EdgeRank is simply Facebook’s algorithm (calculation) that regulates which updates and content is displayed in user’s news feeds. EdgeRank is a determining factor in when and how much of your content is shown, as well as where it is shown among other content.
Let’s break it down like this: Edge is the content, e.g. photos, videos, and status updates. The “Rank” indicates when and where these “Edges” will be shown in Facebook’s content stream.
The Misconception
Table of Contents
Many users have the misconception that 100% of their posts will be seen by those that âlikeâ their pages if they’re online when the updates are posted, much like Twitter. This isn’t true; Facebook uses an algorithm, much like that of Google. And with Facebook’s recent updates, most pages, if not all, have a recent net loss of organic and viral reach.
Is Facebook Is Driving Away Brands?
Some users think this is Facebook’s way of squeezing more revenue from its users. Facebook denies this, and like Google, says it’s all an effort to improve the user’s experience. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, says he’ll take his team, and 70+ other businesses he invests, to MySpace.
EdgeRank Factors
Factors that influence EdgeRank can be hard to predict. We know the three major factors are affinity, weight and decay.
Affinity is basically the relationship you have with those interacting with your Facebook Page. Those that like, comment and share are more likely to be shown content you post in their news streams. Someone that never interacts with your updates may never see another one! Weight is the measure of your posts. Wordtracker recommends we post a variety of update types and we do so often, due to decay. Decay is simply the short lifespan of the content.
Embedded below is a video of a discussion we had on EdgeRank. One of the partners, Mitch Mitchell, wrote about this very subject last month. Check it out at: Facebook Edgerank, Et Al
Options For Increasing Facebook EdgeRank
Engagement And Interaction: The first thing every business page should do is build engagement and participation with Facebook fans. This isn’t just something we say, it’s now more imperative than ever. By engagement, I’m referring to comments, shares and likes. We need to engage fans in a way that encourages interaction. The more interaction, the more content those that have interacted will see in their news feeds.
Your Facebook Business Landing Page: When we’re talking EdgeRank, we’re referring to your content that is shown to users in their news feeds (home page). Whenever someone visits your Facebook Business page, they still see everything you posted, assuming your privacy settings allow it. One solution is to get people to visit your Facebook page, plain and simple. Once they are there, you should encourage interaction to boost your EdgeRank.
Images And Videos: Like I mentioned earlier, Facebook’s algorithm is tough to predict but, according to EdgeRank Checker, images are a good choice; they say, “Photos are still the best overall strategy“. So it looks like we’re still better off working on a heavy video and photo strategy for Facebook page updates.
Promoted Posts: Facebook is a business and, like any business, they’re in it for profit. There’s nothing wrong with that and even though they say different, most of us believe that’s the reason for the sudden and, like Mitch mentioned in the video below, unannounced changes.
So we still have the option to pay Facebook for reach. Last month Faissal Alhaithami put together a nice guide to follow when going this route: Facebook promoted posts: A complete guide – Sorry, FansBridge is no more.
With that said, we need to think about our goals before investing too much money into Facebook reach. Just a few days ago, Kim Castleberry posted a video on her blog saying (paraphrasing), “tt only makes sense to pay for promoted posts if we ultimately expect to see a profit from it”.
My Two Cents
There’s nothing new in the lesson learned here; we’ve seen it over and over. We should NEVER put all our eggs into one basket, especially one we have no control over. There are businesses out there where Facebook is their primary online presence; in some cases, their only online presence. That’s a huge mistake, in my opinion. It was the same with virtually every social site since MySpace. We should take advantage of the tools at our disposal but we should not depend on third party sites, not even Google, for our livelihood.
Your Turn
Have you seen a drastic decline in Facebook reach? What are you doing to compensate. Anything I missed? I’d love to see your comments.
Watch on YouTube: What Exactly Is EdgeRank?
About Brian D. Hawkins
Having thousands of followers is not enough on Facebook, you need to have good EdgeRank so that your stuff can be seen by maximum people. To improve your edgerank one need to share informative and interesting stuff so people love to like, share them.
Hi Aasma, the big numbers mean little when the can’t see anything you post. It’s like those huge lists with very low open rates.
