In a digital landscape dominated by social media, mastering the art of Facebook’s search engine optimization (Facebook SEO) is a game-changer for businesses, brands, and content creators. Whether you’re a business or just love sharing content, understanding Facebook SEO is key.
I am Jane from Influence, the leading marketing agency in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Let me guide you through actionable tips and best practices to boost your profile, content, and overall impact on Facebook.
What is Facebook SEO?
Facebook SEO means making your Facebook page easy to find when people search for specific keywords. Even though Facebook is not exactly a search engine, it lets you search for things, and many people use it to find answers and info.
SEO and social media go hand in hand because they follow the same basic rules as regular search engines. In website SEO, you adjust things on your pages to appear higher in search results. Social media SEO works the same way; you adjust your social media page so it comes up first when people search on the platform, and maybe even on Google.
Why is Facebook SEO important?
There are many good reasons to focus on Facebook SEO. If you want more people to see your page on Facebook, Facebook SEO can help you get more followers and connect with them. But it’s not just about being seen on Facebook; if you do it right, Facebook SEO can also boost your brand in other search results.
Social media profiles often show up high in search results. A Facebook page that does well on Facebook can also do well outside of it, like on Google. And let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to be the top result on Google?
For those who understand that Google likes content with good SEO, every little bit helps. The higher any part of your brand shows up in search results, the better it is for your website traffic. More website visitors mean more quality leads, which can lead to more downloads, more info collected, and more money.
So, why does Facebook SEO matter? Because it’s part of a balanced digital marketing strategy.
Facebook SEO tips
Every platform operates with its unique algorithms, and understanding them can be challenging. Here, I explore 20 tips for optimizing your Facebook page to get your content found.
Conduct SEO keyword research
Before you begin with Facebook SEO, it’s crucial to know which keywords and phrases are relevant to your business. This makes it more likely for your business to show up higher when people search for it on Facebook and the internet.
SEO keyword research involves finding and studying the terms people use to find businesses like yours online. When you understand how potential customers search, you can make your Facebook page better match what they’re looking for.
Add SEO keywords to your Facebook page’s About section
Looking to assist search engines in accurately representing your business? Ensure you optimize the About section of your Facebook page. This content is utilized by search engines, such as Google, to generate a ‘meta description’ (the text beneath your Facebook page’s heading in search results).
Writing an About section that emphasizes your main services and incorporates relevant keywords puts you in an ideal position to enhance your Facebook Page’s search ranking. Begin by writing a concise one-sentence summary of your business to offer users a quick overview. Then, list your primary services and products. For optimal results, keep the About section brief and engaging, staying under 135 characters.
Share content that uses SEO keywords
Every Facebook post you share should align with your brand’s SEO keywords. By strategically incorporating SEO keywords into the captions, you can enhance your search rankings on both Facebook and the broader web.
To increase your visibility and reach organically on Facebook, infuse your captions with SEO keywords that are relevant to your business. This way, when users search for these terms, your Facebook page and posts are more likely to appear in the search results. However, remember to prevent ‘spamming’ audiences with unrelated terms in the captions.
Additionally, it’s crucial that the posts and content you share adhere to SEO best practices. This is where SEO blogs become valuable. By publishing compelling, content-rich blog posts that incorporate SEO keywords in the title and meta description, you not only improve your chances of being discovered organically on Facebook but also drive traffic directly to your website.
Add SEO keywords throughout all parts of your Facebook page
By now, it’s evident that keywords play a crucial role in achieving successful Facebook SEO. However, apart from your About page, where else should you incorporate these impactful SEO keywords?
The key is to be strategic and thoughtfully find ways to seamlessly blend these keywords into your existing Facebook Page content. Adding too many unnecessary keywords to irrelevant parts of your Facebook Page could diminish your audience’s experience with your brand.
The optimal places to consider strategically adding SEO keywords include various sections of your Facebook pages:
- Description section
- Headline
- Photo captions
- Notes (I’ll delve into this shortly)
- Status updates
When employed appropriately, these SEO keywords have the potential to enhance your likelihood of being discovered organically on Facebook, expanding your reach across the platform and beyond.
Post blog content optimized for SEO on Facebook Notes
Blog posts really help make your website show up on search engines. But guess what? Facebook has something similar that can make you even more successful! It’s called Facebook Notes.
With Facebook Notes, you can share blog-like posts with your Facebook audience, great for telling them about industry news or important updates for your business. A smart way to use this feature for better Facebook SEO is to share your existing blog content on Facebook Notes. It’s not just an easy strategy but also gives your old content a chance to be seen by a new group of people!
