Facebook have been using an open graph API since April of this year, enabling semantic search with the Facebook ‘like’ button. When searching for a product, business or venue using the social networking platform, a user will be presented with a list of results that their friends like, including non FB sites. This list of trusted results is understandably growing in popularity, and as such, SEO strategies tailored to search via Facebook have the potential to boost ranking considerably.
Facebook SEO
Optimising a website so it appears in Facebook listings can easily be done by adding the social media platform’s ‘social plug-ins’ enabling bookers to like the site; and because more and more people are using FB to search, it is an SEO opportunity that not many businesses, bands, manufacturers and entertainment venues will want to miss. Social media has taken over from pornography as the number one reason to go online, which is one very good reason to start optimising for FB. Ranking factors for the semantic search include the usual SEO favourites, such as having the keyword in the title, or name and in the Wall post content. Having a high number of fans or friends is also a factor; the two combining to create what should be genuine, relevant and therefore authoritative listings. Organic SEO in other words, with the ‘like’ button essentially acting as a link.
Internet Marketing
Using FB as part of an internet marketing strategy makes perfect sense, but the idea that it may one day take over from Google is being dismissed as unrealistic. Although in excess of 50,000 websites chose to add FB’s social media plug-ins to their site within just the first week of the launch, this only boosted search via the platform to 2.7% in the US. With Google still controlling in the region of 63% of the American search market, it is clear that revenue for internet marketing will go to the most popular search platform, but optimising for FB will be part of an overall strategy.
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