It finally happened. Rumors, whispers, and speculation have been swirling for months about whether it would.
“Will it happen?”
“Won’t it happen?”
“When will it happen?”
“Is it going to freaking happen already?!!”
Then on Friday, July 29th, we finally saw it. That’s when we could officially say that, oh yeah, it’s happening: Facebook posts are now showing up in Google results for keyword searches.
One of our clients—Mainstream Home Improvement of Illinois—had one of their Facebook posts show up as the fourth (yes, fourth!) organic search result for one of their keywords.
If you’re not an SEO or social media person, you might think, “Big deal.”
Trust me. It is a big deal. Let me tell you why:
Until now, social media was a great tool for customer engagement. If you played your Facebook cards right, you could effectively advertise on the site, drum up more business, and increase customer engagement. You can still do all of those things. Except now, you can also use social media as one more path to the top of Google Mountain.
If you were in the “social media is a waste of time” camp before, this should make you abandon that sinking ship for good. Quality social media content doesn’t just get you more “likes” and comments anymore… as of a few weeks ago, it can seriously juice your SEO efforts.
A word of warning, though: Interesting, relevant content is still king on social media. Do NOT start creating a bunch of boring, keyword-stuffed posts no one wants to read—it will backfire big time. Google will hate you, and you’ll lose followers so fast that your Great Aunt Gertrude will have more Facebook fans.
To utilize social media as an effective SEO tool, you have to post targeted content that people want to read and share with others—same as you did before. But now you will need to be a little more cognizant of your keywords when writing your awesome content.
What’s that? You don’t know how to create engaging social media content? No problem. I’ve written some blog posts that show you exactly what to do:
- I Know I Need To Post Something On Facebook… But What?
- Don’t Do This: Contractor Social Media Blunders
- Contractor Marketing Quick Tips: Social Media
Listen, becoming a Social Media Sensei is not mandatory for getting to page one on Google. All of the other SEO methods are still as effective as they were before.
Trust me, though—a ton of contractors are going to take advantage of Google’s new buddy-buddy relationship with social media websites. If you kick the tire on this, you’re giving your competitors free reign over a quick and easy way to lay claim to Google’s top spots.
Do you want to utilize social media for your SEO efforts—but don’t have the time, skill, or experience to do it yourself? We can do it for you.
Our SEO package includes an optional social media component. We maintain your social media accounts and regularly post engaging, SEO-friendly content to them. No need to worry about what you’re going to post or whether it will strike the right chord with your audience (and now Google)—we take care of it all. Visit our SEO page and scroll down to the “Monthly Pricing” section for more details.
Happy Marketing!
-Rich
P.S. While we’re on the subject of social media, this post I wrote a few months ago shows you an easy and free way to drum up a ton of business on Facebook. To my knowledge, no contractors are doing this (probably because they’ve never even known this method of marketing was possible). By using the tactic that I outline in my post, you’ll essentially have a monopoly on this lucrative hidden corner of the market. Enjoy!
© 2016, Rich Harshaw. All rights reserved.
