Mentions if domain slightly different to brand name
-
Hi,
Just a question/discussion regarding mentions. I have read for the last few years that Google is able to give credit to websites who get mentioned without a link. Even a few months ago there was a big article on the Google update at the end of last year saying how mentions would become an even stronger signal than a link. My question is, if anyone knows, is there any evidence that Google and other search engines are able to give ranking credit to websites whose brand name is slightly different from the domain? Can the search engines figure out that it is the same thing? If not, then there must be a lot of brands missing out.
Thanks.
-
Thanks guys. That makes sense. I guess a good test is to also check and see if you dominate not only for the branded keyword but also all the common misspellings, etc. That might be harder for some brands such as bitskin and bitskins or intenso and intenseo. But i guess if you have a unique enough name and you rank for those too, then you know search engines really do understand.
-
agreed -> that could be a way to check.
BTW: I think it is also a question for "brand searches" not only brand mentions. I mean, when people search the brand + Keyword its also needed that google knows the brand -
Hi Brian,
To follow on from what Andreas has said, I think that Google certainly can figure out this kind of thing. The question then, as you point out is whether Google give credit for them. I think that if Google can figure it out, then they would give credit for that brand mention. It won't have the same effect as a solid link, but I can still see it helping in some form.
As to whether Google give credit or not, I don't have any evidence but I'd imagine it's dependant on a few things:
- If there are any other similar brand names / domains out there. So if there are a few different companies with similar names or domains, Google may not be able to figure out which one to attribute the mention to. Therefore they may not credit anyone or they may credit the wrong brand.
- The context in which the mention is given. If the mention is given in a piece of content which is the same topic as the domain, then it may be easier for Google to figure out and assign credit. If the content isn't the same topic, again it may be harder for them to attribute credit.
Ultimately, I guess the test is how the domain in question ranks for the brand name. If you rank number 1 and dominate, then it's pretty clear that Google have figured out that the two are connected. If the results are a little more mixed or you rank number 1 but not with a six pack of sub-page results, then again, Google may not know for sure.
I hope that helps!
Paddy
-
I only would guess that google can figure it out.
Google has to figure out missspelling, that a "mention"-theory could work. I mean, with my domain intenseo.de I get a lot of mentions from people wich ment intenso. I don't sell USB-Sticks, sorry. So google has to figure out whats the topic arround the mention and the brands shouldn't do the same thing. So if (and I don't believe that) google counts each and every mention (whenever in future) and handle it like a link, google has bigger tasks than brands with slidely or complete different Domain-names.
Nearly the same thing - I work in an agency named bitskin - do you know _bitskins_for CS:GO? Bitskin gets a lot (thousends) of mentions from people wich meant bitskins - not bitskin. In both cases it's just one letter...
The point is: "Google is able to" doesn't mean: "Google will treat each mention...."
If Google (will) work(s) with mentions, they will now the fine differences, they know missspelling, what people mean and wich brand is ment. If they wouldn't be sure 200% they won't count - Thats what I think.
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
-
Why is Google appending a different website's brand name to the end of SERP title?
I've recently been shown some SERP results where Google is appending a different website's brand name to the end of the SERP title. It's actually rewriting the brand's name to that of the other website. (This is obviously not ideal.) Why would this be? The other website doesn't even stock the same product, so there shouldn't be any confusion there. But even if it did, many websites stock the same products. Just confusing...
Branding | | Ria_1 -
International SEO - Domains or Folders?
Hi, We have been approached by a potential client. They are a UK company whose website is hosted on a .com domain (the .co.uk forwards to the .com). They also have a German website hosted on a .de domain. Both the .com and the .de are hosted in the UK. We believe that the .de website should be hosted in Germany. You agree? Anyway, they now need to target the US market. They are planning on duplicating the UK (.com) website and creating a US version of the site on a .us domain. They would rewrite the content for the US site to avoid duplications, and add Href Lang attributes etc. They are also debating whether the new US site should be hosted in the US or the UK. We don't think this is the best strategy. Would it not be better to host both the UK and US website on the .com domain. using reginal folders? i.e. example.com/uk, and example.com/us. Obviously we would setup Href Lang accordingly and change the Google Search Console geo targeting options for each of the sub-sites (/uk and /us). Or we could suggest hosting the UK site on the .co.uk domain, and the US on the .com domain. So, what is the best strategy to target the US audience, whilst maintaining UK rankings? Many thanks for your time, hope to hear from you soon 🙂 Lee.