Hi Brian, I’ve seen many fluctuations for the 3 pages I administer. You can gain it back with some creative posts and interacting more on others pages as your page. I’ve also noticed that when I click “latest posts” it doesn’t always work and I have to go manually to others Facebook pages to see them and interact. A little more time consuming but worth it. I’ve always said not to put all your social eggs in one basket. Spread them around because you never known when one could shut down completely or no longer be effective for you. I must check out MySpace again. I started one years ago when my kids were teenagers on there. God only knows what my log in and password were then 🙂
Hi Lisa, It’s nice to hear you can regain that reach. I’ve been very bad with all of my social profiles so I can only imaging how bad it’s going to be for me. lol
I actually looked at my old MySpace profile but couldn’t log in. I think I was using an email address back then that I no longer have. Truthfully, I can’t see much improvment but was a little shocked to see that 199 Alexa rank.
Hi Brian,
Facebook much like Google almost follow the same strategy, Edge rank is really much SEO you need to understand it write in order to do it right. But in case you can’t do it right then no issues your money can fix it right using Google Adwords or Facebook Promoted posts feature, and I understand that; at the end both companies want to generate their revenue.
Thanks for this great discussion.
You’re right Qasim, there are some similarities, especially the later point on making money. Thanks for the shares 🙂
This is very new for me… I think this your post can help many others… great job sir….. its really a new experience….
I’m glad to help a little Rahul.
Hey Brian,
Yeah, it might be to make Facebook more money, but I don’t think it is. I have been working on more interaction on my Facebook and will continue to be for the next month or so. Running a contest to get more interested people to my FB page 🙂 I will hop on over to fans bridge to learn more about Facebook, so I can make sure I am doing stuff correctly 🙂
Sounds like a good plan Garen, contests are always fun. Check out http://www.rafflecopter.com/ if you’re not already familiar with it.
Hi Brian,
I’m an admin on 5 different Facebook pages and it seems that EdgeRank is all over the place. I’m posting similar “engaging” content on each page – images, video, questions, polls, etc. and some pages seem to naturally get more engagement than others. I don’t mind investing a couple of dollars here and there but to get the ball rolling but the bottom line is that it really depends on fan loyalty. For example I have never done a promoted post on the CommentLuv Facebook page but each posts gets likes, comments and shares.
I agree that I’m seeing more engagement on Google+, but I wonder if that would change if they offered promoted posts too. Hope that never happens but I’m sure one day it will.
Thanks for sharing the video.
I agree Ileane, I’m sure G+ will follow suit.
You are very good at running your sites, both social sites and blogs, and you have a great following. I have a very loyal following on Facebook too but I don’t think she counts since she’s my sister. lol
This is pretty neat I’ve never heard anything about it. you know Facebook has so much potential with their large user base. If done right I’m sure they can even replace Google for searching. Imagine if you can get search results in their search bar?
Careful Brian, that kind of thinking is going to make you rich some day.
Thanks for sharing my link Brian. At this juncture I’m not paying a thing to try to drive people back to the page. I still see it as a link back to my blogs and my sites and I’ll just stick with its SEO prospects for now.
I don’t blame you Mitch, although you can advertise your sites on Facebook as well but I know you well enough to know that’s not happening either.
I had no idea as to what Edgerank was prior to this and now I see why this is really important. I shouldn’t be surprised though because it seems as though most companies are trying to emulate Google’s idiosyncrasies.
Thanks Paul, I’m glad I was able to help bring it to your attention. 😉
I have heard of Edge Rank before and surprisingly I was thinking about writing a post about it just a few minutes before I read your post! This is a good thing to know about on Facebook.
Well don’t let this post stop you Wade, there’s plenty of cyberspace for all of us. 😉
So this is the reason why some brand fan page posts crap or totally unrelated stuffs to their brand products/services – just to get Like, Comment, Etc
I thinks it’s both the cause and effect Michael; pages post cute kitty pics because they draw in likes and Facebook, they say anyway, regulates reach because of the spammy nature of many updates. In the end, both Facebook and the kitty cats win. lol
This is all new to me. It is the first I have heard of EdgeRank. I seems the Like button is now similar to the YouTube Subscribe button, where you can change the settings if you hoover over the button. I will make sure the Pages I want to receive updates from are set to “Show In News Feeds”. Thanks for the info.