Don’t forget to put some of your most important SEO keywords in these Facebook Notes to increase the chances of new people finding you on Facebook. Also, add a message at the end telling people to visit your website for more info. This helps bring more visitors to your website through Facebook.
Conduct competitive research
Now that you’ve become skilled at finding and using keywords for your Facebook business page, it’s time to turn your attention to what your competitors are doing. Comparing your performance to that of your competitors is vital for truly understanding how well your brand is doing in the social media landscape. This analysis not only helps shape your brand strategy but also provides valuable insights.
To start a competitive analysis, first, identify who your competitors are. This is usually straightforward, as your main product or brand competitors in the market will likely be the same on social media.
Once you’ve identified them, it’s time to investigate. Look at how they’ve set up their pages and the terms they use to describe their products, brand, and content. Plug these terms into your SEO tools to see the search volume, gaining a better understanding of their strategy. You might even discover fantastic ideas for your own Facebook posts, videos, or Reels. To appear where your competitors do, use keywords relevant to your brand that they are using.
Create a custom Facebook page name
Picking the right name for your Facebook page is crucial for boosting your page’s visibility. It’s a great opportunity for brands to improve their search rankings on Facebook and the internet.
To increase traffic and reach, focus on incorporating key phrases and keywords into your page name. Think about your main services or products and get creative in optimizing your Facebook page name with these terms. Also, use the SEO keywords you found in your research throughout your page content. Adding these terms to your page name enhances your chances of appearing at the top of search results and helps customers quickly understand what your business is about.
Choose a Facebook page name that reflects your brand well for the long term. It’s best not to change this name, so pick a name that aligns with the core of your brand to achieve optimal results.
Optimize your Facebook vanity URL
Your personalized URL on Facebook, known as the vanity URL, is the unique username you choose for your page. To customize it, go to your Page Settings and create the username you want.
To get the best results, make sure your username is easy to understand, matches your brand, and is simple to spell. For ease, consider using your business name, and be sure to follow Facebook’s username guidelines to ensure you’re following the platform’s best practices.
Provide accurate contact information
Businesses need to pay more attention to the importance of furnishing accurate contact details, such as address, phone number, and business hours, on their Facebook pages.
Regardless of whether your business operates online, having a complete and consistent name, address, and phone number (NAP) can be advantageous. If your headquarters’ address is included, Google will index your business for local searches.
Maintaining consistency is crucial for your overall rankings, so be SEO-savvy and ensure your NAP information is up-to-date across all your channels and directories. Keep in mind that prospects rely on these citations, directories, and other sources, including Facebook pages, for business information.
Conflicting addresses, business hours, or phone numbers can frustrate prospects, leading to a poor user experience and potential customer loss. An added benefit of listing your address on your Facebook page is that users can check in and share this information, enhancing your business’s visibility.
Build backlinks
When it comes to Facebook SEO, backlinks are like good reviews. The more high-quality backlinks you have to your Facebook page, the more likely Google is to rank your page well in the search results. Why? Because backlines are used as a measure of credibility by search engines.
So, how can you increase backlinks to your Facebook page? Start by adding plenty of backlinks from your own website to your Facebook page, such as throughout blog articles. Plus, make sure to share your Facebook page link with other brands and businesses you’re collaborating with. For example, if you write regular guest blogs for a reputable blogger, encourage them to add a link to your Facebook page at the bottom of these blog posts to boost your Facebook SEO ranking!
Edit custom tabs on your Facebook page
Did you know you can personalize the tabs on your Facebook page to fit your business? This is a potent tool for enhancing your Facebook SEO ranking.
To edit your custom tabs, go to your page Settings and click on “Templates and Tabs”. Usually, you’ll be using the “Standard” page template. If you want to change the template completely, click “Edit” and choose the template that best fits your business (you have options like Restaurant & Cafe templates or Nonprofit templates).
For optimal results, though, rearrange the tabs you want to use on your Facebook page. Highlight the tabs most relevant to your business, whether it’s videos, events, services, or job listings. This not only makes it simpler for users to explore your Facebook page but also creates more chances for you to use SEO keywords throughout your page.
Respond to comments
People prefer businesses that appear friendly. This welcoming approach establishes a connection between users and the brand, turning them into advocates for the brand. To foster this connection, businesses should maintain communication through all available channels.
Begin by responding promptly to comments on Facebook, demonstrating your business’s concern for user opinions. Consistently address user concerns to build trust with your audience. Taking a proactive stance can not only prompt users to make purchases but also lead them to leave positive reviews, which can significantly impact Facebook SEO.
