Facebook SEO eh? Organic reach on Facebook is at an all-time low right now, and it’s been on the decline for several years. It’s to the point where most businesses don’t focus on building their Facebook page following because when they post it’s never seen by anyone.
Back in the day a brand could make a Facebook post and all of its followers would see it, engage with it, like, comment, and share — which resulted in more organic growth, sales, and leads.
At one point most businesses were running ads simply to grow their page — not now! Ads are the reason Facebook’s organic reach is next to nothing. They know that their platform is the best in terms of advertising, that if a business can’t get any traction organically, they will pony up and pay for ads.
Aside from the obvious — Facebook wants businesses to pay for exposure — there are a couple of other contributing factors to the rock bottom reach:
AI-Powered Newsfeed: Facebook’s newsfeed has been highly customized thanks in part to artificial intelligence. It tried to show its users the most relevant information that it feels matches each person’s interests.
Content Overload: There are so many posts made on Facebook, by all of its users, as well as pages, and there is only so much space for it to be shown and seen.
You don’t have to accept the low organic reach on Facebook, though, as there are some things you can do to optimize and improve your exposure.
Yes, Facebook SEO is a real thing, and I am going to break it down for you and explain what you need to focus on to get the most organic exposure from your Page’s posts.
Stop Using Automation Tools and Bots
Facebook hates automation tools and bots, so much that its AI is designed to detect automation and it’s also been known to kill the reach on Pages that are connected to apps that are known spammers.
Back in the day, there were several Facebook auto posters, auto commenters, etc. Now that the API is harder to access it has reduced the number of spammy tools available, but they are still out there and new ones constantly popping up. It’s usually the same overseas development companies releasing an updated version that complies with the current API under a new name.
Manually post all of the content on your Facebook post — even the plugins that post blog content across all of the social platforms should be avoided. I’ve seen reach improvements when all tools and software were completely disabled and removed.
A smaller Facebook page doesn’t need to post often — you don’t want to bombard your following — so manually doing the posts shouldn’t be an inconvenience. If you are working with a larger page that has hundreds of thousands of followers you likely have a social media employee, so again, manual posting, even if frequent, shouldn’t be an issue.
Facebook has a post scheduler, which wasn’t the case years ago, so don’t have to necessarily post real-time — you can plan and use the scheduling option. Just use the internal one — not a third-party tool.
Don’t Use Fake Likes, Shares, or Comments
There aren’t as many fake social signal services these days as there once was, as Facebook is really cracking down on them and even taking legal action in some instances to cease their existence.
Ten years ago “social signals” were part of most SEO packages.. not facebook seo like I’m talking about here, it would include likes, followers, shares, and comments, all from bots. These “like farms” as they were referred to were used to make content appear to be popular, therefore attracting more attention to it. The goal was to use this fake social proof to attract real engagement.
It worked for a while and in the early days, it would trick Facebook’s algorithm and help with reach. As the algorithm advanced alongside technology, they were able to detect this fake engagement and penalize the page, limiting — and sometimes completely removing — its reach.
Would you rather a post that has 100 fake “likes” and will never be seen by any of your followers or a post with a single “like” that will be seen? Don’t use fake social signals — it just gives Facebook more reason to limit your reach.
Post Engaging Content That isn’t an Advertisement Containing Links
Facebook’s algorithm knows how to differentiate between a post that is an advertisement or offer and one that is general information. What one do you think is going to have a chance of being seen?
If the post contains a link to your website or has certain keywords like, “sale,” “discount,” “coupon code,” etc. it’s going to be flagged as a promotional and advertisement post. Does that mean it won’t be seen at all? Not necessarily, but you’re living under a rock if you don’t think Facebook can sniff out a promotional post.
They want ads run on their advertising platform, not on your page. Why? Because that is how they make money. Of course, you can post the occasional offer, as that is how businesses survive, but you need to water the promotional content down with general information, images, videos, etc.
Put some thought into your content. A clever post that encourages — and receives — engagement, will be seen by more people and it will end up being much more effective for your business than a post to a service or product page on your website.
Develop a Posting Schedule and Interact with Your Audience According to its Size
Just like with your website’s blog, your Facebook feed needs to adopt a posting schedule that makes sense in terms of who your audience is and how large it is. For example, if your Facebook page is a local restaurant you will want to post content to keep your following up to speed with your latest specials and post things that keep your business at the top of their mind.
For example, a couple of posts a day is more than enough — you don’t want to become annoying — one that mentions special events or new menu items and then another post that isn’t a direct advertisement. Over the top extreme food images perform very well on social media. An image that stops someone from scrolling the feed with a caption like, “Tag three friends that you would share this with” creates engagement that can potentially snowball into new customers and reservations, and more importantly, engagement that Facebook loves.
Make sure you take the time to respond to all comments as well. This can keep the engagement train rolling and it also helps to create a more loyal following that will continue to comment and like your posts simply because you showed them a little personal attention. Shot on time? Use Facebook’s post scheduling tools.
