1. Choose Your Best Name

This is not only the most basic step when it comes to optimizing your Facebook page, but also the most important.

You may be tempted to stuff your fan page with keywords, like “Jason’s Deli- Subs, Wraps, Chips, Lunch, Catering & Corporate Events.”  Surprisingly, a name like this can hurt your viral growth rate inside Facebook. If you appear too much like spam, your fans will be less likely to engage with your page, and may even hide your updates in their news feed.

On the other side, you don’t want to be too generic either.  Facebook’s theory is that fan pages represent real companies, brands and personalities.  So, if you were to choose something generic such as Baking, Travel, or Music then Facebook may impede your ability to update your page and acquire new fans.

Tip: The first word in your fan page title is given the most weight (importance) by Google.

2. Create a Vanity URL

If your page reaches 25 “Likes”, Facebook allows you to create a unique URL (username) for the page. These URLs are weighted heavily by search engines, so it is crucial that your fan page URL reflects an aspect of your business.

If another fan page has already claimed your business’ name, be certain to include a description of your business in the URL.

Before you select the username for your fan page, you can check out some different options that Facebook offers here.

3. Use Keywords in Strategic Locations

Similar to traditional websites, keyword optimization is the most fundamental form of on-site SEO. The most important pieces are the “About”, “Mission”, and “Company Description” sections, since these areas are pulled from your fan page as optimization elements.

Here is an example of how a Google might index your page:

SEO Title = Your fan page name
Meta Description = Fan page name + “About” section of your page
H1 = Your fan page name

If you wish to optimize for local searches, it is extremely important to include your full address. For product-related searches, the “Company Overview”, “Mission”, and “Products” fields should contain the appropriate information.

Tip: Just like your meta tags, you may want to consider writing a short description for your fan page so your entire message appears in the search engine’s snippet.

4. Include a Phone Number and Address

Surprisingly, many businesses don’t include this information on their fan page. If a majority of your sales result from online traffic, it may not seem as important to include. However, remember that optimizing your brand for local search traffic is crucial to expanding your page.

Further, Google concentrates its focus on pages with this specific information, aiding your fan page SEO.

5. Backlink to Your Fan Page on Existing Channels

If you have many inbound links to your page, Google will allow your page more authority and you will ultimately rank higher.  This is the same reason why bloggers link their content from other websites, blogs, etc.

This same concept applies to your Facebook fan page.  So, include a link to your fan page from your other digital channels such as your website, blog, and Twitter profile.

6. Optimize Status Updates

Remember, the first 18 characters of a Facebook post serve as the meta description. Take advantage of the option when Facebook prompts you to “Write something…” since that text will be considered the SEO title for that update.

Tip: Google places a higher importance on the first word of your update, so you may want to consider using one of your keywords.

7. SEO for Facebook Notes

If you haven’t heard of Facebook Notes, I wouldn’t be surprised.  It is extremely under-utilized. When used appropriately, however, these Notes can provide your fan page with an effective way at increasing your overall SEO. The SEO elements pulled in from Facebook Notes are:

SEO Title = The title of your note
Meta data = Your fan page name wrote a note titled, your note’s title

This gives your page the ability to create multiple “pages” below the main fan page. Notes are also a great method of expanding on special offers/events that your business is hosting.

The Bottom Line:

Don’t forget that the whole objective of your Facebook fan page is to add value to your brand.  Be sure to pay close attention to the contrast between raw traffic and the engagement level of your fans.  As always, your page should coincide with your businesses’ core competencies- and your level of engagement will determine the growth of your following.