Facebook Search

With over 4.75 billion items shared on Facebook by users each day, they had to develop a way for people to find what they need.

Facebook is aware of the power they hold when it comes to their searches and the amount of content on their platform, so they’ve spent some time recently improving their algorithm and results so people can find the content they’re looking for even faster. 

Over the past year, they’ve been improving their search function and how it works. This article will explain what factors Facebook uses for search and what’s new on the platform.

Searching on Facebook

The search has stayed in the same place – right at the top of the screen on both mobile and on browser. You only have the ability to search within Facebook’s own platform, unlike other search engines that allow you to search the entire internet. This serves Facebook’s ultimate purpose: keeping you on Facebook.

Some things you can search through Facebook include:

• All
• People
• Posts
• Photos
• Videos
• Pages
• Groups
• Apps
• Links
• Places

From there, you can narrow your search down with various filters including:

• Posts from
• Post type
• Posted in group
• Tagged location
• Date posted
• Your friends and groups

To understand how Facebook search and what’s different about their update, here’s what you need to know.

Automatically sorted by category

Facebook’s new search now organizes every search into four categories: Top, Latest, People, and Photos. Based on their research on algorithms, these are the top areas most people want when they’re using the search option.

From there, you’re allowed to search by filters or more specific criteria but that’s the default setting for all searches on Facebook.

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/YSZS_nDU8js

Search has become personalized

Instead of just giving you general results, Facebook has taken a queue from other search engines online by personalizing the search results. Depending on your interests, page likes, friends, etc., your search results will be customized. There are currently about 200 factors at play within search results, giving you customized results instead of a general search.

Search is now timely and can be refreshed

Facebook search has also updated their search to have more recent posts at the top. That way, if you’re looking for an event, a news story, or a recent post, they’re now easier to find. Like most other social networks, they also added the ability to refresh your search results by pulling down when you’re on mobile.

Influencers and public posts are included

For a long time in search, you’d only see results from your own friends but now, public posts are also included. If you own a business, this can be a good thing because people can stumble upon your posts from search on Facebook. If you’ve studied SEO or keyword research, using these in your posts can help you get the eyeballs of new people.

With this new feature, you’ll be able to find new people, events, and groups related to the keywords you search.

Popular stories are highlighted

A recent feature they added is centered around links. When you’re searching for a particular topic, trusted websites and sources will pop up first so you can jump into the discussion. This is also an opportunity for brands to use this to be involved in stories and events.

Conclusion

Overall, Facebook has helped users are able to find what they need faster than ever before and it gives a system to sort through the massive amount of content on their platform.