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You've probably seen that for some searches (most commonly for specific product types) that Google offers something like the following in the SERPS:

Related searches for widgets:

| Stores:   | Widgetland Widgetworld Widgetbarn Amazon |
| Brands:   | Widgetdog Superwidgets Widgey |

I'm working with a reputable brand of widgets - they're not just a supplier or a retailer, but a company that designs and builds its own.

Does anyone know how Google decides which brands are worthy of being recognized in these related searches, and how I can encourage them to recognize our brand similarly?

So far I've done the following:

• Knowem.com brand protection
• Add products to Amazon
• Sell our products on eBay
• List our products on Google Shopping

In other words, do what a popular brand would do - appear in many channels, with a large and diverse footprint.

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing, and how to help a brand get recognized as a brand?

Dan here from Path

First thought is it's just too soon to expect front page if your domain's less than a year old, your site only 4 months and just indexed a month ago.

Also I checked out Holland to see how you differ. Here's a quick rundown of why I think they're outranking you for now. (For inbound links I used SEOmoz's own Open Site Explorer)

They have around 374 pages indexed in google, your site has 30. Their site has been around since 2007. Yours less than a year.

You have more links but they have 3 times as many inbound domains. Your top inbound links appear to come mainly from client footers (quality sites but not relevant, link is the same on every page rather than being cited in the body content), while theirs come from business directories and pages that list web design firms in Cincinatti.

If I were you, my next moves would be:

1. Submit your business to a bunch of free (preferably Cincinatti-focused) business directories. Give the Whitespark Local Citation Finder a try to help you find relevant ones. A lot of people dislike free directories, and it's pretty old school but I think that local SEO is different in that regard. You see a lot of directories cited in Google Places. I bet between Whitespark and SEOmoz's Open Site Explorer you could get a list of plenty of these & you only have to do the run of them once, it's a rite of passage for local businesses IMO.

2. Get more relevant content up on your site... Case studies, relevant articles, start blogging. Just keep updating your website with relevant things. "7 Things Businesses in Cincinnati Need to Know About Web Design" and so forth. Take a bunch of tried and true principals and pitches and make them Cincinnati-focused.

I know it's pretty basic, nothing too exciting but I think there's a couple things that you could do right now and see return from.That and a little more time.

I think it's massively dependent on which social media you choose and what your market is. I've seen a lot of success from local businesses on Facebook. They're usually photographers or crafty people. They market to the same demographic that fills my news feed with videos of kitties, massive amounts of baby pics, and hallmark card style quotes. Their business interests are very social to begin with. For them, social media is just the new word-of-mouth.

Then at the same time, I see a bunch of SEO's and online marketers writing blogs and Facebooking and Tweeting and I wonder what exactly their end game is. I understand why SEOmoz gives away so much knowledge, since they profit from people becoming qualified to charge for SEO, at which point ideally they sign up with SEOmoz's pro tools (like we did!). But a bunch of SEO's are writing the same stuff without thinking of who's going to read it. You can write all about, say, load time optimization or cross-domain canonical URL's but the people you're going to try to charge for your services are probably not going to understand or implement them. Better to write some tips on actionable things they can do themselves, like getting established in Google Maps/Places/LBC, submitting to business directories, or how awesome it is to be listed in the BBB website (it really is). Then they can follow your instructions, see success from them, and they'll trust you when you say that the more advanced/technical things, which they won't be able to understand, matter too. And they'll pay you to do them.

I also think that there are some kinds of businesses that aren't really suited to social media, or at least not directly. How would you do a campaign for, say, a wholesale medical supply and industrial solvent supplier? I doubt you'll be getting many people liking or sharing the new line of slightly more economical rubber stoppers. If you want to exploit social media, you'll probably be trying to generate creative link/share bait. A far cry from the ease of someone who simply knits baby hats and then posts them on Facebook to a chorus of Likes, Shares, and "OMG so cute!!!!!"

TLDR: "Social Media" works as long as you're using the right channels to reach the right people with the right angle on it.

-Dan from Path

Interesting. I knew this was coming when my daily Google Alerts started becoming full of absolutely crappy blog network posts that were obviously spun or written by someone with neither command of language nor authority on the subject matter. I blame/credit the noobs.

Trust symbols

Lol, it's true. You want to see a real wasteland, check out any products that are offered via Amazon affiliate sales. There are reams of pages of spun product descriptions with Amazon affiliate links. Mostly on blogspot and sites.google.com

Ironic, no?