Google can't discern the identity of my site

[ChuckBraman]

I have a website, http://NewYorkJazzEvents.com, that promotes jazz bands that are available for brides looking to hire a jazz band to perform at their wedding, or event planners looking to hire a jazz band to perform for a corporate event, etc. This identity, that my site is an Entertainment Agency, is made clear by all of the content on my site, as well as all of the content on its associated sites (such as its linked Facebook, YouTube, and Google Business pages, and many local citations). Yet, contrary to all of this data, the mere presence of the word "events" in my URL and business name has led Google to believe that my site is a Live Jazz Guide, i.e., a site that lists public performances of jazz groups in New York City.

The problem, then, is that Google displays the site when people search for local events listings, and not when they search for jazz bands to contract for private events.

For example, do a search for "jazz bands new york" and up pops the listings for sites catering to searchers looking to hire bands for private events, like Gigmasters, Gigsalad, right at the top of the list, followed by lots of individual bands. My site is buried (in my results, anyway), on the middle of page 2. (My paid Adwords ad, on the other hand, shows up at the top of paid ads.): https://www.dropbox.com/s/sv4we4gvnb6wkyb/Screenshot%202016-04-11%2019.22.40.png?dl=0

Now do a search for "new york jazz events." Boom! I'm #1 in the natural results, and, unlike in the search for "new york jazz band," my Google plus page and map (or is it the "knowledge graph"?) display right at the top of the right column: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nob24x1b8u1g4or/Screenshot%202016-04-11%2019.18.49.png?dl=0. (Pretty useless to people searching for live jazz listings in New York, though.)

(This, by the way, is an additional related frustration: why does Google display all of its local information (its map, links to my Google reviews, etc.) next to my site listing when people are searching for events, but but hides this valuable information next to my site listing when people are search for jazz bands (when my site comes up on page 2)?)

For a further confirmation of Google's confusion, see this data from Google that indicates the top search queries that it is using to display my site are centered around searches for local live jazz listings: Google Search Console > Search Traffic > Search Analytics > Queries: https://www.dropbox.com/s/t8blxv6a077iuw6/Screenshot%202016-03-07%2012.28.38.png?dl=0

See also see this data from Google that indicates that it see "events" (which it understands as local live jazz listings) rather than "new york jazz bands" as the essential keyword describing the identity of the site: Google Search Console > Google Index > Content Keywords: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6nk6skfgx9zjzgc/Screenshot%202016-03-07%2012.46.04.png?dl=0

It's been this way for several years. I thought Google was supposed to be smart, but it's pretty dumb in this case (all the other search engines, including Bing, are quite a bit more intelligent). All this trouble, essentially from a word within a URL?

Does anyone have an idea of the cause of this issue, and any potential cures? What can I do to clear up Google's confusion?

[MiriamEllis]

That's great, Chuck. So glad you found someone you might work with. Hope it works out really well!

[ChuckBraman]

Thanks again Ruth and Miriam, for all of your advice.

I've gone through the list of Moz recommended SEO consultants that Miriam linked to and found someone that I'd like to work with. Hopefully (assuming he's available) he'll be able to set me on the most efficient and cost-effective path to move forward.

[RuthBurrReedy]

I understand how hard attracting links can be, especially in a niche market. Building a solid inbound link profile often takes (even) more than being the best - it requires a lot of outreach and promotion. This is another area where an SEO professional might be able to help, because link outreach can be really time-consuming. I would recommend that you vet someone VERY carefully before engaging them to build links. Some things to watch out for:

Red flags:

• Guarantees (X links per month, etc)
• Buying links
• Placing links on networks of sites
• Mass directory submissions (although submitting to useful, relevant, human-curated directories can be worthwhile, it's an area to tread cautiously on)

Basically you want someone who is going to promote your business online with an eye toward attracting great links. It can be a very outreach- and relationship-based approach similar to PR in a lot of ways. Moz' Recommended list is a good place to start, and I personally recommend Jon Cooper from Point Blank SEO as person I know who is the best at this.

[ChuckBraman]

Hi Ruth,

Thanks very much for your advice. I've actually done your first suggestion (removing every possible instance of the word "events" within the text of the site). The 2nd is something I'll try as a last effort before rebranding. Thanks very much for the link to the Moz resource. So far as the third idea, attracting links, I'm in such a niche submarket that I've found that even though the site is the best (and more or less the only) of its kind, and already fairly loaded with relevant and useful content already, it doesn't attract any links, even though many related people (venues, party planners, photographers, caterers, etc.) have become familiar with it over the years.

[RuthBurrReedy]

I think Miriam has some great suggestions. Some other things to try, if you're not quite ready to move your site (or in addition to moving your site):

• Remove as many instances of the word "Events" from your site as you can. Replace them, where it makes sense to do so, with a more relevant keyword. This will be somewhat damaging to your brand if you are committed to the business name "New York Jazz Events," but may help reduce the "Events" signal you're sending.
• Look into markup with schema.org. Here's an intro to it on the Moz Learn section: https://moz.com/learn/seo/schema-structured-data. Marking up your data will help Google further understand what you do and don't do. This is another area where you may want to bring in a professional SEO consultant, since it can be a bit fiddly to implement.
• Create additional content around finding a jazz band, and try to build some more topical authority in that area by attracting links from other sites about jazz bands/finding a band for your event.

Good luck!

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Chuck,

Want to be sure to highlight here that I'm not saying the domain is the only reason for what you're experiencing. There could be more to this that a full audit of your website would discover. But it does seem like an obvious signal. Also not suggesting you have to use an EMD if you rebrand, but my gut feeling on this is that Google is correlating the word 'events' with their concept of what an event is (Google has even used Events as part of their Plus offerings to let people publish upcoming events).

So ... before you jump into a re-brand solely based on one idea from my first-glance look at your website, I'd really urge you to consider hiring a good SEO company to conduct a full audit of the website and the issue. Rebranding is a major undertaking! You might consider looking through our Recommend List here at Moz for companies with good reputations:

https://moz.com/rand/recommended-list-seo-consultants/

And I'm hoping you'll receive further feedback from the community

[ChuckBraman]

Hi Miriam,

Thanks for your response. I agree that that's what's probably happening. What I don't understand is the complete failure of Google's supposed sophistication, as described in the WhiteBoard Friday. The word "Events" on its own, is ambiguous; in one context, it could mean a wedding or corporate event, in another it could mean a concert, etc. The context of the content on my site and all the related sites that link to it makes the meaning unambiguously clear. Any visitor who even glances at the home page, much less everything else, gets it within seconds. The other search engines get it too. But Google doesn't.

You're right, I'm at a desperate enough at this stage right now to rebrand as an unambiguous string of keywords, NewYorkJazzBands. But that's not a brand (as is/was NewYorkJazzEvents), its a string of keywords, and will be perceived so by searchers. I also thought this is the sort of thing Google tries to discourage you from doing. But clearly, Google interprets the keywords in my current URL as superseding all the hundreds of other signals put together, so if that's what I need to do, I'll do it. At least I'll be in the running in the correct results for the correct search terms…

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Chuck,

At first glance, I'd say your domain name (http://NewYorkJazzEvents.com) would be sending a very strong signal to Google that your website is promoting jazz events in NY ... not that you are promoting wedding bands. Your case might well be one of the rare ones that calls for re-branding, but I'd also recommend spending a few minutes watching this recent WhiteBoard Friday which relates highly to the topic of how Google evaluates the quality of content:

https://moz.com/blog/google-may-analyze-evaluate-quality-content-whiteboard-friday

Hope this helps and that you'll get lots of good feedback from others in the community.