Company Knowledge Box Questions

[nowmedia1]

I've been keeping track of changes in my company's Knowledge Box, and it's been responding in completely unpredictable ways. We are currently in the middle of a site redesign -- the current site has not received any SEO attention in a while, apart from two major edits:

1. Adding the social media schema (which Google has not picked up -- we did this close to two months ago).

2. Citation cleanup through Moz Local and BrightLocal

What I've noticed about the Knowledge Box is that it would show up for the query "Now Media Group" if and only if the location was set for San Diego, CA, which is where we're based. Now, it will only show up for the query "Now Media Group San Diego."

My first question: If the location setting is already set for San Diego, why would Google need the additional qualifier to show the Knowledge Box? Any theories?

My second question: Is our local SEO efforts hurting our online presence? We don't provide services locally, except to a handful of clients. We have clients throughout the United States and Canada. It'd be nice if our Knowledge Box showed up regardless of where someone is searching our brand name from. The reason I point at local SEO specifically is because I've noticed that an ex-client of ours has a knowledge box no matter where you search from, and she has no local SEO whatsoever -- the Box shows the address: Douglass, KS. Is our local SEO sending Google mixed signals and affecting when/where the Knowledge Box shows up?

Thank you!

[RyanPurkey]

If a lot of your citations are San Diego based then perhaps. Even Moz doesn't get a knowledge box from time to time unless you enter Moz Seattle, WA, and their brand is very national / international. Again, a big part of the knowledge box is user intent and search volumes.

[nowmedia1]

Hi Ryan,

Thank you for your response!

Your point on Google+ is well received (although the Test post was us testing out a Sprout Social extension).

Regarding the competing brand names, what I notice (although my search results might be conditioned) is that our company dominates the front page. And, no knowledge box is showing up, rather than a competitors'.

You don't think local SEO can hurt a national/international SEO presence?

[RyanPurkey]

One theory is that the Now Media Group name isn't unique enough as there is also www.nowmedia.co.za, a South African company of the same name.

The Knowledge Box also becomes more in-depth the stronger your brand becomes. For example, if you search "WWF" you get the Knowledge Box for the World Wildlife Foundation, and then after the news there's a Wikipedia link to the WWE as it used to be known as the WWF. If Google were a thing in the early 80s, this might have been more hotly contested, with WWF (the wrestling version) likely coming out on top.

Getting more Google+ posts (aside from Test) as well as more followers and shares will help build out your knowledge box. In addition having social media signals from all over (Canada and the US) will contribute as well. Take a look at WWF's knowledge box as a comparison. Cheers!