Facebook Pages are not usually included in search engine results pages (SERPs). Not even large brands or household names can do this. With the rise of Facebook Pages as an income-generating source, more and more companies try to use the marketing aspect of the largest social networking site to direct users to come visit their official brand pages. Additionally, users have also grown to the idea of using Facebook as a search engine. Facebook has reported the rise of its internal search engine, doubling to 2.5% of total searches made in the U.S. alone.
SEO platform Brightedge.com conducted a survey in 2010 which revealed that despite the fact that 200 major Fortune 500 brands being on Facebook, nearly 70% of them did not rank, or even appear in Google’s search engine results. While Google and Facebook have not been the best of friends in recent years, here are a few ideas on getting your Facebook Page SEO-ready for Google, Bing, and Yahoo! search engines to find (and rank):
1. Likes – Make users click on the “Like” button and get them to join your brand’s online community. User-generated content can bring positive SEO conversion rates so work hard to get your Facebook Page “like-able”, hopefully by practicing white hat SEO strategies.
2. Page Name and URLs – Consumers often assume that the brand name is what appears on page names and URLs of brands in any social networking site. It creates brand recall so companies need to be consistent and visible by sticking with the elements that make them seen and count on the web. In terms of SEO, search engine crawlers also factor in page names and URLs so not only will it brand visibility, it will also help your Facebook page rank higher in SERPs.
3. Privacy – Privacy has always been a major issue for Facebook users and brands are certainly no exception. While there is specific content that brands prefer to be visible only to those who join their online communities, it is also important that users and search engines can easily find pages for SEO purposes.
4. Info and About sections – These are sections that ought to be SEO-maximized because they provide space to produce keyword-heavy content. Hire a professional copywriter to make sure that content is produced with SEO in mind. Professional content copy writing with a link and brand name should be the finishing touches to these sections in your Facebook page.
With fresh SEO content and consistent efforts to create legitimate link-building campaigns, Facebook Pages can easily bring your brand to rank in SERPs. As Facebook’s internal search continues to grow, concentrating on Facebook Pages and not entirely on SERPs may be a good start for your brand when it comes to SEO and social media marketing.
