Facebook Like and Search Engine Optimization

Facebook already owns the lion’s share of the web, if share is measured in usage. 

People spend more time on Facebook per month than all the search engines combined…more than on all Google sites combined, including Youtube and Gmail.  That’s at least the case today, without the effect of Google+.

But Facebook is more than just a networking, relationship, and picture sharing site.  Facebook is a marketing force in itself.  And now it’s a force impacting the “search” web that Google dominates.

Links vs. Likes

Google uses inbound links in its calculation for your site’s PageRank.  Google sees inbound links from credible sites as votes of confidence for your site.  In short, inbound links add to your credibility or authority. 

The problem is that most Facebook profiles are private, and Google only assigns PageRank for incoming links if they can see what the outgoing links are.  So the majority of Facebook links won’t help your Google SEO.

But the opposite is true.  Inbound links from the search web, Facebook Likes, help your Facebook SEO.  Facebook has it’s own search engine for its 750 million+ users.  And this content is not searchable by Google.  In the Facebook world, the Like is more powerful than the Link. 

On the search web, you need:

To be relevant on the social web, you need all of the above and your content needs to be Liked. 

  • Likeability is word of mouth advertising, the best kind of advertising. 
  • Likeability is a recommendation from a friend, not a sales pitch.
  • Likeability is a message transport vehicle.  Different than building inbound links to your site, it’s outbound sharing of your site content within the Facebook community. 
  • Content you like appears in your Likes and Interests Section, and in your news feed. 
  • Your friends may see this and like the content as well.  And so on.    

Make Your Web Page Social

Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol enables you to integrate your Web pages into the social network’s ranking.  Including Open Graph tags on your Web page, makes your page equivalent to a Facebook Page. This means when a user clicks a Like button on your page, a connection is made between your page and the user. Your page will appear in the “Likes and Interests” section of the user’s profile, and you have the ability to publish updates to the user. Your page will show up in the same places that Facebook pages show up around the site (e.g. search), and you can target ads to people who like your content.  Likes are a critical factor for Facebook’s own “organic” search,  showing up in its Autocomplete box.

Facebook Is its Own Marketing Force

It pulls content from the search web but excludes the search engines, Google, from crawling its content. 

Don’t miss the opportunity to be relevant on both the search and social webs.  If you miss the power of the Like button, you’re making a conscious decision to exclude a community of 750 million+. 

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