Does Google push down for not ranking top for branded keywords?
-
Hi all,
Usually websites rank for their branded keywords. Some times third party websites takeover the websites for branded keywords. If there are more number of such queries where website is not ranking (top) for branded keywords, Google push down website in overall rankings? Any correlation?
Thanks
-
Hi vtmoz
You should definitely have pages that target brand related queries and this is not spam. I don't know what you sell. But you should have 'landing pages' I prefer to call them 'categories' for all the 'things' 'services' or 'product categories' your company covers.
Make sure that the pages are tight and succinct, have 300-1000 words content and are highly contextually targetted to the different categories you cover.
This is not spam, it is normal site structure and you will not be penalised.
Regards Nigel
-
Thanks Nigel,
Still I didn't get answer for my actual question. What if we don't have landing pages for our brand related queries or third party websites are ranking above us?
-
Hi vtmoz
As the brand owner, you are perfectly entitled to create pages which relate to the various different operations of your business. As long as you don't create any duplicate content this will only enhance your rankings.
it's just like a shop having a page for each of its categories.
Regards Nigel
Carousel Projects.
-
Hi Alick,
Thanks for the response. Our website is not generalised website but we have a brand name and reputation; but unfortunately some of the brand related search terms doesn't have landing pages nor ranking top of the results. Does this scenario impact us? When I asked about creating landing pages for all our brand related queries, someone said that may sounds like spam to Google. Is it?
Thanks
-
Hi,
First of all branded keyword should rank in top and it happens in most of the cases except if your website is like bestmobilephonedeals.com or cheapmobilephones.com.
If your website like is as I stated above then no need to worry.
Thanks
-
Hi vtmoz
Google doesn't 'push down' or 'pull up'. What happened here is that Google will choose the most relevant result from all of those in the index. If you are 'The Brand' and you are not at number one for that term then that says more about your website and how it has been constructed rather than anything else.
For sure if you are 'The Brand' you should sit at number one but I have seen many cases where this is not true. If you have built a badly structured website which does not make it clear to Google that you are 'The Brand' then you risk being leapfrogged by other websites.
I work in eCommerce so see a lot of online brands listed at the top for their own search term. Sometimes, however, a clever online shop might set up a domain which contains 'The Brand' name and rank higher. How do they do this?
Well, they are very clever in the way they structure the site with a clear and relevant hierarchy and a ton of backlinks. Since links are a strong ranking factor along with clear and contextually strong internal pages and linking, Google can pick a different site to 'The Brand' as it has algorithmically worked out that this site is a more useful site for The brand for the user.
My advice is:
1. Do not allow competing websites to set up URLs with your brand name in.
2. Build a clear and relevant website with a perfect structure for your brand.
3. Amplify your presence through press and social media expressing that you are the brand,
4. Be consistent - get backlinks and be the brand - citations, NAPs etc all consistent.You should rank No. in no time with a modicum of effort
Regards
Nigel
Carousel Projects
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Internal pages ranking over the homepage: How to optimise to rank better at Google?
Hi, We have experienced a shift in SERP from internal pages ranking over website homepage for more than a year. Previously website homepages used to rank for the primary keyword like moz.com for "SEO". Now we can see that internal pages like moz.com/learn/seo/what-is-seo been ranking for the primary keyword "SEO". Google is picking up these "what is ABC" pages than the homepage. All our competitor sites are ranking with these internal pages which are about "what is (primary keyword)". We do have the same internal pages "what is....", but this pages is not ranking; only our homepage is ranking. Moreover we dropped more than 15 positions after this shift in SERP. How to diagnose this? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Google AMP (accelerated mobile pages), can it be used for non-Google news and Ecommerce Websites?
Mozzers, I've been doing a lot of research on Google's new Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) https://moz.com/blog/accelerated-mobile-pages-whiteboard-friday. From what I'm seeing, these AMP version websites are only for Google News-worthy websites such as New York Times, Cosmopolitan, and the BuzzFeeds of the world. But what about Ecommerce websites like Ebay or Amazon? Will AMP versions of "scotch tape" via OfficeDepot work in the SERP's on non-Google News cards?
Algorithm Updates | | Shawn1240 -
Issue with Category Ranking on Page 1 vs. Homepage Ranking on Page 2
A client has a high-volume keyword that is rendering different results, whether it is on page one or page two of Google SERPs. If the keyword is on page one, ONLY the category page is ranking. When the keyword bumps off to page two, BOTH the category AND the homepage are ranking. This is happening on our IP and theirs, incognito and personalized searches. This has been happening since February. Any thought/insights would be greatly appreciated, thank you!!!!
Algorithm Updates | | accpar0 -
Special Characters in Keywords
Do search engines consider keywords such as "1099 E-File Software" & "1099 "EFile Software" the same? Many of the keywords for my website will have a dash "-" when properly spelled out but there are many users who would simply omit it when spelling the word. Another example would be "W-2 Software" as opposed to "W2 Software".
Algorithm Updates | | Stew2220 -
Ranking drops over weekend
Hi all, Has anyone noticed any ranking changes over the weekend? I've noticed an almost uniform drop of a few positions across almost all of my chosen phrases. Nothing major has occurred on our site, no messages in webmaster tools. An analysis of our competitors positions (which we track the top 10) doesn't reveal any clues. Cheers Aran
Algorithm Updates | | Aran_Smithson1 -
Some rankings fluctuate dramatically
Hi guys, just a quick query this one. For one of our keywords, the rankings are fluctuating wildly. One week we went up 32 spots, then the next friday we were down 28. Nothing dramatic was being done to the site, I have not been trying to "force" any rankings instead focusing on just making our content better. It just seems odd that one week we're on page one, then a few days later we're down on page four. It seems impossible to actually maintain a reliable ranking. I know to expect some fluctuation but every week it's up 20/30, then down 20/30 the next. How can we try to give this keyword some stability? Ideas?
Algorithm Updates | | JetBookMike0 -
Is this a possible Google penalty scenario?
In January we were banned from Google due to duplicate websites because of a server configuration error by our previous webmaster. Around 100 of our previously inactive domain names were defaulted to the directory of our company website during a server migration, thus showing the exact same site 100 times... obviously Google was not game and banned us. At the end of February we were allowed back into the SERPS after fixing the issue and have since steadily regained long-tail keyword phrase rankings, but in Google are still missing our main keyword phrase. This keyword phrase brings in the bulk of our best traffic, so obviously it's an issue. We've been unable to get above position 21 for this keyword, but in Yahoo, Bing, and Yandex (Russian SE) we're positions 3, 3, and 7 respectively. It seems to me there has to be a penalty in effect, as this keyword gets between 10 and 100 times as much traffic in Google than any of the ones we're ranked for, what do you think? EDIT: I should mention in the 4-5 years prior to the banning we had been ranked between 15 and 4th in Google, 80% of the time on the first page.
Algorithm Updates | | ACann0 -
Why would my product pages no longer be indexed in Google?
Our UK site has 72 pages in our sitemap. 30 of them are product pages which take a productid parameter. Prior to 1st Feb 2011, all pages were indexed in Google but since then all of our product pages seem to have dropped from the index? If I check in webmaster tools, I can see that we have submitted 72 pages and 42 are indexed. I realise we should have some better url structuring and I'm working on that but do you have any ideas on how we can get our product poages back into googles index http://www.ebacdirect.com
Algorithm Updates | | ebacltd0