BrightEdge released a report today examining the social media SEO for top brands. Results from the top 200 of the Fortune 500 companies revealed a serious lack in optimization of search results for the Facebook and Twitter accounts of these top brands.
According to the report, nearly 100% of these brands hold the top or near-top rank in search results for their brand name. However, 68% had Twitter accounts that were not in the top 20 Google results for that brand name, and around 71% had Facebook pages that did not appear in the top 20.
BrightEdge’s data found that retailers are most successful at optimizing their social media pages; of the top 23 retailers, 13 have brand Twitter pages in the top 20 search results. The finance and insurance industries were the least effective at optimizing social media; only three of the top 43 financial and insurance companies have Facebook fan pages that rank in the top 20 search results.
TechCrunch used Nike and IBM as two examples of brands that don’t have Facebook or Twitter pages on the first page of search results. However, a Google search for Macy’s brings up their Facebook page on the first page of results. BrightEdge’s VP of Product Marketing, Albert Grouyet, says it “comes down to subtitles and descriptions on the social media pages” and cites Macy’s Facebook page subtitle of “Retail and Consumer Merchandise” as more “SEO friendly” for the brand than Nike’s subtitle of “local business.”
BrightEdge also did not find a clear correlation between the number of friends or followers and search rank – higher numbers of likes on Facebook did not guarantee higher placement for brand Facebook pages in search results.
For more info on how to make social search work for your business, check out the video from TWTRCON SF10’s Search Goes Social panel here: https://therealtimereport.com/2010/12/02/watch-search-goes-social-at-twtrcon-sf-10/
