The latest update from Google has started to rank Facebook “fan” pages within search results. The displaying of Facebook pages in search results is triggered by local search terms with lesser competition. Google wants to give its’ users new and fresh content and nothing is fresher then social networking sites such as your Facebook page that has new information on its wall multiple times a day in most cases.
What does this mean for you?
With local search starting to dominate Google rankings, you can claim another spot on the first page besides your Google place listing and your own small business website. Even a few percent increases in visitors to your Facebook can translate into thousands and thousands of dollars of increased sales over the lifetime of each customer.
Follow these steps to optimize your fan page and you may well be able to grab another on the first page.
- Keep the Page Fresh: Every time you post a wall update, add new photos, events or discussions, the search engines will come back to your page to index or add the content to their available listings.
- Get More Likes: The more ‘likes’ you makes Google think others will like it also.
- Related Content: If you have a restaurant, Google expects content on your site to be about food, your restaurant and cooking. Keep your page content related to your business.. Use local search terms or keywords in your posts. An example in the restaurant market would be, “Come visit the best Italian restaurant in Aurora tonight for half priced appetizers from 4-7 pm.”
- Facebook Website Address: Have the URL or address display the city name and business name/market instead of the ugly default address Facebook provides. As example: http://facebook.com/aurorapizzamamaallottas/
- Facebook Shares: The more people share your page it with their friends helps to push your rankings up. Google sees this as you having great content.
- Facebook Page Age: Google gives trust related to the age factor of the page. Not much you can do about this one except make sure you have the other 5 factors optimized correctly and you can outrank older fan pages.
Facebook gives you the great ability to communicate with your customers and be interactive which increases loyalty, sales and customer frequency. More and more small businesses have been turning to Facebook to increase sales and take business away from their competition. Take advantage of these tips today and enjoy the benefits and sales for years to come.
What we’ve done with this information
I just setup a new business page (fan page) called LaCrosseWebDesign. I say business page, but it actually is actually more fun than business. We wanted to create something you would find useful. You should check it out now to see what I mean.
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