New tactics to improve your Facebook reach
Last week, I posted an article about the current status concerning Facebook traffic. I shared the fact that for Yoast.com, the Facebook referral traffic is decreasing. I also asked you all whether or not you noticed something similar and invited you to share your tactics to deal with such a decrease. You left lots and lots of interesting replies, so first of all, thank you for that! Most people noticed a decrease in Facebook traffic as well. Today, I’ll share three promising tactics that were shared in the comments.
If you want to learn more about using social media and other essential SEO skills, you should check out our All-Around SEO training! It doesn’t just tell you about SEO: it’ll help you put these skills into practice!
Facebook traffic is decreasing
The majority of the people who left a comment on my blog post also noticed a big drop in referral traffic from Facebook in the past few months. Quite some people left Facebook altogether. These people didn’t notice a drop in their traffic. Most people are less active on Facebook than they used to be, but they still use it. Also, three people responded that they didn’t notice any difference. Overall, it is safe to say that the large majority of people replying to my post did notice a significant drop in Facebook referral traffic. But what can you do about it?
Tips and tactics worth trying!
I found three tips and tactics when I was reading through the dozens of comments, and I believe that they are definitely worth trying. I am not at all sure to what extent these actually work. However, these are all things that we will be trying out on our own Facebook account in the near future. So perhaps they will be of use to you as well.
Tip 1: Posts without external links
One of our readers suggested that Facebook posts that contain external links have far less reach than those with just text or posts with video’s or images. In her case, video (and especially live video), was performing the best.
Another reader suggested pretty much the same thing. He also added that a lively discussion on the Facebook-platform can pay off.
This could be a good approach, since Facebook likes it when people stay on Facebook, instead of clicking to another website. It could well be that Facebook treats posts without external links in it differently and that these are shown to more people. We’ll definitely try this one out!
Tip 2: Facebook groups
Several commenters pointed out that although Facebook referral traffic was going down, Facebook groups were still very active. Sharing posts in active groups does seem to be paying off. Time to get active in those groups! Perhaps we should start a Yoast group on Facebook?
Tip 3: Lengthy posts
One of our readers suggested writing longer posts. His experience was that lengthy Facebook posts performed much better than short posts.
This is easy to experiment with. Adding a bit more text to a post is not that hard. We’ll be experimenting with longer and shorter texts in our posts. I’ll keep you informed on the results of this tactic!
Conclusion
Although Facebook referral traffic is decreasing, there are some tactics we can use in order to get some of that traffic back. Perhaps investing in lengthy, well-written Facebook posts without external links will do the trick. You will not get those people to your site then, but your reach on Facebook will remain intact. That’s something to consider. We’re going to try out all three tactics we discussed in this post. We’ll keep you informed about our findings!
Read more: How to optimize your Facebook reach »
Coming up next!
-
Event
WordCamp Netherlands 2024
November 29 - 30, 2024 Team Yoast is at Sponsoring WordCamp Netherlands 2024! Click through to see who will be there, what we will do, and more! See where you can find us next » -
SEO webinar
The SEO update by Yoast - October & November 2024 Edition
26 November 2024 Get expert analysis on the latest SEO news developments with Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss. Join our upcoming update! 📺️ All Yoast SEO webinars »
Great post! I’m always grateful when smart people analyze the situation when it changes…
We’re one of the rare crowd who have not seen a decrease, but rather an increase in Facebook traffic. I believe the new model that Facebook is following is a great boost to any business that needs to tap into a local crowd. We’re a growing Pest Control company that serves the entire Seattle area, and we’ve really upped our game in SMM. We’ll test out the theory of the “no external link” post, and hopefully stir up some discussions. Our social engagement is booming right now.
Things change so fast these days – we’re also dealing with the major overhaul of Google Ads (…lengthened text and titles! And the lengthy ones seem to grab the most traffic!)
Hi,
Thanks for sharing your insightful view for getting Facebook reach for post.
Am not really a fan of lengthy posts and videos on Facebook but might give them a trial soon
Hopefully, there should be an improvement
good luck!
Hello
I have been sharing my blog posts on my Facebook page for a few years now. And I would definitely agree that traffic through Facebook (especially if you’re posting an external link) to my blog has decreased consistently over time.
But, in addition to the tips you mentioned, you might also want to try and play a little with the titles of the links you share on your Facebook page. From personal experience, I can say that titles which attempt to engage with the audience tend to do much better than the ones which are a mere statement.
Eg. The title “Do you know which is the tallest building in the world?” would get more attention and engagement than “Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world.”
So, put some efforts on your link titles before you share them on Facebook. That always seems to help.
good tip! thanks so much for sharing
Thank you Marieke van de Rakt for sharing good tips. In our case, we change from posting to the Page, we now focus on the Private Group. People in the Facebook group discuss a lot more on the page. It’s so cool, that you share the reader’s opinion in the article. :) Love it!
you’re very welcome
About two years ago I switched gears and started concentrating my posts on my blog’s companion Facebook group instead of on the Business page that I’d been using for several years. The results were dramatic.
I’ve discovered that only about 20% of the people who like the “Page” see the posts in their newsfeeds but every member of the group is notified about every post. That leads to much higher response and engagement.
Virtually every post I make to the group links directly to a blog post and as of right now I’m receiving more traffic from Facebook than I’m receiving from all the search engines combined.
This is a great post. Thanks for sharing it with us!
groups it is…. thank you!
thanks for sharing your experiences!
Tip 3: Lengthy posts is true. When I write a long article (with external links) 2500+ words and share it on Facebook, my reach is always bigger than when I write about 1500 words.
Greetings from Croatia :)
thanks!
How many people actually read all the content of a lengthy post? Sure not people like me. I tend to scan through posts, get the gist and move on.
thanks for your input!
Hello,
Interesting… i noticed the same. Also, it seems that i receive less notifications on my Facebook… people get slowly bored of it???
How bring visitors from Facebook without adding a link to our publications?
Working on groups for our notoriety? Making videos announcing new content on our website?
:-)
I’m also struggling with how to get people to your site without adding links. It could be a good tactic to raise brand awareness en let people see your post. You still need to draw them to your site eventually. So that remains a struggle!
Another thing, I also, tried my personal accounts and it performed even better. People like to engage with persons more than companies, he/she better than it! But didn’t try in Facebook by myself but saw some friends did and worked.
Thank you
That’s a really good tip as well! Thanks
Hello, thank you for sharing. Yes it is the video which performing better than other I get 10 folds than other types!. But the issue is that we are using social media to increase traffic to websites! since my traffic decreased very I moved to Twitter and Pinterest and I am getting better results and even more than expected from both without expending money
thanks for sharing your experiences!
Thank you for the interesting advice. Can I ask about blog posts where some have a lot of imagery and text which could be too much for a Facebook post, hence using an external link and wanting traffic to a separate blog page/website?
we’ll look into that!
Thanks very much!
Some tips precious!
very welcome!
You forgot one major tip here: Instant Articles. For publishers, this is a big benefit. Not only is there built-in email acquisition, but if your content is also published as an Instant Article, Facebook considers this “on-site” since users don’t need to leave the app.
Note: Instant Articles are mobile app only.
Note 2: Instant Articles are to Facebook what AMP is to Google.
You’re right! We should write an article about instant articles. Thanks for your feedback!
Awesome. We will definitively try all three suggestions.
Hope it works out for you!