I was talking with a new SEO client yesterday who told me her previous SEO company built her a Facebook Business Page so she get value from the link on Facebook to her site. As you can probably tell, I cringed. Let’s all say it together: links on Facebook do not pass on search engine value to your site (unless they’re coded in Facebook’s markup language, but we’ll talk about that in another post). They carry the “nofollow” tag, making them clickable, but a search engine spider will not pass on value to your site for that link.

That doesn’t mean Facebook isn’t useful for link building. Here’s some ways to capitalize on Facebook as a link building tool, and get people talking about your site!

Links, In Moderation. Imagine taking a leisurely drive and taking what seems to be a nice turn in the road. Suddenly, you’re bombarded with billboard after billboard, all screaming for your attention. Not so fun, right? Same goes for Facebook Business Pages – link to your site where appropriate, such as linking to a fun product every once in awhile, a new blog post, and of course in the “Website” field on the page.

The less obtrusive your page is, the more likely visitors will stay on the page, click through to your site, post on their own Facebook about your site, and grab the attention of their Facebook friends, who just may link to your site on their own blog or website!

People Like Free Stuff. It’s pretty much a rule of thumb that we like free things. Start a contest on your Facebook page where the first 25 or 50 fans receive a coupon code for your online store, with a value large enough to make a potential fan gush “Awesome!” and blog about it, thus resulting in more links to your main site, and of course more Facebook Fans!

I’ll be posting in about a week about Facebook contest ideas, so check back often!

Keep up the posting. I see a lot of really excited site owners posting often on Facebook for the first month or so, and then their interaction fizzles out. Keep up the posting – try to post daily, whether it’s about something interesting from your day or about a cool product on your site every once in awhile. A conversation involves two or more people, so be sure to comment on other people’s posts to spark conversation and get people noticing your page. Don’t be shy!

And When All Else Fails, Beg! Okay, just to be clear, I have confidence your page isn’t “failing” by any means. It never hurts to outright ask for a link. Once you’ve built up at least 25 Facebook Fans, click the “Send Update to Fans” link and ask if they’ll link to you on their site or blog. After all, if they like you, they’ll be helping out their site visitors by providing them with a trusted resource. Include a coupon code in your update. If only 2 out of 50 fans have a site and link to you, your 5 minutes of time still resulted in success.

Think about it this way: What would make you link to a site? Would it be a fun promotion, helpful daily tidbits, or a collection of really unique product images? Think about your audience and what really piques their interest.