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Bye Bye Top 3 Rankings?

by cmg06
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
In October 2008, Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman and former CEO of Google once declared the Internet a "cesspool".

Furthermore, Eric stated that search engines should allow brands to surface above and beyond other similar content.

This week, I noticed that his initiative has been implemented on a small scale on google.com for some brand keywords.

Check out this screen shot: http://bitly.com/nCgHZd

With the exception of the brand company or website, do you think these coveted Top 3 spots in Google will eventually be dominated by the new Google sitelinks that we're seeing now?

In some cases, Google is showing ten links to the brand's most popular webpages. Amazing!

Are revising your SEO strategy to accommodate and profit from the new Google sitelinks?

Generally, searchers are lazy, and they may not scroll down to see your website in the #2 or #3 spot. What are you doing to compensate for the lack of targeted traffic, and conversions?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this new initiative. Thanks!
#bye #google sitelinks #rankings #top
  • Profile picture of the author RichardF
    In many cases I think this will have little or no impact for those ranking below that huge link blob. In my experience there are two kinds of brand queries.

    One is where you actually want to go to the brand's official website, in which case the CTR for #2 and beyond would be terrible no matter how it looks.

    The other is where you're looking for objective info on the brand or their products, in which case you would most likely just scroll by all those links. You're not likely to get objective info from the official site, are you?

    I've seen some horrible examples though on searches where the brand is also a generic keyword, like "Bodybuilding". Those situations will be really rough for people ranking below #1. Honestly I think this update makes everything worse, and I can't imagine any situation where I would prefer it (even as a regular user). Let's just sit back and hope they revert it... perhaps not too likely though.
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  • Profile picture of the author cmg06
    As if the new Google sitelinks weren't enough to discourage search engine optimizers, Google is now experimenting with a new and longer description.

    If Google rolls out these new website descriptions, all of the prime locations for the Top 3 spots will become even more valuable for ecommerce websites.

    More than likely, the website in the #1 spot will get 90% of the targeted traffic or more.

    Here are some screen shots of the new website description in Google results:
    2011-08-31_0046 - tomc2010's library (keyword: solar courses)
    2011-08-31_0052 - tomc2010's library (keyword: bible quotes)

    Let me know what you think. Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author thebitbotdotcom
    I have seen that and more recently. They have been testing like crazy as of late and I believe that it will keep changing.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicktyler
    It does almost take up the entire screen but I suppose that is the point. I think RichardF has a very good point about user behaviour when brand searching and it is a case of they allready know if they are going to visit your site or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author MarcCPASAW
    The top three positions are just about always taken by adwords campaigns, especially considering that the background of these ads is extremely close to white, a generic user would easily confuse these with Organic search results.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    So we all have to create authority sites, then... Hmm, guess what, the only site I have that has these sitelinks is a brand site (in my sig). When will a micro-niche site earn that privilege..? Don't hold your breath... Fortunately most EMD type niches aren't dominated by brands anyway so this might not be an issue and the status quo will remain for now.

    Also, remember, Google only determines a "brand" algorithmically, it's not looking them up in some Big Book of Brands. So you COULD turn electricearwarmers.com into an authority site - just add an active user base, blog, forum, low bounce rate and you'll be at no. 1 and have sitelinks in no time
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  • Profile picture of the author cmg06
    The SEO world is changing for the better, and it will become more difficult for new people.

    Outsourcing companies in India, China, and others will struggle because they're still using SEO strategies from 1999. Some will fall through the cracks, and other will thrive.

    If all goes well, a new and elite group of savvy online marketers and SEO professionals will emerge and dominate the #1 spot for thousands of broad and niche keywords.

    Unless I'm mistaken, part of their SEO strategies may include the purchase of brandable domain names. I'm predicting an increase in the purchase of brandable domain names soon because of the importance and appearance of brands in the Google SERP.

    Consequently, domain names generation companies such as namestation.com, and nameboy.com may also see an increased in business soon.

    Any thoughts?
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    I repeat, how does Google know what a "brand" is? It's all just words to the algorithm.
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesGw
    I saw that before. It's pretty interesting. We'll see what happens, bu I'm not too concerned.
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  • Profile picture of the author cmg06
    Google is embracing the Facebook affect, and implementing one-on-one copycat strategy.

    Despite all that Google is doing to be more like Bing, and Facebook, what's truly amazing is that they still manage to keep their homepage clutter-free.

    Yes, I agree. Google is not looking into a "Big Book of Brands"; however, they could be using social signals such citations, reviews, current news, and press releases from reputable and established companies to help them rank a website algorithmically.

    Arguably, for most of us here, we may never be interviewed on TV or be featured in the New York Times. :-)

    For some niche keywords, branding may be irrelevant. The status quo will remain unchanged. Niche min-sites will still flourish, and grow over time.
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