Low-Quality Links Devalued in Facebook’s New Algorithm
As expected, Facebook has been making some adjustments to its algorithm again in order to keep its users interested and served the most engaging material. Social Media Today reported that the social media giant has, as usual, made many new tweaks to increase positive user experience. However, one change in particular will impact Facebook marketers’ campaigns and initiatives.
An important note to make here is the complexity of Facebook sorting through content so that users see what’s most relevant and interesting to them, therefore keeping them engaged in the platform. According to Social Media Today’s piece, “it’s estimated that each user is eligible to be shown up to 1,500 different pieces of content daily, but only see roughly 300.”
Video Content
Currently, Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm has over a thousand different factors it considers in order to filter through content. One of the latest adjustments to the algorithm includes giving preference to videos in which people are proactively searching and returning to Facebook to watch. The reasoning behind this being that if people are actively looking for your content and are repeatedly watching your videos, Facebook will help enable new people to discover that content. This means marketers should be making content that they’re confident their followers will want to watch and already have a history of watching.
Engagement Bait
Another notable change is that what Facebook calls “engagement bait” will be devalued. “Engagement bait” posts are ones that contain language like “Share with a friend” or “Like this post if…” that are designed to entice followers to take action. If your social strategy includes any of the following, it’s time to reevaluate your content approach. Facebook considers the following elements as engagement bait:
- Tag baiting
- Comment baiting
- Vote baiting
- React baiting
- Share baiting
Low-Quality Websites
Lastly, and possibly most importantly for you, is that Facebook is now devaluing posts that contain links to low-quality websites. Facebook views these types of links as possible spam and therefore wants to weed it out of their users’ newsfeeds. These characteristics describe the kind of links Facebook will consider spam:
- Landing pages that have disruptive, malicious or shocking ads
- Slow loading time
- Landing pages with non substantive content
- Higher bounce rates and low pages per session metrics
This means that no matter how great your social strategy may be, if your website is outdated and contains any of these elements, you will have a major factor working against you.
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These elements are crucial to your social media marketing success and overall positive online presence. If you created a website with us a while back, it may be time to revisit it for a redesign that creates better user engagement. Reach out to your CAM or contact us at marketing@commercialwebservices.com to learn about more ways you can modernize and refresh your website.