SEO is increasingly becoming increasingly important on social media as people stray from “googling” topics and instead head to social platforms to search for more information. Looking for a new local lunch spot, search on Instagram! Wanting to find a unique gift for your bestie? Scroll on TikTok for inspiration! With people now using social media as a search tool to discover new products, services and places, it is now more important than ever to ensure your social media content and pages are search-friendly to increase the chances of people looking for brands just like yours, finding you! In this comprehensive guide, we talk you through everything you need to know about SEO on social media from the basics to how to incorporate Social media SEO into your strategy. Keep reading to find out more and give your brand a boost in 2024!
What exactly is SEO on social media?
SEO refers to the term Search Engine Optimization. Traditionally it has referred to the practice of optimizing a website to make it rank higher on search engines. While social media platforms aren’t technically search engines, they do have search functions allowing users to look for accounts and posts based on their search terms. Social SEO alludes to the process of optimizing your social content and pages to make them easier to find when users are searching for products or services like yours on social media. For example, if you’re a hairdresser on Instagram, using SEO strategies like keywords and hashtags can help your page top search pages when people search Instagram for hairdressers in your area. While SEO optimization varies depending on the platform you are using, there is a lot of crossover with the best practices. Keep reading for more on that later!
Why is it so important in 2024?
In 2024, SEO and social media go hand in hand. People are spending more time on social media than ever, and are there for both work and pleasure, and are therefore starting to use various platforms like Instagram, YouTube & TikTok as places to explore & discover new products & services. Why? Because social media is often a more authentic place to find out more about a brand! You can see real people wearing a brand's clothes, authentic videos of a restaurant's dish of the day and real-time reviews of users recommending a brand's skincare products. Social media platforms have recognized this, and in turn, have made improvements to their search functions and capabilities making it easier for brands to be discovered. This is great news for business owners as it increases their chances of being found, getting more eyes on their content and converting these eyes into sales! In short, if optimizing your socials for SEO isn’t part of your strategy, now is the time to start (for tips on building a strong social strategy in just 8 steps, click here!).
Social media SEO tips for each platform
While many social platforms may share similar SEO best practices, there are some tips that are unique to their platform. Here are some top tips for making your page easier to find on the most popular channels:
Instagram SEO tips
- Keywords – consider what keywords your target market may be searching for that relate to your activity and use them (in a natural tone!) throughout your bio & captions.
- Name field – the “name” section of your Instagram bio is searchable so use it to add your main search term (e.g. Vegan Restaurant, London).
- Hashtags – contrary to popular belief, hashtags are still going strong! They are now used to help Instagram understand what your content is about and who to show it to so sprinkle relevant hashtags into your captions, making sure they are relevant to your niche and content (tip: take a peek at some of the top trending hashtags to use in 2024 here).
- Topics – use Instagram’s “topics” tool when sharing reels. This is where you can add up to three “topics” to help Instagram match your reels with user interests.
- Geotags – tagging your location can help you be discovered by people browsing content in your area. Instagram’s searchable map feature also allows businesses to be found by users looking for popular locations on the app (users can even filter by business type e.g. cafés, restaurants, hotels, sights etc).
TikTok SEO tips
- Video information – TikTok analyses captions, hashtags and captions and uses that information to ensure your videos are shown when someone searches relevant keywords or hashtags.
- Settings – making sure your device type, location and language are correct also plays a role in SEO and will impact the content shown on the FYP.
- Keyword tool – use TikTok’s keyword tool to conduct research on what keywords to use for your brand in your captions and videos to help increase their chances of being discovered and shown to the right people.
Facebook SEO tips
- URL – personalize your page URL rather than using the auto-generated URL it gives you when you create your page.
- Keywords – use keywords in your About Section and captions to help increase the chances of being found when people search using your keywords on Facebook.
- Reviews – more reviews on your Facebook page means more trust & credibility and in SEO terms, more keywords on your page.
- Alt-text – adding alt-text to your photos and graphics on Facebook helps the platform index your content making it show up more in search results.
LinkedIn SEO tips
- Headline – use a couple of keywords relating to your business and industry in your headline
- URL – just like on Facebook, you can customize your LinkedIn URL which is a great way to improve your SEO on the platform.
- About section – with 2,600 characters available, there’s a lot of room here to add keywords to help your page become more discoverable on the platform and make your page more SEO friendly (remember to sound natural with your wording & keywords and avoid being spammy).
- Articles – writing meaningful & useful articles about your industry will not only help your audience, but it will also help improve your discoverability on the platform.
Why Social SEO helps to boost your brand
As we have discovered, SEO on social media helps to boost your brand's visibility by increasing the chances of you being found by people searching for businesses like yours. Rather than focusing on various algorithms (which can be overwhelming and complex) to get more eyes on your content, SEO helps to boost your chances of being found by new people. It’s a win-win combination!
SEO as part of your overall strategy
While optimizing your social media accounts and content to make them easier to find should be part of your strategy, it will not alone turn people who find you into followers and sales, this will need to be part of an overall social media strategy which will work for you to attract, nurture and convert followers into customers! Making sure your posts, reels and stories speak to your target market, providing a solution to their problems, alongside analyzing your analytics and making your page more discoverable is the combination to attract the right eyes on your content and page.
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