5 Things You Need to Know About Facebook’s Graph Search

The world’s largest social network making waves with launch of a new tool called Graph Search.

The tool essentially allows people to discover information based on data that Facebook has collected from its users over time. For example, someone could use Graph Search to discover information such as “restaurants in Chicago that my friends like” or “photos of me that I liked.”
While Graph Search is currently in a limited beta release, the tool seems to improve the social network’s lackluster search bar, which previously only allowed users to search for people or pages on the social network. Moreover, Graph Search has the potential to impact businesses on Facebook. Discover five things you should know about Graph Search below:

1. Likes Matter

Facebook Likes are now more important than ever, especially for businesses. According to a Facebook blog post, Graph Search can make it easier for people to discover and learn more about businesses on Facebook. This is because the search results are based on Facebook’s robust database, which includes information that has been shared by businesses and individuals alike. That being said, businesses with a large fan base will be more likely to turn up in searches for phrases like “restaurants in Chicago that my friends like.”

2. Engagement is Key

Aside from obtaining likes, businesses should focus on maintaining an engaging Page that includes quality interactions with fans. Since the search results are based on information that has been shared by businesses and individuals, interactions between a business and their fans can help the business score higher in the search results. Furthermore, Graph Search also makes interactions like check-ins even more important, because users could potentially search for phrases like “Places in Los Angeles that my friends have been to.”

3. Invest in your Page

Facebook’s blog post states that the best thing businesses can do for their Page is to continue to invest in it and make sure that it is complete and up-to-date. Items like the name, category, vanity URL and information within the “About” section of a business Page can help make it easier for people to find the business on Facebook. Additionally, Page owners should make sure that their business’s address is correct because this information could help someone discover a local business when they are searching for places in a specific location.

4. There are No Graph Search Ad Formats…Yet

As Graph Search becomes more widely available, so will the speculation of a new ad format from Facebook. However, the social network confirmed in their blog post that there are currently no new ad formats available for Graph Search. However, it is important to note that Pages and apps can still use the Sponsored Results ad format to show up in the search results for all Facebook users, whether they have Graph Search or not.

5. Sign Up to Try It

Graph Search is currently in a limited beta release, which means that you must sign up for a waitlist to gain access to this tool. According to Facebook, the rollout of Graph Search will be gradual, starting with a very small number of users. This means that the company is still working out some of the bugs in order to provide the best search results possible to its users before the tool is available to everyone.
Original Post by Allison Howen

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5 Ways For Your Customers to Find You Online: Dominate Local Search

If you are a business owner that would like to dominate local search, there are some items of importance you’ll want to consider. A lot of the local search results in many areas have undergone a complete overhaul within the search engine results pages or (SERPS). These changes have happened across the board with all major search engines. So in this post, you will discover 5 ways to dominate local search, and do it in a way that is extremely effective in capturing new and relevant targeted traffic.

1.)    Google Places listing

Claim your Google Places listing and make sure it is completely optimized. Setting up this listing is not difficult; however, to optimize your Google Places listing may prove to be a bit more difficult. You may want to hire a professional service to make sure your listing is optimized for your local area, which in turn will bring more targeted traffic.

2.)    Local business directories

Submitting your business information to local directories is extremely important. You will want to submit your information to places like LinkedIn, Google, Yahoo, Yelp, Local.com, Yellowbook, Yellowpages, and Merchant Circle, as well as a variety of others. The more listings you have, the better it will be for total domination.

3.)    Article marketing that targets local keywords

Article marketing is very effective, but using it for the local search domination will require a few tweaks. You will need to target a few specific local keywords in order for your articles to drive traffic to that respective area. City names, local business names, local addresses, local phone numbers, or anything local will help your articles get seen by local searches. Make sure you have relevant links in your articles that point back to your web presence.

4.)    Use local phone numbers

Many do not realize but this is a powerful tool when it comes to local search domination. Instead of using phone numbers such as 800, 866, 877, or the like, use local numbers. Use the area code for your local area because many people will search businesses by the local area code.

5.)    Citation gathering

When people talk about your business on the web, Google considers this a citation. When many of these citations are found, they tell Google that your web presence has become popular, which translates into indexing your site higher in the rankings. Social networking sites, bookmarks, groups, and forums are all ways to create citations and these will help with total domination.

Using the 5 ways to dominate local search will help your business with exposure, visibility, and getting targeted traffic to your web presence. 

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How does Google Search work? What exactly happens when you click?

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Here’s a video that should answer some of your questions as to how Google works. It provides a very brief and easy-to-understand explanation of what happens when you perform a search in Google! It even gives you some interesting SEO (search engine optimization) ideas. The person presenting is Matt Cutts, who works for the Search Quality group in Google.