It seems the leading social network is focusing on search capabilities. Facebook is categorizing query results.

Brafton has reported that search engines are increasingly focusing on social enhancements – from Bing's Facebook-powered results to new social search developments from Google. Now, it seems the leading social network is focusing on search capabilities. Facebook is categorizing query results.

Facebook searches used to show all of the results in a drop-down menu. Now, these answers are organized into categories including “Questions,” “People,” “Pages,” “Groups” and more. For instance, Brafton began a query with “internet,” and the results were categorized according to “Pages,” “Questions” and “Shared Links” – complete with an “Internet marketing news roundup” that social users had shared on Facebook.

The new organization of results speaks to the growing types of content available on Facebook, and it indicates that users are looking to discover more Pages, information, brands, etc., on the site. The message for marketers is that social content matters.

With this in mind, marketers will want to optimize the content they share on Facebook to catch relevant clicks and Likes. Boosting Facebook content searchability may also enhance search rankings. Research from Search Engine Watch indicates there is a correlation between Likes and Google search rank, with pages that receive more Likes ranking higher.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.