Moderate your reviews
Don’t feel down if you receive a negative review – it happens to everyone! In fact, it’s a chance for you to showcase excellent customer service. If you can turn a bad experience into a positive one, you might gain a loyal customer. You can even ask them to think about changing their review. A negative review can turn into a positive one!
Start by responding to the reviewer, saying sorry, and offering to make things right. Once you’ve fixed the issue, you can ask them to reconsider their rating. Brands with five-star ratings are more likely to get attention on Facebook, boosting your SEO.
Encourage your followers to take action
Naturally, encouraging your followers to take action is the reason you set up your business page initially. However, it’s crucial to incorporate a clear and easily visible call to action (CTA) in your content so that your audience understands precisely what you want them to do. Furthermore, directing valuable traffic from Facebook to your web pages is essential for enhancing your search rankings.
The CTA wording should align with your business’s purpose, and the button itself should match the landing page. If your CTA instructs users to “Download eBook,” clicking it should take them to the page where the file is located.
Using action words like “subscribe”, “download”, “sign up”, “book now”, “play video”, or “learn more” is important. These can be coupled with mentioning the outcome of the action – for instance, “Sign up and earn more money.”
In terms of effective CTA copy, besides being actionable, should also:
- Focus on the benefits of your offer rather than product features.
- Address your audience’s main concerns and suggest that by clicking on the CTA, these issues will be resolved – for example, “Want to get more attention?”
Capture your audience’s attention using AI-powered Facebook Messenger chatbots
Go above and beyond by connecting with your audience on a more individual level through AI Facebook Messenger chatbots. These chatbots can enhance customer experiences for your business by increasing engagement rates, reducing agent workload, and automating the customer journey.
In addition to offering users direct information about your business and products, you can also provide customer support, elevating their interaction with your brand.
Remember – the more positive experiences customers have with your brand on social media, the higher the likelihood they’ll use search engines to visit your website later. The number of searches and clicks on your website in the search results directly impacts your ranking.
You can customize the Facebook Messenger Bot in a couple of ways to encourage communication. For instance, you can make it pop up when someone visits your page, or better yet, integrate an AI-powered chatbot available 24/7 with your Facebook Messenger.
Regardless of how you choose to utilize your AI chatbot, it will undoubtedly assist you in enhancing customer service and gathering valuable customer information for personalized outreach and messages. Personalized messages are more likely to be found by your audience searching for information aligned with their interests on Facebook and search engines.
The outcome? Increased organic visibility and traffic to both your Facebook and web pages.
Create and share the right content at the right time
Creating really good and useful content is super important for making your business known and getting more people interested. But we’re not talking about just any content you write just to post something every week.
We’re talking about top-notch content that’s so good that people want to like it, share it, and comment on it. Always make sure your Facebook content plan uses the best techniques. Share stuff that teaches, entertains, and helps your audience, so they save it and share it with their friends. Also, know the best times to post on Facebook.
I have some tips for you to find the best time to post content on Facebook specifically for your audience:
- Check your Facebook audience demographics and locations to understand what time zones are most important.
- Review past performance data – analyze reach metrics on previous posts to see which times had the best exposure.
- Test different posting times – share very similar content at different times to isolate the impact of timing.
- Ask your audience directly when is most convenient for them to engage with live video content.
- Be consistent with whatever posting times you find work well so your audience comes to expect your content on a regular schedule.
The key is to test and tailor your posting strategy to your specific audience.
Knowing when to post on Facebook will make more people like and engage with your posts, which makes the computer algorithms happy. And all of this helps improve your SEO.
For basic Facebook SEO tricks, pay attention to the first 18 letters because Google uses them as short descriptions. The first word should be a keyword, which is what Google likes. It might seem a little tricky to remember SEO when making Facebook posts, but trust us, it’s totally worth it!
Putting keywords in your post description makes your content travel further and helps you reach more people and get more engagement.
Add alt text to your Facebook images
Facebook alt text is like a hidden description for images that helps both people who can’t see the images and search engines understand what’s in the image. It’s not something you see on the page, but it’s in the code of the image. For those who can’t see, special tools read this text out loud.
Adding alt text is mostly about being fair to everyone. It lets people who can’t see still know what’s in the images you post on Facebook. Also, if an image doesn’t load, the alt text shows up, so everyone knows what was supposed to be there.
Behind the scenes, alt text also helps Facebook understand what’s in your images. As social media becomes more like search engines, adding alt text to your Facebook images can make your posts easier to find. So, it’s not just about being nice to users, but it can also boost your Facebook content in search results.
Pin the most crucial posts
Increase the visibility of your crucial posts and announcements by fixing them at the top of your page.
This ensures that your audience notices the content you want them to see.
