Check the basic setup of your Facebook page. It may impact on Google search too. |
Social search is going to change the rules of the SEO game. A well managed Facebook page is an obvious must, but what about the basics? Facebook has changed several times the available options for the setup, and it may be that some older pages need a check-up. Some of the settings even influence ranking on organic Google search.
What kind of page do you have?
Even some successful and well done pages may be needing action. When Facebook started, it was just for individuals. Some pioneers used personal profiles to set up business pages, and never went back to the setup. The first item to check is: what sort of page do you have? How do you know? Easy: humans have friends, businesses have likes (it used to be fans, but that is history).
What is wrong about having friends? Nothing really, but the issue is that a personal profile can get max. 5'000 friends and that Facebook may close it since it violates their terms of use. This is a pretty serious issue. You may not want to get to that point, especially if you are in the position of the beautiful boutique hotel I found recently on Facebook. They did a great job, they post a lot of content and interact a lot with their public, now they got close to the limit of 5'000 friends (which may ring an alarm bell in Facebook offices), hence they are in serious danger. So, better check, and no worry: you can convert a personal profile into a business page, just follow Facebook instructions. Read them carefully, especially the part of the backup of the timeline, before converting!
Basic setup of a page
Having a page has its good sides too, starting from the basic settings. You can select a category, and as a hospitality venue you should always choose "Local Business and Places". This will put you "on the map" and allow users to "check in". This is quite important both in the way your hotel or restaurant can be found, and to the "social word of mouth" (the check ins will be published and seen by your guest's friends). Within the main category (Places), you will choose your types of business (eg hotel) and have access to a number of specific fields (parking etc).
What is quite important, and not so known, is that the choice of sub-categories is also quite relevant. You can input a maximum of three. When you start typing, you have access to a number of pre-defined items, but you can also create your own ones (like I did for my hotel). Sub-categories will be displayed on your Facebook page in a prominent position, just below your logo (profile image). But this is just a part of it.
Sub-categories are more important than one could think
As of today Facebook is only making searches on keywords which are part of the page title (tipically the name of your business), but sub-categories show up in search results, just after the title of the page . This helps to define your business (eg. if you have a restaurant you may be more specific as for the type of food - Thai cuisine - organic food etc.). It is also likely that sub-categories will play an enhanced role when Facebook will upgrade its search (which is expected soon).
Not everybody knows, however, that sub-categories already play a role on Google organic search results. Actually, your facebook pages are indexed as sort of blog pages by Google (both your posts and your visitor's posts on your timeline show up in search results). Facebook sub-categories are a part of your page title (as you can see in Google´s snippets). And if your search includes terms specified in your sub-categories, you'll likely see your Facebook pages popping up.
Here comes the challenge. Your sub-categories should be short: you have 59 characters available to display your page title and sub-categories, if you want to display them all. You may want your sub-categories to be descriptive and capturing for Facebook users who see your page or find it on Facebook search. You may also want to optimize your keywords for Google search (tip: you could do better on secondary keywords than on the main ones, where your Facebook pages will compete with your own web pages and a number of other SEO-friendly web sites). Good luck!
