How to rank in Google against a business with the same name?
-
My client has a coworking space in London, but shares its name with a recruitment company also in London. When searching for my client's brand name, they don't appear anywhere on the first page as this recruitment company dominates.
How can I rank prominently for my brand term if there is someone else in these top spots who isn't a direct competitor (in the typical sense)?
Thank you!
-
Thank you for bringing the question to the forum.
This will not likely be the answer your client is hoping to hear, but they should likely rebrand. If an authoritative recruitment agency in a major city is already dominant for this brand, your client made a branding mistake. Without knowing all of your client's particular circumstances, my best advice is that it would likely be much better for them to cut their losses now and rebrand (after carefully researching whether their new name is truly unique) rather than committing to spending all of their future years in business at such a huge disadvantage. They could also possibly end up in court if the competitor decides they are infringing on their trademark.
While there's a small possibility that, with enough money, your client could try to surpass the online authority of its competitor, it's not a fight I would choose to take on, because it's based on a mistake that should have been caught before the client named its company. Fighting on the basis of a mistake is a waste of time and resources that could be better spent building up the unique brand in the coming years.
If the client does choose to rebrand, advise them to choose a completely different brand name, so as not to get caught up in further confusion with their former brand or their competitor.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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
-
What is the 2020 Google ranking weight for EMD (exact matching domains)
I know EMD's ranking factor have been significantly reduced in the past decade, but do you think it can help at all in 2020? Thanks, Ryan
Local SEO | | RyanMeighan0 -
What Causes Large Swings in Local Rankings?
I know local rankings are a complicated matter and I'm not looking for a single answer to this question, but I'm curious if any local SEOs have noticed similar issues to what I'm experiencing with trying to rank a multi-location-based business. Overall, the visibility trends for the business are up, but we keep popping into the top three spots (happened 2-3 times over the past year) for some general, particularly high-volume search terms only to fall back out and settle a week later into placements below the first page. This is particularly frustrating because the terms we're seeing this volatility for are the exact dream keywords we're hoping to rank the site for. Has anyone else experienced the same thing and had specific findings about what was at play? Is Google testing us and finding us unworthy? Any and all insights from pros with similar experiences would be helpful!
Local SEO | | formandfunctionagency0 -
Local SEO in business acquisition context
Hi everyone, I have a client who just acquired 4 business. Basically, the 4 compagnies will stop existing and my client will integrate the production at his own adress under his compagny name. My issue here is that my client wants to know what is the best solution for his local results. The 4 compagnies still have a website that present the new business name will a CTA redirecting to the new website. Their GMB account are still active. I was about to delete the 4 GMB accounts so when a customer do a brand research, the organic result will show the old business website that will present the new business with a CTA on the website. My thinking is that since the old and the new compagny will compete on the same keyword since they are in the same industry, I don't want the old compagny to be in competition with the compagny of my clients. Is there a better solution that could benefit the local SEO ? Thanks y'all !
Local SEO | | alexrbrg1 -
Searchmetrics Google ranking factors study says content gaining while links losing in importance ? Any View About this Post.
I am very Curious about it anyone please update about this http://searchengineland.com/searchmetrics-google-ranking-factors-study-says-content-gaining-links-losing-importance-265431
Local SEO | | MTPixels0 -
Rank Locally and Globally (or at least Nationally)
I work with an interior design whom I've persuaded to purchase a virtual street address in the town she wanted to work in years ago. She has a Skokie, IL business address that has been claimed and confirmed across the internet. Now, she is growing and wants her new website to not only be optimized for the more affluent areas of Chicago but she also would like to gain Global notice, (I'd settle for National). My problems: She doesn't want to purchase a street address in Chicago because it is a pain to go get her mail. What do I do about all her directory listings and review sites that have her located in Skokie if I can persuade her to get a Chicago address? Do I leave the Skokie address and add more content targeting keyword phrases with Chicago? What should be my initial focus here? I feel it is a smaller target and less competition to go after Chicago but she wants to start spreading her wings and work all over the world. Help!!
Local SEO | | JanetJ0 -
Showing a preferred Google location in branded search for a multi-location business?
Background: A business has 5 brick and mortar locations, in 5 different states, with 5 separate Google+ profiles. The corporate headquarters are in Michigan. The Michigan Google+ Local profile is the one that should be most closely associated with the brand. Problem: We want the Michigan Google + Local page to show up for branded searches nationwide: right now, it only shows up on geolocated searches in Michigan. Of course, it totally makes sense that the other 4 Google+ local pages will appear for users searching with IP locations (or logged in locations) near those states. But for other states - is there a way to help Google understand or give preference to the main corporate location? What we're trying to prevent is someone in New York City searching for "company name", and then seeing a lesser location appear in SERPs associated with the brand, instead of our favored Michican location. Ideas so far: Continue to enhance out the Michigan location's Google+ page (check categories, photos, description, share content frequently, expand circles, get reviews, yada yada yada - we've already done much of this). _Maybe give this page more attention and content than other locations if we have to? _ Build links into Michigan Google+ page? Ensure general citations are up to date - use localeze/moz local etc. Website - We have a page for each location. While Michigan is featured, we also do promote our other offices as well - all kinda promoted equally on site in terms of metadata, content, etc. Any other brainstorming advice or out-of-the-box (oh no, did I just say "out-of-the-box"?) ideas to help Google associate the Michigan location as our "primary" one we want shown on more generic branded searches, even though of course the other 4 are impt too? Tricky...
Local SEO | | mirabile0 -
Does having /search/ in your URLs for searches within your site hamper these URLs from coming up on Google SERP's?
We are an aggregate site for a particular category and have our own internal search wherein visitors can search for local references to services that they are looking for. We use SOLR search and our results page for the "Tag123" search would look like www.mywebsite.com/city/search/tag123 For some reason, we see that these pages are all indexed on Google but they do not come up on SERPs appropriately! The content is unique and we also have appropriate title and description tags on these pages.
Local SEO | | mycity4kids0 -
Moz Rank Tracker - Local Rankings?
My question is about local SEO rankings. How does the Moz Rank Tracker track local results, meaning I do not see a place to tell the tool what local market to show results for.If I have a dentist in Denver and I enter the keyword “dentist” into the tracker, is it looking for how my site ranks locally in Denver or how it ranks for “dentist” on a national level.Thanks in advance for the help!
Local SEO | | ifuseurbiz1