5 Tips for Facebook SEO

Facebook is constantly increasing in popularity and has been quoted as having even more visitors to its website than Google. It therefore makes sense to find ways to use the site as a marketing channel if you are not already doing so. Facebook SEO is a way of making it easier for people to find your Facebook page. Applying some basic SEO strategies to your page can gain you more fans and subscribers and help take your brand to the next level.

Here are some tips for increasing the visibility of your Facebook fan pages:-

1. Setting up the title, URL and picture of your fan page

It is a good idea to use your business name for the name of your fan page if you are not already doing so. You should avoid putting too many keywords in your page name that have no relevance to your organisation. The reason for this being, with Facebook being a social networking site, you stand a great chance of putting people off rather than giving your page the strong impression that you wish to give it.

A well-sized and good quality picture is a good idea for your profile image in order to enhance your brand.

A URL known as a vanity URL can be requested when your page has in excess of twenty five fans. These URLS enable people to find you and remember you more easily and comes in the form of facebook.com/yourname. It makes sense when choosing a vanity URL, to keep to the name of your organization.

2. Information on the fan page

Two very important areas of your fan page to fill out are the information tab and the “About box”.  It is very wise to complete the information tab as the more information you fill out, the more information that Facebook can pull from your page and therefore enable it to show up in related searches.

It is also very important to fill out the “About box” which exists at the top left of the page. This is a place where you can let visitors and Facebook know what your page is about. When filling out this information you should use relevant keywords that represent your organization on order to allow you to rank favourably when those keywords are searched for.

3. Link building

Link building is very important to SEO. A vast number of inbound links to your fan page helps to increase your page’s visibility. The links can be used in two positive ways. You can use links to build your fan base up and use external links that direct people to your fan page. It is a good idea to have links on your site etc. in order to promote your page.

4. Autocomplete box

Facebook has a search box that follows you around the Facebook interface. It “autocompletes” depending on what you are searching for, making a guess at what you were looking for as you type each letter in. These guesses are mostly drawn from popularity of the search and account history. In order to increase your visibility on Facebook, this is an important place to have a high level of rankings.

5. Autocomplete highest ranking factors

The highest ranking factors in terms of the autocomplete box when you do a search, are your name (from your profile), events you have been invited to, friends (or friend of a friend) with the keyword in their name, apps you have previously used, your joined/liked groups and pages and questions that contain the keyword.

Facebook search engine optimization has become a very widely discussed topic. It is of high importance to rank high in Facebook search if you wish to obtain a higher level of visibility within the social media scene.