Encourage Your Most Loyal Brand Supporters to Follow Your Facebook Page
Many Facebook pages that I dive into are dead, and it’s not because the reach has been hit — it’s because the Page’s followers are inactive. You can post nonstop, but if your followers aren’t active on Facebook they aren’t going to see your posts, hence the reach data will be zero.
How do you fix that and kick-start your reach? You need to make sure that your most active and engaged customers are following you on Facebook. I’m going to give you a real-life e-commerce example, which can be copied in any niche.
An apparel brand was doing very well — their website was pulling in huge traffic numbers and their sales were growing month-over-month. But their Facebook page was dead and it was a poor reflection of the brand. If you looked at their Facebook page and knew nothing about them you would question whether or not they were even still in business.
We dove into their email data, which was segmented perfectly in Klaviyo, and invited their most loyal customers to follow their Facebook page. To sweeten the deal we promised them a 10% off coupon code if they commented and tagged three friends on the most recent post.
The result? Thousands of new followers, a post that went viral, and now consistent engagement on all posts that has helped the organic reach. When the page posts new content it’s seen by a large percentage of its followers because so many engage naturally.
Why is Facebook going to show posts in the feed from a page that has little to no activity? It makes no sense, as its algorithm knows that it would be a waste of valuable real estate.
Pay to Promote All Content (Even Just $5 Per Post)
Want to give your organic reach on every post a kick-start and ensure it doesn’t sit at a goose egg? Promote every single post, even if you just throw $5 into it. This will get it moving, put some real eyeballs on it, attract some engagement, and set it up for more to see — possibly.
The key here is the content itself. You can’t post garbage or something that nobody is going to be interested in and expect it to magically perform well. You need an active following, great content, an appealing image, etc. — if you have that in place, a little ad spend behind each post will get it rolling.
I have noticed that Pages doing this have much more attractive analytics in terms of reach, and while great content is needed, it shouldn’t be a surprise to you that Facebook is going to “reward” a Page spending to promote its content with more organic reach than someone that isn’t opening up their wallet.
Facebook limited organic reach to drive more advertising dollars in the first place — so embrace the ‘pay to play’ strategy. You don’t have to break the bank. A crispy five-dollar bill on each post will help your Page’s performance.
Run Contests to Keep Engagement High
You need to always be focused on engagement rates, as Facebook’s algorithm will always favor popular posts. I’ve seen Pages that improved their reach only to have it tank again because they got comfortable and lazy, expecting their newfound reach to continue even though their content became redundant and boring.
One of the easiest ways to attract the most engagement to a post is by introducing a contest. People cannot pass up a chance to win something for free — even something of little to no monetary value.
If you are a service-based business you can offer a gift certificate and an e-commerce business can offer free products. A simple “Like this post, comment below, and tag two friends that might also want a chance to win” will attract engagement.
You can also take it up a notch if you want to offer something very appealing, like tickets to a sporting event or an electronics giveaway, like a free GoPro or iPhone.
You can also note that comments and shares of previous posts also count as “entries” into the contest. If you do this, watch all of your posts’ engagement shoot through the roof. This is essentially “buying” engagement, but it’s real engagement and not from bots.
Develop a Strategy Based on Data and Social Proof
Approach your Facebook SEO strategy the same way you would approach your website’s SEO strategy — based on data and numbers. If you see that a certain page on your website is generating the bulk of your sales, wouldn’t you shift more of your effort into driving more traffic to that specific page?
Of course you would, because data doesn’t lie, and it enables you to scale and improve your results. Study your Facebook Page data the same way. Look at all of your posts and see what content gets the most engagement and the best reach.
Replicate previous successful posts, and see if it’s consistent moving forward. The posts with the highest number of shares, likes, and comments are the ones that appeal to your audience, so create more content that is similar and see if your overall reach improves as you post more, this will improve your facebook seo overall.
Conclusion
Every business should have a Facebook page, and even if you are doing very well with paid ads, you can still drive brand awareness, attract customers, and even convert leads and sales — without spending money — organically.
Will it be an amount significant enough to completely change your business? This will vary for everyone, but your business should welcome any new interest, regardless of the volume. Finding multiple sources for new customers and clients is what leads to growth and success.
The tips explained above require a little time and dedication, and if you already have someone running social media for your business on Instagram, Twitter, and others, then having them fit Facebook SEO into the schedule isn’t going to cost you anything else — it’s pure upside when you look at the big picture.
As long as the vast majority of the population is active on Facebook it presents you with an opportunity big enough that you cannot pass on it, thus must put some effort into facebook seo. Many people will talk about how Facebook’s organic reach is low, but they don’t attempt to do anything about it — they just accept it.
Well, you can do something about it, and if you follow my advice you will see your reach improve. What are your thoughts about organic Facebook marketing? Are you going to give Facebook SEO a try and see how much you can improve your reach? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
