Facebook Likes not counted
-
So many of my clients are (very) small businesses and have added a like button to their website home pages that actually has the person liking their Facebook page rather than the website. Without debating the pros and cons of this approach, it would seem that Facebook has changed it so that if someone clicks a like button that is for a page they have not actually visited the like does not show up in the like count for that page? Is that correct?
-
We discovered this as well. What implications do you think this makes for lead generation and web marketing as whole?
A high number of sites use social like/share buttons directly under or around the content piece in an effort to share or like a piece of content. If that schema does not translate or correlate into likes for a specific piece of content while a user is browsing on the website and only if they actually visit the facebook page, is there a point to even having these icons in the first place any more?
Shouldn't the freed space be better utilize if there are no benefits for the likes in this manner?
PS. Sorry for responding to such an old Q&A!
-
Thanks for this Matt! Great answer and I owe ya.
Jason
-
Hi Jason,
You are correct on all counts. There are a number of advantages to having the "like" button on your website be for your website as opposed to your facebook page. The top advantages are:
1. Google doesn't care if the count is shown on your website if it is for your facebook page. Any boost received would go to your facebook page
2. The send button only works properly if the like button points to the website and not the facebook page.
3. What I just discovered, if someone "likes" your facebook page from a like button on your website, they don't count the like unless the person also goes to your facebook page. So really the button is useless.
The only reason I was just putting a like button for their facebook business page on my clients' websites is because most of my clients are so small that if they get more than 100 likes they are doing well. So, since most people won't "like" both a website and the same company's facebook page it helped make their like count look better to have all their eggs in one basket so to speak. Unfortunately with these latest changes I am going to need to go back and change this for my clients.
Good luck!
-
Hi guys,
Just to clarify, because I've been wondering this same thing: Google considers "Likes" of your webpage to be different from "likes" of your business Facebook page which is LINKED to your webpage...correct?
And from what I am seeing, Google values webpage likes more than Facebook page likes as far as social signal rankings are concerned. Right?
Sorry if this is confusing. I may need to change our Facebook button on our webpage. It's currently going to our brand page on Facebook instead of "liking" the webpage itself.
Thanks,
Jason
-
Thanks Joel. That is most helpful and confirms my suspicions. Funny that there does not seem to be much about this out there to be found on google search.
-
Facebook is looking to optimize its site for its advertising section. If a person likes the Facebook Page via their main site then the benefit doesn't transfer to the website but only the page. If the person has a like button for the website then this is beneficial for the site and not the facebook page. I would suggest you have a like button for the site and a second button that takes them to the Facebook page and from there request another like. A lot of sites implement this strategy. Facebook vs Google, the Adwords Wars. Site owners can get caught in the crossfires by confusion. I hope this helps. Good luck.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Facebook Integration and Keyword Density
Hope everyone is doing well! Long story short, we have been getting a lot of customer testimonials. We started putting them on Facebook and then we decided to start adding more details into the articles section of the site. The problem is many of our customers do not go to the articles section or the FB page. We purchased a plugin to integrate most recent Facebook posts into our website. We were going to use it on our homepage as well as our top category pages. I always run content changes through the MOZ scoring utility. After integration into the home page it dropped my score from a 99 to a 91. The first issue is consistent.... to many links... the second issue we got Rand's WTH are you doing face with a warning that we are stuffing keywords.... Not our intent, but the FB posts do have keywords in them. So for now we are testing the integration on just our garage floor tile category page but I am wondering the following: 1. In general does this type of utility improve UX 2. Does Google make some concession for 'keyword stuffing' when it is because of social media posts being displayed on the page? 3. Given that we post daily, does the 'fresh content' outweigh the increased keyword density. We are ranking top 10 for several major national keywords and we don't want to screw that up. But we want to continue to improve our layout and UX
Social Media | | GFLLCCO2 -
2 Facebook Company Pages - Best way to merge
Hi I am about to set up a Facebook company page under our current brand name Key - however in March we'll be re-branding to Manutan UK. I didn't want to wait until March to start using Facebook (we're so behind!) but when we re-brand what are the best steps to take. Here are my options - I'd love some help! 1. Set up a Key company to actively use now & a separate Manutan page just to secure the page - only using Key until March then merge the business pages (I did read however Facebook won't allow it if the names are different?) 2. Set up a Key page now & in March request a name change of the page & vanity URL We obviously don't want to lose any likes/followers we've gained between now & March Does anyone have any advice or experience with this? Thank you
Social Media | | BeckyKey1 -
Can I verify a Facebook Page with 28k+ likes on it?
Hi there, I want to get the Facebook page of a fashion blogger verified. This blogger has around 28,510 likes on her facebook book at the moment, can this Facebook page be verified? The blogger has been trying to get the FB page verification done for a long time without any luck. Now the blogger wants me to verify her Facebook page. How do I go about the process? It will be great if you can share a step by step process. And how long will it take to get the page verified? Also, I need to get this done soon, so a quick response will be appreciated. If you want any other info please let me know. Regards
Social Media | | DebashishB
Deb0 -
Hi guys, I need to create a subscribe end-off to my YouTube videos. I need something like this - https://www.youtube.com/user/SeattleCoffeeGear - where the red gear at the bottom pops up with a bright red "subscribe" CTA. How do I do this?
Hi guys, I need to create a subscribe end-off to my YouTube videos. I need something like this - https://www.youtube.com/user/SeattleCoffeeGear - where the red gear at the bottom pops up with a bright red "subscribe" CTA. How do I do this?
Social Media | | Bev.Aquaspresso0 -
Facebook Like Button vs Like Box
We want to add the Facebook Like and Google Plus One functionality to our website but had a question. Is it better for SEO and usability to use a global Facebook Like Button for people to Like the home page of our website or a Facebook Like Box to Like our Facebook page from our website? I know that we can specify the URL in the Like Button but I wanted to get some feedback. Thanks!
Social Media | | Prager0 -
Facebook Like Button or Like Box
Hi, A client has a FB like button on their website but is frustrated that those "likes" are disconnected from their company FB page. It is possible that they could change their website like button, to a like box, which will then mean people are liking their FB page and give them a greater opportunity for on-going engagement through FB. However, from an SEO perspective is it better for them to attract likes & potential sharing of their website content rather than their FB content? Thanks.
Social Media | | bjalc20110 -
Best Practices for apps.facebook.com pages
A client of ours has experienced a large drop in traffic (per GA) from apps.facebook.com referral source in the last 30 days. After a lot of searching, its apparent that there is not a lot of chatter on this topic. So this is a twofold topic..... 1. has anyone observed a drop in apps.facebook.com referrals lately as well? 2. does anyone have any best practices learning on optimizing these pages? Facebook guidance and content in general on the topic is virtually not existent. Google is still clearly indexing the url structure so its visible in search at least. https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22apps.facebook.com
Social Media | | SWKurt0 -
Do facebook shares of deep links help the whole domain rank better?
What i mean by this is if we were to obtain 10-20 facebook shares for 10 different deep links like these: http://domain.com/deep-page/page-one
Social Media | | adriandg
http://domain.com/deep-page/page-two
http://domain.com/deep-page/page-three
http://domain.com/deep-page/page-four
... Would that help any of these rank better:
http://domain.com
http://domain.com/product1
http://domain.com/product2
etc... Extrapolating, does the same count for Twitter, Google+, etc?0