Branding Association for SEO, and Google's understanding of a "brand Name"
-
Hey guys. so I currently run my own business here in Queens NY, for Web Design and online marketing, specifically SEO, SMM, SEM, and some inbound marketing that ties to SMM and SEO. When starting I was in a different business, and had kept my old business name.
I plan on re-branding myself January 1st with a brand new name, the name i'm seriously considering is "Media Marketing USA". I was able to purchase MediaMarketingUSA.com. I feel this name is good and bad at the same time, and here are some of the reasons.
The pro: Easy to remember, sounds big, and describes my business well.
The con: Sounds generic, and I worry it will be hard to brand.
I used the mentioning tool provided by Moz and see that nearly everyday 500-1,000 people are naturally mentioning Media Marketing USA, one of my biggest questions is will this give me a competitive advantage in SEO, or will it hurt me in SEO as Google may not see this or understand its a brand name? Do you personally think this is a good name to re-brand myself and use as my main website?
The Website itself will be used as a corporate website, a method of inbound and outbound marketing through content creation, Social Media, and of course SEO, targeting specific locations, and specialty services and industries in the NYC area.
Please share your thoughts with me, THANKS!!!
-
Hello Tony,
I agree with the below opinion that a unique name (or different variations of your current name) would be best for branding purposes. However, I know that at this stage it may not be a viable option. While having your brand name mentioned frequently can be a positive aspect, that is only the case if it is recognized as your brand. It would be possible to market your brand while leveraging its popularity through brand association and search engine optimization, however it will be difficult and will require much effort.
-
Hi Tony,
From the way it looks, your domain name looks like an EMD, and it may not be easy for Google to recognise that it is your brand name. Having exact keywords can help in your SEO, but from a marketing perspective, it doesn't sound like a good brand name.
You should consider giving yourself a unique name instead. It doesn't have to be completely without keywords, but you can consider using portmanteaus, or combining a keyword with an existing word. Moz (used to be SEOmoz) or ReferralCandy (we provide a referral marketing platform for ecommerce retailers) are good examples of how keywords can be used harmoniously as brand names.
This article should be helpful to you: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-your-domain-name-will-impact-seo-social-media-marketing/62564/
-
Hi Tony,
I see, sorry Tony I thought your concerns may have been around the use of the domain name you purchased and Google's interpretation of it as a legitimate brand site for users searching on that branded query.
I have seen sites where I've tested out generic queries to see if the domain has given them competitive advantage and well many are positioned in the top first page ranks but not all gain that coveted 1st place for that query. Which are taken by more established domains, with higher domain and page authority etc.
Sorry I can't be much more help to you than that Tony.
Best regards,
David
-
Hi david, I am actualy not trying to do an EMD. I am not targeting Media Marketing USA as a potential high level keyphraise. I would doubt many people would even search it. I will be targeting Web Design Location, SEO Location etc.
But what this question is about is not EMD's or there affect, but rather is this name possible to use as a brand?
Can I develop a brand from a generic name like this one?
would Google understand this is a brand, and possibly give me a competitive advantage because it happens to be mentioned 500+ times a day? (found out using the mentioning tool)
-
Hi Tony,
Looks like your putting some serious consideration into employing an EMD domain 'Exact Match Domain'. For me most of the last year looking at the MOZ postings and discussions around this practice they seem to want people to be wary of this. See this post for instance by Dr.Pete last September http://moz.com/blog/are-exact-match-domains-in-decline.
Personally, I would prefer the long haul road, build up my valued content on my sites and other properties and gradually through generic searches see people revisit but this time via branded searches. On if my competitors employed an EMD, this year he has done considerably down the ranks.
At the same time I gather you are wanting to rack up some quick wins and get people to your site ASAP. I tend to employ an initial 3-6 month PPC strategy on terms to see what works and then optimised content around successful terms with good conversion rates.
However granted if your legal business is going to be this name, then it might therefore be fine. These are just my thoughts but I hope that helps a little.
David
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
-
If I bid on my brand name, will it make the keyword more expensive for my competitors
Our brand name is being bid on by out competitors. If we bid on our own brand name, for which we rank #1 for all our profiles and website, will we make our competitors cost per click higher?
Branding | | Catherine_Selectaglaze0 -
SEO for franchises
I'm working with a client that's a franchise owner. His website is strictly controlled by the parent company, so no room to add unique content or optimize it for the area. I'm getting stumped for link building options. Anybody ran into this before? If so, any suggestions?
