Facebook Graph

According to The Atlantic, Facebook Graph “could be OKCupid, Yelp, and LinkedIn, all in one.” Graph Search, which is not available for all Facebook users yet, takes search even more social. How many times have you asked friends for restaurant suggestions or good reads? Google gives us the world of information at our fingertips, but Facebook is offering something that many might find more useful: the world of information as filtered through their friends and connections. How can businesses and websites take advantage of this new tool?

• First, while you don’t have to have a business page (someone might make a “Place” page for you), you should have one. It will increase visibility and give you more control of your brand and page. If you do have a page, go through and make sure it’s up-to-date. Local businesses: make sure your address and phone are current.
• Optimise your name, category, vanity URL, and About information so people can find you easily – and so you can be shared!
• While it should go without saying, make sure your page is public.
• Engage proactively and encourage Likes and Check-Ins, which are key ranking signals for Facebook.
• Search results skew very heavily towards those posts with images, so allow fans to post images and tag them on your Timeline.
• Check the “Similar Pages Suggestions.”
• Produce high quality, interesting content and post each day (no hard and fast rule here, but you should certainly be a present and active part of your own community).

It is unlikely (very, very unlikely) that Graph Search is a Google-killer. But it is an interesting step by Facebook, and one that users will find useful. By turning your attention to tuning up your Facebook optimisation, you might very well find it useful yourself.