All of you must be familiar with Facebook. As a business, you might have realized the potential of Facebook and created a business page as well.
But is your Facebook page optimized for SEO?
Now, you might point out that SEO is for websites. You are correct, SEO is normally associated by many as a technique or set of strategies only used for websites.
Here is the deal.
There is a strategy called Facebook Page SEO, which every Facebook page owner needs to use. Merely creating a Facebook page will not serve the purpose, it has to be optimized.
What is Facebook Page Optimization for SEO?
Facebook page optimization is applying SEO strategies to your Facebook page to increase its visibility on Facebook and search engines.
This is an organic process and can give you significant results when done strategically.
The general misconception is that regularly posting and creating attractive content is enough to push up your Facebook page. But this is only one part of the puzzle.
Other factors also need to be optimized so that a business page delivers to its full potential.
Why Optimize?
In 2019, over 100 million businesses were using Facebook pages. In such a scenario, it has become highly impossible for businesses to reach their target audience organically on Facebook.
Getting engagement from the right users is even more difficult.
Facebook has also updated its algorithm. It now gives preference to regular posts of friends or personal profiles in the Facebook feed.
Businesses find they have to compete with these to get eyeballs on their Facebook posts.
Here is where Facebook page optimization for SEO comes into play. Read on to know how you can implement it on your page.
Facebook Hacks a Facebook Page for SEO
1. Right Page Name :
Choosing the right Facebook business page name should be first on the agenda when doing SEO. Select a name that represents your business. It could include your business name plus the service you offer. Include keywords into your name.
But be cautious here, overstuffing with keywords will not get you anywhere. This might appear spammy and also difficult for your visitor to remember. Avoid generic names as your page may compete with many other businesses using the same generic term. Even updates by Facebook for pages with generic names are not done frequently.
2. Custom URL
There is something called a vanity URL. When you create a Facebook page, you get an auto-generated URL. Here you get to customize it. Tweak it in such a way that it is easy for your customers to remember and also try to include your brand name. Keep it concise but descriptive so that your audience understands what your page is about.
- Use Keywords Wisely:
Keywords are very important in Facebook Page SEO and need to be used in all important places on the page. The about section is akin to your meta description. Describe what your business is all about and include important brand and business keywords here.
The URL is another important place to include keywords. Posts also need to include keywords so that Facebook users who search using those keywords find your business page posts. Other places include video captions and updates.
- Complete Business Information:
Many businesses cannot give complete business information. Enter everything, address, telephone number, business hours etc. Businesses having local, physical locations can immensely benefit from this, as your business will end up being shown on local search by search engines. Drive visitors to your local store and make sales. Another notable advantage is that your customers can visit your physical store and share the location on their status, so you get branding.
- Post Engaging Content:
One of the most important things to keep in mind is to post engaging and relevant content on your page. Maintain consistency in the timing of posting content and the topics covered. Users come to your page expecting some content. If your page does not deliver the content they are looking for, they will move on to another page. Maintain a theme and stick to it. By doing this, you can also include relevant keywords in your content.
- Addition of Custom Tabs:
Facebook gives you some standard tabs on every business page. Customize this according to your requirements by using it to organize the posts on your page. Remove tabs that are not relevant to you. User experience is also a relevant factor in SEO, and by doing this you can improve navigation. Users will find content easily and start engaging with it.
- Call to Action:
A Facebook page is created to support and promote your business activities. Include a clear call to actions to get more engagement and drive traffic to your website. Social signals are one of the ranking factors for Google.
Having a relevant call to action can increase website traffic and improve its ranking. Use action words like download now, learn more, sign up and so on.
- Back linking to your Page:
Quantity and quality of backlinks is a factor affecting ranking on Google. This applies to your Facebook page, too. Link to your fan page from your social media sites, website, blogs, GMB, YouTube. Your ranking will automatically increase with the increase in the number of links to your page.
- Status Updates Optimization:
While sharing multi-media, you get the option to write something about them. Use this space to give a brief description with keywords. You can also give a link here to your business website and drive traffic. This is an easy and attractive way to engage your users and optimize your content for SEO.
- Use Facebook Messenger Bots:
Improving user experience and engagement is also part and parcel of SEO. Make use of messenger bots to communicate with customers in real-time. It can provide important information about your business and also products and services.
Bots can also act as a means of customer support and address standard queries customers have. Valuable information about your customers can also be collected to devise effective and customized marketing strategies for them.
Facebook is one of the bigwigs of social media. It has an enormous user base and cannot be neglected by any business. But here again, the day of high organic reach is a thing of the past. You can resort to paid means to promote your page, but why not exhaust organic ways first? Facebook optimization for SEO is all about gaining traction, while spending no money.
Follow these tips is sure to ensure that your Facebook page is not only found and ranked on search engine results but also has better reach in Facebook organic results.
