In 2009 Yahoo! and Google announced that Twitter updates would soon be featured in search results. Yahoo! also announced that Facebook status updates will be searchable as well. And finally, Google has just announced in March of 2010 that it, too, will include public status updates from Facebook in search results.
How is this good news for your business? If you have been faithful in creating social media pages and building a fan base of followers, your SEO status updates can now be found on search results. This could ultimately boost your business revenue by directing more traffic to your social pages and business website.
Google is the world’s largest real-time search engine. Combined with the world’s largest social platform, Google now has access to millions of bits of the hottest information that can be featured on query results. Will your business be one of them?
Keep Your Facebook Public
One of the restrictions in the Facebook search feature is that Google will only browse status updates that are ‘public’. That means if you restrict your business page to fans only, or friends of fans, your status updates will not ever show up in Google Searches.
You must verify that the privacy setting on your Facebook page is set to ‘public’ so that anyone can see your updates, and Google will have access to search your updates to determine a ranking in their search results.
Since Google’s announcement of Facebook search results, there have not been very many showing up on results pages. However, it has only been a few weeks, and with so many millions of businesses using Facebook, it is likely that they will soon be featured prominently.
Get Onboard Facebook Now
If you don’t have a Facebook page for your business, now is the time to do it. Setting up a business page is free. Once you have written and posted your business profile, you can begin acquiring “fans” who follow your status updates. You can upload photos, videos, and post links to your website and other pertinent sites that might be of interest to your fans.
One thing you must be careful of in using your Facebook business page is promotions. Though you can update your status with links to your website and tell your fans of current sales and other happenings, Facebook puts heavy restrictions on using their platform as a promotional tool. That means using Facebook to administer promotional activities like contests, competitions, or sweepstakes. Be sure to get written approval from a Facebook account rep before administering any Facebook promotion.
Social media has been growing in popularity as a business marketing tool. And many bloggers and online marketing specialists have touted its benefits. Now with a search engine feature built into the popular social platforms, you have no excuse to avoid a social site like Facebook, especially if SEO is part of your online promotional strategy.
