Do you want to know how to help your Facebook Page appear
higher in Facebook search and beyond?
With the new Facebook Graph Search, this is a good time
to revisit your page.
Here are five
steps to make your Facebook Page more searchable and visible.
The first three steps outlined below are for entry-level
Facebook Page admins. If you’re certain that you’re already implementing the
most basic best practices, skip ahead to step four.
#1: Choose the Right Name
This sounds really obvious, but many businesses can’t
help but cram lots of keywords in their name in the hopes of boosting
searchability. This can backfire.
If you were, say, “Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.: Baked Shrimp,
Shrimp Creole, Shrimp Scampi, Fried Shrimp and More Shrimp,” your name would
look like spam. Just “Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.” says all anyone needs to know.
For their main Facebook Page, Bubba Gump uses their name
and the word Inc., to clarify that you've reached the official Bubba Gump
Restaurants Page.
At the same time, you don’t want to be so generic (e.g.,
“Seafood Restaurant”) that you’ll get lost in the shuffle. Remember that the
first word you include in your Page title is the one that Google will consider
the most important.
By the way, if there are other Pages out there that use
your name, such as Pages that have been created by fans, make sure to add
“Official” to your Page. You can also add the location of your business to the
name.
For example, if you own a franchise, you would call your
Page “McDonald’s Reno.”
Bubba Gump has locations throughout the world so when
franchises have their own Facebook Page, they separate themselves by adding
their location to their name, like "Philippines."
#2: Add Important Information in Key Sections
You should also include important details about your business in the About, Mission and
Company Description sections.
Does your About section include your web address and a description of what you do? Have you included
important keywords that search engines will like? The Mission and Description
sections offer more places to use keywords—appropriately, of course.
If you’re “the world’s largest online social media
magazine,” say so in the About section. If your mission is “to empower users to
succeed with social media,” say so in the Mission section. [NOTE: These quotes
are from Social Media Examiner's page.]
And in the Description section, elaborate on what your
business does; for instance, “Our story began in 1971. Back then we were a
roaster and retailer of whole-bean and ground coffee…” as Starbucks does.
Starbucks gets a lot of information across in their short
description, mentioning their history and current success.
Finally, if your business depends on local traffic,
include your physical address and phone number in the Basic Info section. You
can see this in the example below for the Campo Restaurant Facebook Page.
Campo is a local restaurant in Reno, Nevada, so it's
essential that they have their contact information easily available.
#3: Customize your Facebook URL
Facebook used to require that a Page have 25 likes before
it could have a vanity URL, but that is no longer the case. If you haven’t
created a personalized URL yet, do it now.
By default, Facebook will give you a URL that includes a
number. It will look something like this:
facebook.com/pages/yourbizname/123123123.
But you can—and definitely should—customize this URL to
include the name of your business so that it looks like this:
facebook.com/yourbizname.
Having a custom URL makes it easy for people to search
for your Facebook Page directly via a URL and helps with Facebook SEO.
To create your Facebook vanity URL, go to Facebook
Username. If another business is already using the name you want, you have to
come up with a variation (Facebook will suggest options).
And if someone has claimed the name of a business you
own, you can file a copyright infringement claim with Facebook.
#4: Encourage Sharing
Even when Graph Search is available to everyone, Facebook
will still be a social experience more than it will be a traditional search
experience.
For Page admins, this means that your content—posts,
photos, video, apps, etc.—must be content that people want to share with their
friends.
Imagine Graph Search as a sort of net. The net will
capture likes, shares, check-ins, tags, etc., and so it makes sense that the
more incoming relationships a Page has, the more easily it will be discovered.
In the image below, Mari Smith’s post was of great
interest to her fans.
Mari's post got shared 156 times, proving it was valuable
content.
The bottom line is the most popular and shared posts on
Facebook tend to be the ones that are interactive, engaging and contain useful
information.
Finally, don’t forget that Facebook is about connecting
with people. Don’t sacrifice the social aspect of your Page for the sake of
making it more searchable with Graph Search or any other search engine.
#5: Get the Most Out of Timeline and Custom App
Content
More of your Facebook Page is visible to search engines
(and presumably will be visible to Graph Search) than you may realize.
Status updates have a limited shelf life because as you
make more, they naturally get pushed down the Timeline. On the other hand, apps
that are pinned as a favorite next to your photos are there every time a user
comes back.
Consider adding content strategically for more visibility
inside Facebook.
Add apps that contain valuable content such as surveys,
forms, menus, newsletters and ebooks that live for more than a few days. People
will want to share them over an extended period and that will help your content
live longer.
In the image below, Palmasola uses a Facebook app to
provide welcome information.
Using a Facebook app eliminates the hassle of continually
having to post information as a status update.
One final note, don’t focus on SEO at the expense of
developing a vibrant and engaged community on Facebook.
The most popular Pages are the ones that are interactive
and engaging and that (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again) embrace the
ideology of Facebook.
If you cover all of the basics, including the ones
outlined at the beginning of this post, people will find you.
What do you think? What strategies have you found to make
you more visible on Facebook? Leave your questions and comments in the box
below.
thank for a great posting and the tips to get top on fb graph
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