Branding | | mtwelves0 -
Rep Management with Google+ > Help Needed
My client, Pareto Law, have set themselves up with a Google Local Business listing:
Branding | | AndrewAkesson
https://plus.google.com/+paretolaw, and when searching for the Pareto Law brand this page appears a bit like a site-link under the main search result. I've noticed that other companies, such as moz.com, have their G+ page ranking seperately on page 1 of the SERPs. This is especially important for my client, as we're trying to push down other sites rankings for our brand. In an ideal world I'd want only their twitter, G+, linkedin, & facebook pages ranking amongst wikipedia entries and the like, as opposed to forums discussing my client. The question is, are Pareto Law able to set themselves up with a G+ business page as well as the G+ local listing page they presently have. Is that an acceptable setup, or are you supposed to have just one or the other? I'm struggling to differentiate between the 2.0 -
Redesigning a Site - What Optimizations are "Must Haves"?
I'm psyched - a client has just approved a complete redesign of their site! Feel like a have a little bag of gold in my hand, and want to spend it wisely. My question to you, fellow Mozzers, is what elements would you make sure to include a site to make it as optimized as possible? A few details about the site: 1. It is an informational site, designed to generate leads for a medical product. No products for sale, no e-commerce functionality needed. 2. The site has approximately 250 pages. Last site update was in 2009. 3. Videos are an important part of their marketing strategy. In addition to shortening their URL structure (some URLs have 6-7 folders, ugh), I plan to utilize schemas and incorporate mobile responsive design. What other areas would you prioritize for optimization? Thanks, Allie
Branding | | Allie_Williams0 -
Google+ Pages and an unknown owner...how do I claim it or get it removed?
Hello, I am working on a clients social networking campaign and have found a Google+ page for their company. It looks like it was created approx a year ago. The client doesn't know who created it or what account has control of it in their network. I need to make a Google+ page for them so I can use it in their marketing that I can actually access. I was wondering if anyone has any insight on how I can either: Find the owner/email that is associated with the Google+ Page? or Have it removed so I can create a fresh one? which I know I can report the page as compromised but will that work in a timely manner? Please any thoughts or feedback would be greatly appreciated, and thanks!! 🙂 Jeff
Branding | | allstatetransmission0 -
Need advice on old brand names
A couple of years ago my company put all effort into one brand name, closing multiple sites with good names. All traffic going to ie OldBrandName.com is now redirected to www.newbrandname.com/OldBrandName. Here our customers are being told about the fusion/merge and we are linking to the key-products of OldBrandName, on our new age. We have 4 of these pages for 4 different brandnames. These pages still get a lot of traffic. Now to my question: how do I get as much juice as possible out of these OldBrandNames? They have high page authority and many inbound links. But I would like to pass the juice and the links to our frontpage or other relevant pages. What is optimal? Should I just redirect all the traffic to www.newbrandname.com? The redirects was made approximately 2 years ago. We are in the travel & leisure business, so customers often visits numerous times a year, closing deals 1-2 times a year. All 4 OldBrandNames have their own specialities (family, low budget, off-the-beaten-track, wellness). Any recommendations on how to approach this?
Branding | | alsvik0 -
Dental Office With Two Locations And Same Practice Name
Dentists buy other practices all the time. Sometimes they change the name of the practice and other times they keep the name. I am working with a dentist on a new website because their old one is riddled with flash (and is ugly too) She has two practices but they have the same practice name. One of them caters to half English speaking and half Spanish speaking patients. I'm thinking I should create a separate website for each practice mainly because we may want to design the graphics and text for the appropriate patient language probably with a English/Spanish translation button on the website? For localization, wouldn't it be better to have a url for each physical site? Suggestions?
Branding | | Czubmeister0 -
Branding/Domain Challenge
A year and a half ago, SEO was all new to me and I may have made a mistake that looks to be a problem now. In a misguided quest to rank higher and faster, I used a domain for it's keywords and quick ranking potential rather than using my business' name URL. I've built the links and authority to where I'm now ranking well for many of my local search terms which is important for my local business success. The situation is that now I want to expand my business nationally as a franchise which will require my company's name in the domain(?), and the addition of entirely new pages and terms. My company's name' URL> www.ImpactMMAfitness.com is pointed to my site www.austinfitnessgyms.com and GA shows a significant # of visitors type our name in to find us. I also think it would be odd for someone outside my town looking for franchise info to be pointed to a different domain with Austin in it. I was wondering what option would be best: Keep as is Change domains - ouch!? Make a new second site ? I have 'ImpactFranchise.com I could use for a new site just for franchising but I would be starting at the bottom for any rankings. Is there a solution, or did I dig myself into a hole?
Branding | | OhYeahSteve0