As soon as Facebook launched its Graph Search[1] in 2013, it was only a matter of time before it became a big player in the search engine game.
But Graph Search was limited as far as optimization was concerned. The results it returned focused on providing an answer on the relationships between people, places, and things on Facebook rather than a link that contained what was likely the answer to your query like Google.
It was an IFTTT statement on steroids that never missed a workout.
It wasn’t until 2015 that Facebook became a major player in keyword search.
A brief history on Facebook Search
2011, August: Facebook beta tests sponsored results in search feature
Since Facebook’s search was in its infancy at this time, testing sponsored results may have been too soon since search functionality was limited to page titles, profiles, games, etc…
So you couldn’t target based on keywords quite yet, nor could you take advantage of a searchers affinity. Which means the only way to target was by targeting another page or product.
Sponsored results were short-lived as it turned into competitors targeting competitors relentlessly to steal traffic. In June of 2013, less than a year of Sponsored Results’ formal release, they were terminated[2].
2013, January: Facebook launches Graph Search
Prior to 2013, Facebook Search had only returned results based on existing pages. There wasn’t much logic in the algorithm other than the name of the person or page you’re looking for in your query. That changed with Graph Search[3].
Graph search took pages, categories, and people and put them into a revolving wheel