Search engine optimization (SEO) is when you purposefully write and create digital content so that search engines more accurately represent your company, and understand your services, reputation, and credibility. Social media doesn’t always help your website SEO because few search engines and social platforms work together to translate your Facebook page fans, for example, into an amount of popularity or credibility that is linked to your website. How you craft your social pages still matters for SEO, however, and there are five easy ways for you to optimize your social pages to boost your digital reputation.
Be clear and specific in your about copy. Use up the space available.
If you haven’t already written a paragraph that describes your business, do so now. You really need one sentence that says what you do, and then a longer version with 3-4 sentences that mention your general services or products as well as your specialties. Keep it handy in a document that you can copy from any time. You don’t want to stare blankly at the screen any time you need an “about” section.
Chose the appropriate categories or profile type.
Some social media platforms allow you to pick keywords or business service entries to describe what you do. It’s very important that these are correct. People may search Google for your business, but they may also search Facebook or YouTube. Having those correct industry and service entries will help you appear for relevant searches.
Add professional images and branding.
Just because social media is casual doesn’t mean that you should treat your page like it’s not worth your time. Consistent branding will help people searching for your business, will give your page credibility, and may help the social page appear higher in search results, which helps SEO because it gives you more of those top ranking positions.
Include all of your relevant business information for contacting you.
It really is surprising how many business pages on social media lack information. Sure, you don’t have to sweat and toil over every last place where you can enter information on a social page, but you definitely have to have the basics. Adding your hours, address, and phone number are the least you can do, but adding an “about” description will help people searching for you or businesses like yours. Do not pass up this opportunity to give vital business information to potential customers!
Link to your website.
“Backlinks” are the links from other places in the internet back to your website. More of these links coming from reputable sites means that your website SEO is boosted. It makes you look more knowledgeable and reputable. You don’t want a lot of links coming from directory sites or link farms whose sole purpose is to provide backlinks. Google knows better, and your site will lose credibility for that. But links from your social media pages back to your website? Those are good for SEO.
You don’t have to spend a lot of time on these things to do them well. Especially if you’re new to social media, take some time to set them up, then come back and review your pages after a while. You may think of new things to say or find other ways to add information. It’s important to get the basics like your images and logo and basic business information, but then start posting! Set a reminder to come back to your pages in a month and see if there is anything you can improve on. You want to get up and running, but you also want to make sure that you’re doing as much as makes sense to improve your SEO.