Branding | | Webpresence1 -
Anchor Text Profile Only Branded
So, I was looking at my backlink anchor text profile and easily over 90% of my links use some variation of my brand as the anchor text. This includes my full brand name, a shorter more common name and the naked url. My question is, is this bad for my ranking? I know having too many money words as anchors is not good, but what about having too many brand anchors?
Branding | | dsinger0 -
High authority brand expanding product line, domain question
Hi MOZers, I've been given a handy little domain puzzle to deal with and would love insight from the community. Here's the situation: We're retailers of one specific, big, nationally known product. Let's pretend it's the Snuggee (IT'S NOT). People search for it and buy it from our site, or from Amazon or other retailers that we distribute it to. We're about to expand to carry a bunch of related, but different products - so from a one-product brand to 5 or 6 different items, relating to different keyword searches. Imagine Snuggee people want to start selling a whole bunch of products that solve the same needs of warming the front of your body and making you look silly. The owners want to change the main domain from [specific product] to [name similar to specific product, but is more general]. What concerns me is how to handle the fame of the branded product in terms of domain names. Current domain, based on that product, has a ton of links and a decent age. Owners are thinking to redirect everything to fresh new unestablished domain. While I know 301s will pass most link value, it will also be a home page that will be about a bunch of products - not just that main known one. In fact, we're considering making a URL for each product as landing page, of which old famous product would be one of 5 or 6 pages. Two main options we're considering right now: Keep old domain as a doorway page featuring just old product, with same look and feel, and from which any links would point to the new domain. Try to keep this as ranking for top result for this search, which should be easy. Unify everything under new domain, with old product being featured on a separate page / subdirectory. Hope that new home page still can rank pretty well for our old product, even though it will be talking about other products now as well. What we'd stand to lose would be the SERP for old products featuring too many big box retailers that sell our stuff and take a chunk out of our margins. The goal is to help us become known for many things, while still being always the best search result for what we're already known for. Which of those two options seem best, or is there another I'm missing altogether? Thank you!
Branding | | advancedSemiotics0 -
Register a Domain: Brand Name VS Product Name
Hi All, Since Google give more priority to brand names and most of the penalized websites by Google's Penguin update are websites which had links with promoted keywords, is it a good idea to register a new domain by the product name (ex: www.leatherbags.com) ?. Or is it good to register the domain by the company or brand name and then build a reputable brand first before targeting product based keywords (ex: leather bags) ?.
Branding | | Iresh.Dilan1 -
Do .CO domains rank up just as easy as a .com domain?
I have ran across a very good .CO domain and am thinking about making it into one of our main websites. I have no experience with them. I have used/bought just about every other domain type out there, but I have never used a .CO yet. The domain I was able to purchase was seobusiness.co for $5.00 - regardless if I am able to use it for our main brand if they don't rank up the same, I will use it for something else. The site isn't up yet btw, so no need visiting it... The keyword gets 1600 exact hits a month give or take a few of course - thats just the Google tool estimate. Matt Cutts says that they can rank up the same, but I am looking for more than this. Does anyone have some proof that .co's can rank up? I hate to put 2-3 months of solid work into this to rank it up for SEO business and it doesn't want to rank due to the .co. Thanks in advance for your time.
Branding | | MarketingOfAmerica0 -
Facebook Like of Root Domain Linked To Facebook Page
If I install a Facebook Like Button on my Root Domain, How can I have the likes accumulated from that button augment those already on my brand's page? Thank you fellow knowledgenies of the Book of Face.
Branding | | Blobe0 -
Would a 301 redirect on a keyword based domain be a worth-while investment?
Similar questions have been asked - but I couldn't find a direct answer to my specific question here. I have the opportunity to purchase our exact keyword phrase domain name for fairly cheap (if I sold red balloons it would be redballoons.com). If I i set it up to 301 redirect to our main domain - would it provide any short-term or long-term SEO benifits? ADDITIONAL INFO: I sell a service to a niche market and in a relatively short amount of time have been able to rank #21 on our main keywords. Our domain is fairly young (about 1.5yrs), but we are WAY behind our main competition in the link building category (they have been at it for 10+ years). I'm looking for an interim solution to drive genuine SEO traffic while we work on our link building over time. Our main keywords only get about 15,000 global searches per month (google) and some of those are not our market (don't know how many exactly). The competition for our keyword is classified as "medium" in google adwords. It's really only worth it to me if I can begin getting page 1 results from this practice. Thanks in advance!!!
Branding | | aaronharlow0