Facebook Likes not counted

[farlandlee]

So many of my clients are (very) small businesses and have added a like button to their website home pages that actually has the person liking their Facebook page rather than the website.  Without debating the pros and cons of this approach, it would seem that Facebook has changed it so that if someone clicks a like button that is for a page they have not actually visited the like does not show up in the like count for that page?  Is that correct?

[bronxpad]

Facebook is looking to optimize its site for its advertising section. If a person likes the Facebook Page via their main site then the benefit doesn't transfer to the website but only the page. If the person has a like button for the website then this is beneficial for the site and not the facebook page. I would suggest you have a like button for the site and a second button that takes them to the Facebook page and from there request another like. A lot of sites implement this strategy. Facebook vs Google, the Adwords Wars. Site owners can get caught in the crossfires by confusion. I hope this helps. Good luck.

[farlandlee]

Thanks Joel.  That is most helpful and confirms my suspicions.  Funny that there does not seem to be much about this out there to be found on google search.

[JFritton]

Hi guys,

Just to clarify, because I've been wondering this same thing:  Google considers "Likes" of your webpage to be different from "likes" of your business Facebook page which is LINKED to your webpage...correct?

And from what I am seeing, Google values webpage likes more than Facebook page likes as far as social signal rankings are concerned. Right?

Sorry if this is confusing.  I may need to change our Facebook button on our webpage.  It's currently going to our brand page on Facebook instead of "liking" the webpage itself.

Thanks,

Jason

[farlandlee]

Hi Jason,

You are correct on all counts.  There are a number of advantages to having the "like" button on your website be for your website as opposed to your facebook page.  The top advantages are:

1. Google doesn't care if the count is shown on your website if it is for your facebook page.  Any boost received would go to your facebook page

2. The send button only works properly if the like button points to the website and not the facebook page.

3. What I just discovered, if someone "likes" your facebook page from a like button on your website, they don't count the like unless the person also goes to your facebook page. So really the button is useless.

The only reason I was just putting a like button for their facebook business page on my clients' websites is because most of my clients are so small that if they get more than 100 likes they are doing well.  So, since most people won't "like" both a website and the same company's facebook page it helped make their like count look better to have all their eggs in one basket so to speak.  Unfortunately with these latest changes I am going to need to go back and change this for my clients.

Good luck!

[JFritton]

Thanks for this Matt!  Great answer and I owe ya.

Jason

[AaronHenry]

We discovered this as well.  What implications do you think this makes for lead generation and web marketing as whole?

A high number of sites use social like/share buttons directly under or around the content piece in an effort to share or like a piece of content.  If that schema does not translate or correlate into likes for a specific piece of content while a user is browsing on the website and only if they actually visit the facebook page, is there a point to even having these icons in the first place any more?

Shouldn't the freed space be better utilize if there are no benefits for the likes in this manner?

PS. Sorry for responding to such an old Q&A!