Facebook Partners with Google by Deep Linking Mobile App

Facebook has allowed Google to crawl and index its Facebook mobile application on Android smartphones. This allows a user to see the search result in the Facebook mobile app instead of the mobile version of the Facebook homepage.

In the field of SEO, this concept is called Deep Linking. Deep linking is the use of a hyperlink that links to a specific part of a website’s indexed content, and not just the homepage. An example would be of a user searching for ‘Chinese Restaurants in Gurgaon’ and being taken to the exact page of a website listing Chinese restaurants in the Gurgaon area.

The deep links gives the ability to take the user directly to business pages, events, profile pages and posts in the Facebook app. Previously, if a user clicked on a result in the Google App, he or she would be redirected to the mobile version of Facebook in the smartphone’s browser. However, now that Facebook has allowed Google spiders to index the Facebook app, the user would be taken to the respective page in the Facebook app.

Facebook released a statement: “When people search for public Facebook content on the mobile web, those who use Facebook for Android can now click through and go straight to the Facebook app."

However, Facebook is not allowing private information to be indexed. Private content includes user pictures, posts and personal details.

This feature is currently available only on Android smartphones. In October of this year, Google had announced it would deep link iPhone applications in the mobile version of Safari in a bid to cater to iPhone users searching for iPhone apps on Google.

This so-called partnership between rivals Facebook and Google clearly shows that Facebook understands the importance of the Facebook app to a general user. Most users spend a majority of their time on smartphones, especially using applications regularly. By allowing Google to deep link Facebook’s content, Facebook has ensured that more users will use the Facebook mobile app rather than be redirected to the mobile version of Facebook. Also, for Google, this is beneficial because its crawlers do not have the permission to index content inside other’s mobile apps. It also ensures that Google stays as the dominant player in the search engine world tailoring to mobile device users.