEO for Facebook… really? Can You Really Optimize Your Business Facebook Fan Page For Search Engines? YES!
The first step in optimizing your site for search is to identify the best keywords to target. Keywords should be selected based on how potential customers who have NEVER heard of your brand but NEED your goods/products/services are searching for suppliers. Keywords are hard to select, but with a little help from Google’s keyword tools (insights, trends, sets, etc.) you can discover not only the right words and phrases, but also the search volume itself. . Try to find good keywords and link them to your business name when choosing your mnemonic URL.
Make sure your Facebook Page URL represents your business identity and brand. They frown on black hat behavior, so keep it clear and choose a username that represents your brand! Part of the process to get a mnemonic URL is to have 100 followers on your Page. Once you get more than 100 fans, you can implement this SEO element with Facebook.
Once you have researched and selected the best keywords and selected your mnemonic page URL, it is time to focus on the actual optimization of your Facebook page. Here are some general guidelines for on-page optimization:
- Add keywords to your “about” box
- Place your business website link URL in your profile
- You can add more than one URL, so add your Twitter link, LinkedIn profile link, etc.
- Post interesting content on a regular basis that is related to your products or industry that is not ‘sellable’
- Use keywords in everything you post if possible
- Be social, interact, provoke comments
- Add YouTube videos, add photos or products, your storefront, etc.
- Find links related to the content of your site.
- Put your Facebook page URL in your email, newsletter, website, etc.
The “About” text is the place to pack your description with keywords as close to the top of the page as possible. You are limited by the amount of text you can place on it; It’s still the best place to add custom text. There is a 250 character limit, so use keywords in your text and be selective!
The “info” tab is a critical place to include more keywords/phrases, as well as links to your website and other social networks where your brand has a presence. This is essentially where search engines pull your fan page’s descriptive metadata and really boost your content score. Facebook has a super high page rank with all search engines, therefore having your website on your Facebook page is critical to providing a valuable link. To have your website displayed on your main profile page, click the access information box on the left side of your profile page. Click on the yellow pencil and you can edit the box. Check the “website” box to display your site. Now visitors can go directly to your website. Here are a few things to add to this chart:
- Local Lookup Information: Full address of a physical business or city, state, and ZIP code if you work from home or only have a PO Box.
- Company Data – Mission, Products, Services, Brands made
- URL – Add links to your website, blog, and other personal social media pages
Facebook allows you to create “static FBML” (Facebook Markup Language) boxes and tabs for large volumes of content, images, or video. The more content you have on your page, the higher your content density score with Google will be; however, keep in mind that each tab you create has a separate URL from the search engine’s perspective. To add a custom tab or box to your page:
- In the search box at the top right of your Facebook page, type “static fbml”
- You will go to a listings page. Select the “Static FBML” application button.
- A new page will open and on the top left there are two options. Click the “add to my page” icon.
- Choose the page where you want to add the custom content box or tab.
- Close the dialog box and go to your Fanpage. Just below your profile picture, click “edit page”
- A new page will open. In the application list is the application “FBML 1”. Click on the pencil next to it.
- Select “edit”
- A new page will open with 2 fields: “Frame Title” and “FBML”. Name the box or tab with a keyword related to the content you’ll place there. If this will be a tab title, it will be limited to 10 characters.
- Click “save changes”
- To return to your app’s settings page, click “edit” at the top of your page.
- Click the pencil next to the name you selected for the FBML application, and then choose “application settings.”
- To add the FBML you just created as a box, select “add” next to the “box” option.
- To add the FBML you just created as a tab, select “add” next to the “tab” option.
Status updates are a great place to post direct links to your website; however, you want to do it judiciously. Nobody likes to be constantly sold or proposed to. Since Google really likes pages that link to relevant sites, posting related links near the top of your page structure are legitimate Google boosters for your Facebook page.
Post the raw url in the status update frame or use the “attach link” function. When posting the raw URL, Facebook automatically links the text to the URL. The resulting anchor text is what it is… you can’t change it; however, the URL links directly to the landing page and does not have Facebook.com as part of the menu bar on the landing page.
If you use the “attach link” feature, Facebook pulls the title, body, and any images from your page and creates a suggested image and text next to your page link. This is also great for increasing keyword density by changing the anchor text before “sharing” your link. This link will go through a shared URL that places the destination URL in an iframe that has the Facebook menu bar on top. It will also include a sharing feature, as well as a place for comments.
Content is still king, so what you post beyond URLs can influence your searchability. But highly optimized keyword-rich content is useless if it’s not interesting and varied. Photos are fabulous, but add keyword-rich captions, perhaps with a geo-targeted keyword for extra mojo. Post an event and also include text and keywords. Create a discussion forum for those events and to discuss brands and product reviews etc. All the content you share on your Facebook pages is indexable by search engines.
There are even some external things you can do for your Facebook page. One of them is getting inbound links from your website and vice versa. Reciprocal related links from related and authoritative websites help your PageRank. Place a Facebook badge or Facebook Fan Box widget on your website to encourage your website followers to link to your Facebook page. Links from other Facebook pages are also a form of inbound links to your page. The more fans you have, the more links you have to your Facebook page, which will add to your “Google Go juice”.
Encourage your followers to comment and discuss topics on your page. Get them to like your page content as it links their name to their profile page thus creating another backlink. When Google spiders see that your fan is commenting on your page, since it is indexed, Google sees reciprocal links. This type of linkage carries great weight.
SEO is important for everything you post on the internet related to your business. Growing your social media connections on Facebook is greatly aided by simple search engine optimization tactics. You can do a lot to maximize your brand’s exposure in search engines through your Facebook Fan Page.