What is the Impact of the FB ‘Search Graph’ on SEO?

Not satisfied with already being the largest and most popular social media network on the planet, Facebook’s next coup it appears is to play Google at their own game in terms of running their own search engine, Search Graph.

It is unlikely that Facebook will be able to unseat Google as king of the search engines, despite having over one billion users (a number which is growing daily) and having the inside scoop as it were on how people interact with the internet on a personal level. At least that is what the assumption is at this early stage.

Facebook is already aligned with Bing whose SEO practices are different once again to Google’s. It would seem however, that in terms of search engine optimisation Search Graph will work in a different way to both of these leading search engines.

Throughout the early beta roll-out Facebook have concentrated on introducing search for photos, specific people, interests and geographic area information. Instead of receiving results based on a range of traditional ranking variables, Facebook’s results rely upon information shared with the platform by the businesses involved, for example local restaurants, and the information and connections of the user searching. This will result in a highly personalised set of results as opposed to ones which are led purely by keywords (etc).

As with all systems there are ways to manipulate or use this new search engine to the advantage of businesses looking to become more visible. The pay per click agency will need to re-evaluate how they work in order to accommodate this new SEO player and Facebook pages will need to be better optimised in order to ensure that they have a better chance of coming up in searches to relevant users.

The main benefit to Search Graph as far as many can ascertain is that the results produced by the person searching are likely to be highly targeted and specific to their wants and needs which is great for some businesses who fit the demographic perfectly however is likely to be a very narrow field which will exclude other results and businesses that are very close to the specification.

In order to ensure that Facebook business pages are in a position to take advantage of this new type of search engine SEO consultants are urging page owners to ensure that their page is fully up to date with information such as ensuring that the “About” section is complete and contains relevant keywords (we can only assume at this point that the Search Graph will look for specific words or terms). Paying attention to other relevant information such as location, category and anything else that is likely to make the business come up in the search results needs to start now so that everything is in place before a wider roll-out occurs.

What the impact of Search Graph will have in terms of business visibility and on lead generation remains to be seen however it is considered wise for PPC agencies and SEO consultants to be making the necessary changes now so that businesses are ready should this new platform search engine prove to be as important as some assume it will be.

Attribute to: Duncan Cumming

Duncan has been writing for over 5 years. His sales and marketing background has helped him write informative articles in areas including digital marketing; specifically, PPC, SEO, Affiliate Marketing and Social Media.