Jonny Chan, from Friendgiftr, is a social media scientist who uses scientific method for his practice. Follow him at @jonnychn so he can get more subjects for his research.
The new SEO trend is on its way – let’s call it the Facebook SEO.
After attending Search Marketing Expo (SMX) this week, I have gained first hand insights from several Facebook speakers about optimizing Facebook fan pages for higher ranking on Google.
Without further ado, let’s dive into this.
Setting up a vanity URL
Facebook vanity URL is akin to the web site domain name. Therefore, it is very important to secure your fan page URL in the very beginning. In order to get your own vanity URL, your fan page must have at least 25 fans. To set your own vanity URL, simply click here and register for a name.
Installing Static FBML application
After setting a vanity URL for your page, you can create rich and dynamic content by installing an application called Static FBML.
By installing this app to your page, you will be able to customize the fan page by posting images, embedding videos, and adding links on it. Note that these are the same SEO practices used for web pages. By doing so, the chances of your fan page getting picked up by Google are likely to increase.
However, there is some coding involved, which requires a programming language called FBML. If you are familiar with HTML, you can pick up the language pretty easily because there are so many overlaps between the two. If you are a pro and would like to create a fancy fan page, you can check out this book - FBML Essentials: Facebook Markup Language Fundamentals.
Stuffing keywords in the Info Tab
If you are not a programmer, there is always an easy way out. Similar to how you optimize web pages using meta-descriptions and title tags, you can also optimize fan pages by putting relevant keywords on the Info tab. You could also paste links from different social media sites like Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr. Even though it has been said that there is no-follow attribute to any links on Facebook, it wouldn’t hurt to let other people know you are on other social sites too.
Attaching YouTube videos
Because Google has acquired YouTube, its search algorithm has also integrated videos as one of their search factors for ranking. To my understanding, one way to organically alter Google search result page is by using YouTube videos; therefore, if you put a video on a wall or in the custom FBML tab, that will be a plus.
Nevertheless, putting videos on a fan page will not only increase fan engagement but it will also allow people to share content with each other.
