As part of a recent Twitter conversation, Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, debunked a common SEO (search engine optimisation) myth that branded keywords were harmful to search rankings.
The discussion began when content creator, Jake Boly, tweeted the @searchliason handle, asking why his content was failing to rank higher against content that was irrelevant to the target keywords.
He used “new balance minimus tr v2 review” as an example, claiming that his content was showing up on pages three or four of the search engine results page (SERP).
This sparked Taleb Kabbara, an SEO professional, to respond, stating that the failure to rank for the targeted keyword was due to the inclusion of specific brand names.
“Jake, trust me it’s the word “new balance”. Don’t expect to rise to page 1 with 3rd party branded content”.
Google’s Search Liaison responded, denying these claims, stating that:
“You shouldn’t be afraid to mention the brand name of something you are reviewing. It’s literally what readers would expect you to do, and our systems are trying to reward things that are helpful to readers”.
In a subsequent tweet, the Google representative continued:
“This is something anyone can easily debunk themselves by simply searching on the results. Top result for this query isn’t a big brand. The YouTube videos aren’t from big brands. They’re from Jake.”
This supports Google’s claims that they are trying to reward helpful content as, despite the branded term, the top performing pages are related to the user’s search query, and provide the reader with the information that they’re looking for.
This proves that contrary to popular belief amongst the SEO community, the use of branded terms, when done to create helpful and relevant content for readers, can help you appear higher on the search engine results page, and not hinder it as the myth would suggest.
Looking for more advice on how to improve the organic ranking of your website from page four to page one of the SERPs? Contact the friendly and knowledgeable team at Engage Web today.
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