Facebook held a press conference yesterday, introducing their new Graph Search feature. Graph Search is Facebook’s new internal search functionality that uses information about people, places, photos and interests to return personalized, relevant search results for its members. Graph Search also offers up a filtering-type of functionality, so members can easily sort by different categories.
Graph Search relies heavily on indexing its plethora of member data. Some have suggested that Graph Search is poised to compete with the likes of Yelp, Foursquare and even Google. However, Facebook insists that Graph Search is very different than web searches because it relies on highly customized content that’s been shared with the searcher. It could pose a threat to local search though, showing some pretty close similarities to Yelp and Foursquare’s recommendations.
(screenshot courtesy of Search Engine Land)
So what does all of this mean for your Facebook business pages? Now more than ever, SEO will become even more important. No, not the same SEO that you apply to your website – but close. In your description fields, use keywords and phrases that are properly formatted and relevant. Add locations and tag your business in your photos. Focus a little more on gaining new Likes – the more people who like your page, the higher the possibility of your business showing up in Graph Search results.
Not everyone has access to the new Graph Search just yet. It’s being released to a small beta group, and will be gradually rolled out to other users. Join the waiting list to be notified about gaining access, and get your page ready for this new robust Facebook technology.
