Facebook’s recent changes to its ranking algorithm will impact what you see on the news feed and the traffic publishers get to their websites.
I’ll explain how this is possible and what you can do about it, below!
Facebook will start prioritizing original reporting
This is huge because it means Facebook will demote news articles without transparent authorship. They want to know who was the first to break the story and make sure they get recognition!
In might, in fact, also be another change in response to the recent #StopHateforProfit ad boycott.
So, if you haven’t made it a priority to start producing original content, you might want to hop on that bandwagon now.
The ranking update will group similar articles & what’s linked to most
If there are 100 articles on a similar topic in the news feed, Facebook will look at the ones that are linked to the most, meaning those that have been shared and referenced most.
Then it will give the articles with the most authentic content and authorship, more promotion.
This is great for actual publishing sites that wouldn’t have a problem with transparent authorship but could prove a problem for smaller publishers that tend to regurgitate content from the top-dogs.
Facebook will require info on the editorial staff of the news sites
You’ll need to have your editorial staffs’ first and last name, to prove that there are people behind the articles.
Facebook is determined to give authority to sites with original reporting so that they rank higher and therefore, can drown out click-bait and ad farm articles.
Ultimately, this is a great move on Facebook to finally get a hold on those who have been taking advantage of the algorithm for a long time.
