3 Sure Ways to Immediately Improve Facebook SEO Ranking

Facebook Pages are increasingly becoming a “second home page” for businesses online. And while more and more Page owners are learning how to become expert Facebook marketers, Facebook has recently created many new opportunities for Pages to get more traffic through the tried and true methods of Facebook SEO.

While Facebook’s “viral channels” – the News Feed, invitations, and messages – play a central role in the spread of content through Facebook, employing important SEO tactics within your Facebook Page can help your Page reach more and more Facebook fans.

While viral distribution can help you reach people, search engine optimization exposes your Facebook Page to Facebook’s entire user-base.

In fact, Facebook itself has taken major steps to improve its own SEO during recent weeks and months, creating opportunities for Page owners to benefit directly while creating value for Facebook at the same time.

So, without further ado, here are some Facebook SEO strategies and tactics every Facebook Page owner should know:

Facebook SEO Tip #1: Facebook Page Name

Choosing the right name for your Facebook Page is vital. Despite the temptation to stuff the Page title with high value generic keywords, like “Mike’s Travel Agency: Las Vegas, Hawaii, Cancun – Hotels, Flights, & More”.

This approach will actually harms the Page’s viral growth rate inside Facebook more than it will help through better SEO.

For example, if your page’s title appears too 'spammy', fans will be less likely to share it with their friends on their profile and more likely to hide your updates from their News Feed.

Second, don’t give into the temptation to choose a fully generic page name like “Travel” or “Hawaii.”

As Facebook’s intention for Pages is that they authentically represent businesses, brands, or celebrities, Facebook has recently been disabling updates for generically named Pages – effectively neutering their ability to reach their Facebook fans.

Facebook SEO Tip #2: Facebook Page URL

Facebook recently launched the ability to choose a vanity URL (Facebook calls it a “username”) for your Facebook Page, one of the most important facebook SEO opportunities to date.

When you choose a Facebook username for your Page, your Page’s URL becomes www.facebook.com/YourUsernameHere.

Usernames present a better opportunity for businesses to consider incorporating generic keywords for Facebook SEO purposes than the Page name itself.

While Facebook has created a black list of generic usernames that Pages (and users) are prevented from registering, there are still opportunities for businesses to obtain relatively generic usernames, or usernames that combine their actual name with additional generic keywords.

Use the “About” text box to place keyword-dense prose near the top of your Page. One important Facebook SEO strategy that should be employed on the Facebook Page whenever feasible is placing keyword-dense prose as close to the top of the Page as possible.

Because Facebook limits where Page owners can place large chunks of text on the default Wall tab of Facebook Pages, the “About” box actually represents the highest place in the structure of the page to add custom text.

In order to add text to the Page’s “About” box, click the “Write something about X” in the box underneath your Page’s profile picture. You’ll then be able to enter custom text in the input box – there is a 250 character limit, so choose your words wisely.

Facebook SEO Tip #3: Use the “Info” Tab

Facebook creates an “Info” tab for every Facebook Page that has fields containing important descriptive metadata about the Page.

It’s important to fill out these fields, because they provide the opportunity to include keywords, prose, and links that will increase the content score of your Facebook Page for many types of Google searches.

For example: Address, City, State, and Zip code are important fields for local searches Company Overview, Mission, and Products are important fields for product searches.

The specific fields present will vary according to the category you choose for your Page when you create it (business, brand, or public figure), so choose the category that best fits your needs.

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Conclusion

While building and expanding your Facebook Page presence requires creative planning and consistent execution, Facebook SEO can play a vital role in boosting your Page’s growth rate.

While viral distribution limits you to the people your fans are connected to, search engine optimization exposes your Facebook Page to Facebook’s entire user base – and as discussed above, there’s a lot that Page owners can do to maximize their exposure through Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, and other popular search engines.