Facebook Graph Search
Here at Clix, a St. Louis SEO and Online Marketing firm, we’ve been eagerly anticipating Facebook’s roll out of the updated Facebook Search tool, Graph Search. While Graph Search is certainly a work in progress, it has the potential to transform internet marketing. Graph search could potentially enhance and alter search marketing as well as social media marketing, but only time will tell in what way.
Although Graph Search is still only available to a limited number of beta testers, it is not too early to start optimizing your Facebook page for Graph Search. As more and more users begin to use Graph Search, you will want your page to show up more frequently.
1. Fill Out Every Section of your Facebook Page
Like any search engine, Facebook needs to know about your page to know when to offer it in search results. The more information you give Facebook, the more likely you are to show up for relevant searches.
On the basic level, make sure your name, category, and vanity URL are completely up to date. Also, if you have a physical location, update your address to make sure you can appear when people search for a specific location.
One of the most important sections for Graph Search optimization will likely be the “about” section. The “about” section is the small text space that appears under your page’s profile image.
Facebook about section
The “about section is also the section that currently shows up in Google results for your Facebook page. Consider including one or two keywords in your “about” section to enhance your SEO as well as your Facebook SEO. The space allows for 255 characters, however, only the first three lines will appear on your page, so focus on the first 150 or so characters.
2. Update your Category
In its current form Facebook Graph Search is organized by categories. These categories are a bit limited, and seem to favor pages categorized as a place, music, book, and movie. Make sure your page is listed as one of these if it fits.
Graph search categories
It seems place pages will benefit most from the graph search category options. Place pages offer the option to also list subcategories. Initial reports suggest that these way heavily in how place pages appear in graph search. Because you are limited to only three subcategories, be sure to choose these wisely.
3. Start Encouraging Check-Ins
Facebook check-ins allow users to share places they’ve visited with their friends. At this point it is unclear if the number of check-ins affects search ranking results. However, one of Graph Search’s suggested options is to search by places at which their friends have been checked-in. The more people you have check-in to your place page, the more likely you will be to appear when searchers filter by their friends.
Facebook Graph Search is still a new tool and is bound to change as people use it. As it evolves, we will start to get a better idea of how to optimize Facebook brand pages for Graph Search SEO. Still, it is not too early to get a head start.
Do you have any other tips or ideas for optimizing Facebook pages for Graph Search? tell us about them in the comments!