Yep, that’s new too Larry. Facebook has been making a ton of changes lately. It’s pretty tough to keep up.
Hi Brain, Twitter and Facebook are actually 2 social networking sites that I’d love to use for now to get traffic for blog and standing out to the crowd. And I’m always look out for how my Facebook insights is growing.
Thank you – Ferb
I don’t work either of them as well as I should Ferb but Twitter is always in the top 5 referrals for this blog.
Hi Brain,
Amazing post..!!!
I have never heard about the edge rank before. New experience for me as i ll take care of it now..
Thanks..!!!
Thanks Sneha, I hope it helped. Welcome to Hot Blog Tips, it’s always nice to see new faces. 🙂
i thinks its great impact on blogs. specially for commercial brand.
Unless that commercial brand has the budget for promoted posts Jagat, then they’re ahead of the game. Thanks for that.
I was not aware of Facebook edge rank. This is an entirely new thing for me. Thanks for providing this great info.
No problem Calra, it’s new to all of us.
Facebook edgerank is indeed one of the critical areas which needs attention in order to use Facebook as a great tool of social media. Thanks for providing this useful insight.
My pleasure Aayna, it’s just another thing to master really. We have to roll with the changes I guess.
That is interesting about Facebook.
I definitely learned something here. I use Facebook a lot.
User interaction is very important and needs to be done heavily in Facebook.
I think interaction is key Samuel, you’re absolutely right. Have you noticed a big drop in exposure?
Brian, I always wondered why I was getting little engagement from Facebook members.
I now know why. I had never heard of Edgerank, but it makes since they wanted us to promote our post.
I believe they all are crooks because they blew a smokescreen in our face.
Thanks Michael, don’t hold back. lol I guess it’s just part of business but it truly is frustrating that they led us on for all this time and now it looks like they were just grooming us as paid customers.
You know, I was posting on Facebook and Google Plus earlier today and thought it would be nice to have our own network-like “stream” right on our blogs. You know what I mean? We’d be able to post things like news and short updates that were separate from our actual posts yet steamed on our blogs. Just an idea 😉
Thanks to hotblogtips otherwise I wouldn’t have known what Edgerank is. I am heading over to improve the communication and engagement on my facebook fan page. You have taught me something valuable. Thanks
Glad to help Brad, it looks like a lot of people are learning about EdgeRank right here. I’m glad I wrote the post. 🙂
Hi Brian,
This is the new thing I have ever read. A blogger must concentrate about this edgerank. Thanks for sharing thing information about Facebook edgerank.
You are welcome Chiranjeev and thank you for sharing the post on Google Plus. 🙂
Hey Brian thanks for valuable info about Facebook rank. I use FB lots but some time I don’t know how to attract users to my website. I just promote it and I tell them to visit my website and I think that wrong to do that.
What do you think Brian?.
Thanks
Hi Abdulrahman, it takes work to drive traffic away from Facebook to your blog because it’s so easy to interact without leaving the site. It is doable and well worth it though. Keep posting great stuff, get to know who your fans are and work on the interaction. That traffic will eventually find it’s way to your blog.
Thanks Brain for fast reply, yeah I agree
I toke your advice.
Thanks
Itâs a great impact on blogs, Facebook edgerank is indeed one of the critical areas which needs attention in order to use Facebook as a great tool of social media. Thanks for providing this useful blog.
Twitter and Facebook are actually 2 social networking sites that Iâd love to use for now to get traffic for blog. Facebook edgerank is indeed one of the critical areas which needs attention in order to use Facebook as a great tool of social media. Good post, thanks for sharing.
Hello Brain,
Amazing tips!!
I have not heard about the edge rank before. I have read your article and I will care of it now.
Thanks..!!!
I think it is a great way to drive traffic to your website from Facebook by posting some quality contents and knowing your audience well.It is very important that we interact with our audience well and respond to their feedback timely.I was aware of the edge ranking which Facebook uses but there were many misconceptions which are surely cleared after reading this post.