Some examples of posts that should be pinned include:
- Time-sensitive updates about upcoming webinars, promotions, or discounts with a deadline.
- High-quality content that offers value to your audience and addresses their challenges effectively.
- Announcements about your collaborations with other companies or influencers, especially when a notable guest will join you in a blog post or co-host a webinar.
Localize your profile
Localizing your profile proves advantageous if your target audience is specific to a particular location. This involves specifying language, incorporating region-specific keywords, and even including operational hours for brick-and-mortar businesses.
Even if your brand or business lacks a physical location, you can still implement localization. Consider adding the country or continent you operate in, along with details about your headquarters, to enhance local search indexing by Google.
Many businesses, especially larger organizations with multiple locations, adopt this strategy to cater to a location-specific audience. For instance, a hotel franchise with numerous locations maintains a Facebook page for each hotel, featuring the location in the business name and page details. This approach enables the Facebook algorithm to quickly distinguish between them, facilitating accurate matches with a user’s location-based queries.
Claim unofficial pages
Have you ever looked up your brand’s name and discovered other pages featuring the same name, complete with a map, reviews, and ratings? The frustrating part is that you might lack access or control over those pages.
However, this is an annoyance with a solution. Facebook generates these pages as placeholders, offering visitors a space to check in and share reviews and comments about a location. Occasionally, Facebook’s enthusiasm in creating these pages surpasses the need, especially when businesses already exist for that particular location.
The most effective solution to address this problem involves claiming and, if necessary, merging these unofficial Facebook pages. This process empowers you with full control over your brand on the platform.
It’s important to note that performing these steps once doesn’t conclude the task; regularly checking for unofficial pages should be an integral part of your ongoing social media maintenance. If an unofficial page surfaces in search results for your brand name, claiming it is essential before proceeding to merge it with your verified Facebook page.
Here are several methods you can use to claim the unofficial page:
- Phone call
- Utility bill/Phone bill
- Business license
- Business tax file
- Certificate of formation
- Articles of incorporation
The swiftest method, especially for agency workers not physically present at the business location, is through a utility bill. Once the page is verified (a process that may take up to 24 hours), proceed with the following steps:
- Visit the unofficial page on Facebook that you’ve just claimed.
- Choose “Is this your business?” from the drop-down menu.
- Opt for “Merge into a verified page you manage.”
- Select your page from the drop-down list and submit.
Note: If you have multiple location pages, ensure you merge with the correct one. Even without location pages, you can utilize the above process to merge an unofficial Facebook page with the one under your management.
Tools for Facebook SEO
1. Facebook Ads Manager
Facebook Ads Manager helps you create, launch, and manage ads on Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram. It’s easy to use, offering only the essential features for ad management.
2. Facebook Pixel
The Facebook Pixel is a code placed on your website to monitor conversions from Facebook ads, build targeted audiences, optimize ads, and retarget people who interacted with your website.
3. AdEspresso
AdEspresso is a user-friendly tool for managing ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads. It simplifies campaign creation, testing, monitoring, and optimization, making it straightforward for many users.
4. Hootsuite
Hootsuite helps manage social networks by automating posts, handling interactions/messages, and analyzing various social channels within a single interface.
5. CoSchedule
CoSchedule offers tools like Social Organizer, Content Organizer, Work Organizer, Asset Organizer, and Marketing Calendar. It’s excellent for scheduling and planning Facebook marketing campaigns.
6. Canva
Canva is a user-friendly tool for creating graphics in social media marketing campaigns. It provides professional templates and a simple drag-and-drop interface, suitable for designers of all levels.
7. Grammarly
Grammarly helps fine-tune content for Facebook ads and posts by providing suggestions for conciseness, word choice, and consistency. It’s useful across emails, messaging, and documents.
8. Buzzsumo
Buzzsumo is an online tool for discovering content based on search queries. It helps plan content creation, track mentions, trends, updates, and identify influencers for promotion.
Final notes
As I’ve explored the ins and outs of optimizing your Facebook page, content, and overall strategy, it’s evident that strategic SEO efforts can make a significant impact.
To truly maximize your Facebook SEO potential and stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape, consider using Influence’s SEO services. We have experts who specialize in the intricacies of online visibility.
Unlock the full potential of your Facebook presence with Influence’s professional SEO services and dedicated support. Your story deserves to be heard, and Influence is here to amplify it through strategic and effective Facebook SEO.
Head office: 1st Floor. KVBC Business Center, Keo Chenda St Phum 3, Sangkat Chroy Changvar, Khan Chroy Changvar, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Hotline: (+855) 67 74 00 00
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://theinfluence.ai
