Online Reputation Management:Branding for SERP Domination

Rhea Drysdale | Outspoken Media | @Rhea and @outspokenmedia

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How we typically view ORM:

REPAIR COVER-UP SPINFI

X

buy off

paid reviews article directories

MICRO-SITES

BUY UP

Let’s change that perception.

How I see ORM…

Competitive domination in the SERPs via effective online branding.

Sounds better, huh?

How do you become this?

Let’s take a look at your current brand.

1When a user types in your name, product or

brand—what do they see?

Unrelated SERPs

or

“Did you mean…” “showing results for…”

You’re Tier 3 and you aren’t considered a brand, yet.

We’ll come back to you in a bit.

2When a user types in your name, product or

brand—what do they see?

Google Places

Site links

People and Pages on Google+

You’re Tier 2 and you’re becoming a brand, but aren’t quite

there, yet.*

Hang tight with Tier 3 for a minute.

*Caveats

• You might have something technically wrong that’s preventing site links.

• You might not have enough content or links to your subfolders/pages to have those appear as site links.

3When a user types in your name, product or

brand—what do they see?

Autocomplete results

Related stores/brands

Search related to [keyword]

Multiple listings for your domain

Search [domain]

You’re Tier 1 and you’re considered a brand.

High five!

Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3

Thes

e ar

e gr

owin

g.

We all start here.

How do we know tiers 1 & 2 are growing?

Search engines like brands.

Especially Google.

Brands are good for business.

Google^

http://mashable.com/2012/02/13/google-knowledge-graph-change-search/

“Google now wants to transform words that appear on a page into entities that mean something and have related attributes.”

Google wants to, “build a huge knowledge graph of

interconnected entities and their attributes.”

Hmm, what does that sound like?

Check out: http://www.wolframalpha.com/entities/index/

What this entity search looks like in action:

Except, they’re no longer appearing! Even Google’s example from the article for “Monet”

Why does this matter?

If someone is looking for an “oven” you want Google to not just display

your brand because you have content and links about an oven. You want

Google to understand WHO you are, how much you sell them for, how

many people like them, and where they can buy them.

From SEOBook: http://www.seobook.com/learn-seo/infographics/brand-branding-brands.php

NEW ADDITION:8. “More results” and other brand-

owned properties

How do you get Tier 1 brand association in Google?

Tier 3 – Help, I NEED SERP INCLUSION!

Start with the basics.

• Register your domain(s).

• Register your username(s).

• Create QUALITY content on domains & profiles.

• Cross-link everything.

The very top of their site:

Google is a bot.

It can only process what you tell it.

Leverage what works.

Not sure of what works?

Check your “competition.”

What’s a natural result that your competitor is doing well with?

Even better, here’s our data behind what sticks:

Note: Facebook is doing better in the SERPs after timeline was implemented.

Tier 2 – I NEED SERP PROMINENCE

Strategic marketing campaigns.

Technical SEO audit

Content marketing strategy

Get social

Increase mentions

Increase backlinks

Invest in things like rel=“author,” schemas, videos, pictures, product feeds, etc.

Sitelinks

Resources:http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=47334http://www.hochmanconsultants.com/articles/sitelinks.shtml

People and Pages on Google+

Resources:http://searchengineland.com/a-look-at-google-direct-connect-for-google-pages-100382

Rel=“author”

Resources: http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/how-to-implement-rel-author https://plus.google.com/authorship

Reviews & Ratings

Resources: http://schema.org/Reviewhttp://schema.org/AggregateRatinghttp://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=146645

Google Places

Resources:http://www.google.com/local/add/http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml

Tier 1 – SERP DOMINATION UNLOCKED!

SERP domination.

• Establish your brand as an industry leader.

• Think long-term gain vs short-term (e.g. Autcomplete)

• Think local

• Think big brand campaigns

Google autocomplete results

Related stores:Related brands:

Search related to:

Search [domain]

Multiple results for a single domain

Let’s look at some CRAP WORK!

“John Carter”

My John Carter is an anonymous person in need of ORM help, not this hottie:

John Carter’s Search Results• JohnCarter.com/

• JohnCarter.com/?page_id=xxx

• www.John-Carter.com/

• JohnCarter.biz/?cat=xxx

• JohnCarter.org/?tag=Johnny-Carter-yyyy

• JohnCarter.info/

• www.Johnny-Carter.com/

• www.Johnny-Carter.com/

• JohnCarter.com/?cat=x

• JohnCarter.com/?tag=John-Carter-yyyy

• JohnCarter.biz/

• John-Carter.com/?tag=Johnny-Carter

• JohnCarter.biz/?tag=Johnny-Carter-yyyy

• Johnny-Carter.org/

• JohnCarter.com/?cat=xx

• JohnCarter.org/?tag=Johnny-Carter-yyyy

• JohnCarter.info/?tag=John-Carter-yyyy

• JohnCarter.com/?cat=xxx

• John-Carter.org/?paged=xx

• JohnCarter.biz/?tag=Johnny-Carter

• JohnCarter.net/?tag=Johnny-Carter-yyyy

• John-Carter.com/downloads/Johnny_Carter.xml

• Johnny-Carter.org/?m=xxxxx

• JohnCarter.info/?cat=xx

• Johnny-Carter.com/?cat=xxx

• JohnCarter.biz/?tag=Johnny-Carter-yyyy

• www.John-Carter.info/

• JohnCarter.org/?cat=xx

Lots of domains and profiles.

No authority or natural BRAND.

Q&A stuffing (and it works!!!):

Does this look like a good approach to ORM to you?

Yes? Stop watching.

Now.

You’re not welcome here anymore.

If you correctly answered “no,” let’s continue.

You can build your brand in the same amount of time it would take to build crap content that

HURTS your brand.

Something positive:

Google SERP Movement

Doesn’t look so good, huh?

What if I told you:

The sites gained site links.

That HURT SERP domination.

Lost 3 listings for branded KW.Lost 3 listings for non-branded KW.

SERPs really looked like this after site links update:

Vs.

HAPPY DANCE!

So me.

The takeaway….

When you feel panicked. Don’t resort to doing what’s easy!

Be strategic. Think long-term. Think like a brand.

Strategic branding does come with actual metrics.

How do you measure brand?

Avinash has the answer!

Kaushik.net/avinash/brand-measurement-analytics-metrics-branding-campaigns/

Relate your brand campaigns to goals (not engagement):

• Increase prospects or customers• Share business’ value proposition• Increase conversions• Drive offline action• Gain eyeballs/market share• Beat out your competition• Increase brand association with

product/service

Laura Lippay already gave you a process and tools to use for

competitive insight and analysis:

seomoz.org/webinars/mining-social-data-for-fun-and-profit

ProfilesMentions

SharesLinks

Product feedsCitations

Syndication

DomainsTechnicalContentUsability

Link profileLocal

Authorship

Tackle factors within your control TODAY:

On-Site Opportunities

Off-Site Opportunities

Jump to it!

Q+A Time!

@seomoz & @jennita

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