Thanks for sharing such a great post.I think the Facebook ranking thing is very much similar to that of Google.I think the points detailed about increasing Facebook edge rank are very useful but still they cannot be predicted exactly as Google does.Images are something good to present and they are useful from the ranking perspective.
Awesome Brian! This is the first time I have heard about Edgerank. I do not concentrate a lot to promote site on facebook, but I think its the time to think something about it.
The Edge Rank feature of Facebook is very much similar to that of Google.Facebook is a great site to improve traffic.I had not used Facebook so far for that purpose but now i have realized the importance of it.Thanks for sharing this post and it was quite interesting reading it.
You have given a very effective explaination of Facebook edge rank in your post. I easily understood the term after reading the post. Thanks. Yes, I have noticed this often that the facebook users cannot view all the posts posted by the page owners or blogger on facebook. I guess this a new technique of facebook to earn from its users.
After reading this post i have managed to get rid of my misconceptions that i often thought to be right.I think the Facebook Edge Rank is similar to the updates of Google.I have now realized why i would get so less interactions from my readers.Thanks for sharing these important details.
Thanks for sharing the points to increase Facebook Edge Rank.I also truly believe about increasing user interaction and engagement.These are some great ways to increase participation and help to establish business brand.
hi,
thanks for sharing helpful information. I recently started blogging so its helpful for me… thanks…. 🙂
Hi. To be honest I never knew that Facebook had an algorithm (as sophisticated) to regulate posts from pages until now. Come to think of it, I guess it’s their way of squeezing in content from Pages among the torrent of individual status updates of their users. They’re really challenging Google with this one.
Thanks for sharing!
It’s good to know that Facebook is improving its website but it seems like it might be moving more towards only caring about businesses and marketing and not the user
It makes me wonder what the future of Facebook will be? Will they begin caring more about marketing the business and forget about the users?
Interesting post.I have always wondered why some aspects of my page are not visible and why some are visible.After reading this post i got to know about the edge rank thing which is implemented by Facebook.It is quite competitive to get your fan based on Facebook and lot of work needs to be done regarding this matter.
Thanks for sharing some of the great ways to increase Facebook EdgeRank.I agree that engagement and interaction are some great ways to increase the ranking and it quite helpful.This is one technique which is not quite easy but it takes lot of efforts.Also the other points described are also very important.
We don’t depend on Facebook at all because we don’t have our umbilical cord plugged into them. If traffic comes from there, that’s cool and if doesn’t, that’s also cool.
We’ve definitely noticed that when we engage in discussions in the Internet Super Friends group, we get direct desirable results – people coming to our site and opting in. This tactic has proven incredibly reliable.
When we don’t do this, the whole out of sight, out of mind and stream plays in with EdgeRank because we don’t do the whole social butterfly thing there commenting on people’s pictures of their dogs or their dinner plate of enchiladas.
I’m grateful to have you remind me Brian that I need to get more active with the general population of my Facebook friends to evaluate how much better opt ins and sales can be as the result of doing so. 🙂
Twitter and Facebook are actually 2 social networking sites that Iâd love to use for now to get traffic for blog and standing out to the crowd. And Iâm always look out for how my Facebook insights is growing. Its great impact on blogs, specially for commercial brand. Good post, thanks for sharing.
I have found this very annoying that all the content is not shared and only certain things are shared with some readers.This is similar to the frequent updates my Google.It is very difficult to predict anything about their updates.Thanks for sharing this post.
I was prone to all the misconceptions that are outlined in this post but after reading this article i have managed to get a clear picture of the ranking thing.i have tried to improve the ranking by following the techniques outlined and i must say that they are some powerful tips.
I never heard of the Facebook Edge Rank algorithm, until i went through with this post. So my question to you Is Facebook trying to replicate Google Adwords or is it something different from it.
I think that facebook will lose out at the end. can I say… myspace.. 🙂 and what’s with the pay for inbox scenario???
Facebook Edgerank can be such a pain. I really really dislike Facebook ever since they went all give me your money. I just share other peoples posts on there along with my own. It never brings me traffic. – Scott Craighead