A brief look at Facebook Graph Search - what it is, how it works and its potential impact and implications for social brands.

1. Facebook Graph Search
An Introduction to the basics

2. The Three Pillars
Facebook
Newsfeed Timeline Graph Search

3. What is it?
• A way to unlock all the information around
individuals and places
• Makes every action and connection searchable
• Example searches:
– All images that I have liked
– Dentists in Southampton that friends like
• Links with Bing for web results

4. What is it?
• Each individuals connections completely customize
the results
• People, photos, places and interests are currently
the only things available in the beta
• There are plans to expand Graph Search so that user
posts and comments are searchable

5. How Does It Work?
Graph Search and web search are very different.
Web search is designed to take a set of keywords
(for example: “hip hop”) and provide the best
possible results that match those keywords.
With Graph Search you combine phrases (for
example: "my friends in New York who like Jay-Z") to
get that set of people, places, photos or other
content that's been shared on Facebook. We believe
they have very different uses.

6. Who Is It For?
• The core focus is for people to be able to find useful
information on the network
• It is to show how more relevant social search is than
web search
• Brands are secondary during this beta period
although can stand to profit from it

7. Results
• Results are based on a number of factors including:
– Information shared by a business/person
– Connections of an individual user
– Individual users activity

8. Example Results

9. Local SEO
• Local search available from day one
• Results = combination of information created &
shared by the business + connections of the
individual running the search
• Business page is not required, some businesses are
auto generated when people add them/check in

10. Local SEO
• Important to claim auto generated pages and link
with current page/create new page
• Report and remove duplicate auto generated pages
• Ensure all information is up to date
• Share relevant content for your business
• Think about offers, latest products/services etc

11. Local SEO
• Name, vanity URL, and info in ‘About’ section all help
people find the page
• Update address to ensure the page appears as a
result when searching for specific location
• Focus on attracting the right type of fans to your
page and give them a reason to interact

12. Graph Search Local Example

13. Auto Generated Local Page Example

14. EdgeRank
• Graph Search puts the emphasis on ‘Affinity’
• The more someone engages with the page the more
likely their friends & friends of friends will see the
result
• Affinity x Weight x Time Decay

15. What Content?
• Offers
– Gives incentive for someone to go to the business
• In store check in offers
– Give people a reason to affiliate themselves with
the business within the business
• Photos
– We know these generate higher engagement
within Facebook

16. Conversation
• Graph Search makes having conversations with fans
very important
• EdgeRank puts a greater ‘weight’ on comments
• If someone has commented a lot, the page will be
elevated within their own, their friends and their
friends of friends searches

17. Conclusion
• Graph search is still at an early stage
• It is important for local businesses to understand
how it may affect them
• Ultimately it sounds like Graph Search is rewarding
those pages that operate and use the Facebook
platform best
Sources: Facebook, Street Fight, Search Engine Land, Bing Blogs