SEO Tips for Facebook

In February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg changed the way we use the internet forever by launching the social networking site that needs no introduction – Facebook. Before Facebook there was no “poking”, no stalking your exe to see if they’re seeing someone else, no Farmville, and now look at us! Say whatever you like about the social media giant but ignore it at your peril.

With over 400 million active users worldwide, ranking high on Facebook should be a priority for anyone looking to optimise their online business for search engines and social media. To be successful within the social media scene you have to target the biggest market and they don’t come any bigger than Facebook.

So, here are our top 5 tips to get you up those Facebook search engine rankings:

1. Make your content ‘Public’

There have been a lot of scaremongering regarding the problems Facebook users have had with their privacy settings, but when it comes to your business, put them to the back of your mind. The more people who can see your profile, the better. This allows people to search for your content and find it through the inbuilt Facebook search engine which can only be a good thing.

2. Remember the key elements – Likes, Shares and Number of Mutual Friends

The amount of different people who ‘like’ and share your content will help you rank higher, just as when searching for individuals the number of mutual friends helps too. The more of this interaction you can get going with other Facebook users, the better you will do in the Facebook Search rankings.

3. Keep up to date with developments

There’s no better place to keep abreast of what’s going on at Facebook Towers than on the Facebook Blog, so check it regularly. It is likely things will change that will affect the way we optimise our pages on Facebook so keep an eye out and you can be the first to adapt accordingly.

4. Use what you already know

Using keywords in the titles and URLs of your pages is integral to any type of SEO and Facebook is no different. Make sure you optimise the titles of your blog posts or group names just as you would with any other website or page. When writing a status, ensure it contains a reasonable amount of keywords and synonyms (but don’t go over the top – try and write like a user would!)

5. Keep your content fresh

More so than in any other optimisation, timeliness is key to getting to the top of the Facebook Search rankings. Massive emphasis is put on real time updates so if you add a keyword-rich status and then someone writes something similar minutes after; it is likely they will rank higher as their status is more recent. You must update your page regularly, with interesting, original, good quality content to increase your chances of success in this oversaturated social media market.

So there you have it, 5 tips to help you reach some of those 400 million that spend their days on Facebook – enjoy, but don’t get distracted!

Source: Seo Software

SEO Tips – Twitter’s Top 5

You knew Twitter was getting big when the spin doctors at the Conservative Party thought it would be a good idea to get David Cameron to utter the immortal words “Too many twits might make a T**t” (you know, to make him sound down with the kids, and hip, and with it, just like Boris Johnson). Then there was the juror who tweeted mid-trial prompting the defendants to accuse him of having a predetermined verdict in his head (luckily “guilty” is only 6 characters).

Since its launch, Twitter has never been far from the headlines meaning it is a great place to target with regards to SEO – especially as Google has begun to show Twitter accounts and tweets in their search engine results. So now’s the time to start practicing these following tips, and get tweeting!

1. Choose your handle wisely

Your ‘handle’ or username should be relevant to your product or company as it becomes a part of your Twitter URL. For example, our URL is http://twitter.com/analyticsseo which will be our static address used for search indexing – keep it clear, succinct and pertinent, and you can’t go wrong.

2. Put some time into your biography

With a whole 20 extra characters for your biography, you better make them count. You need your bio to contain the most important keywords and phrases to do with your company, so take your time over it. The biography on your account is constantly indexed so this content is where Twitter takes its information about you from.

3. Get some keywords into your tweets

With only 140 characters to play with, it is important to write a clear, keyword-rich tweet, as often as possible. If there is a relevant subject trending or a ‘buzz word’ knocking about, then by all means piggy back onto it to raise your profile. Make sure the content of your tweet isn’t too stuffed with keywords or jargon though as it will make the experience worse for the user – get the balance between keywords and quality right and you’re doing well.

4. Make it easy to retweet your content.

If there is a message that you want other people to pick up and pass on, then you need to consider how many characters you use. If you try and keep it under 120 characters then other Twitter users should find it easy to retweet your message using your handle like this:

RT @analyticsseo @siddharthnshah

So if you want something to flourish around the twittersphere – keep it short.

5. Don’t waste anyone’s time.

If you link to your site or product make sure it goes to where you say it does. In a world where 140 characters is the dialogue of choice, the people who are interested in your link don’t want to have to trawl your site for what they want. Make the URL direct and relevant so they can quickly see what you were talking about.

So, there you have it, a few tips for Twitter SEO but a conclusion in under 140 characters too? Can I do it? Yep.

Source: SEO Project Management Tool