Client is not ranking on Google For Brand Name Search but is on Yahoo and Bing
-
We have a mobile app development client that recently 6 months ago changed their domain name to www.FSStudio.com. So they are concerned that they don’t rank on the first page for the brandname phrase “FS Studio” On Google. They do rank on the first page for this phrase in Yahoo or Bing. But why is Google returning search results for stuff like Free Studio? I know this fairly obvious question which the answers may be that they need more authority or backlinks because their name happens to be a fairly competitive search for stuff that is unrelated. Any suggestions? We are going to be optimizing and creating a lot more content. Is this just that they need to mention their name FS Studio more frequently throughout their website? Here is a screenshot from Moz’s Keyword difficulty and SERP Analysis tool.
-
Just wanted to add my two cents and make sure you're all set. Pretty sure everyone here nailed it. The brand name is a little ambiguous and there are other things our there that could legitimately rank for that. It is a little curious how Google is not ranking it for the brand yet Binghoo is.
One quick example, the Twitter account still links to their old domain - https://twitter.com/fsstudiodev - fix a whole bunch of little things like that and in aggregate they should add up to more clear brand signals.
One thing I'll mention which no one else did ----> Rel Publisher - this connects the G+ page to the website and is probably THE most powerful brand signal you can easily send in Google's eyes. I would do that as high priority.
-
Well it sounds as though everything is in place then (assuming it is a 301 and not a 302 redirect). It may just be that they have picked a difficult brand name to rank for, which in that case, concentrate on building the brand and you should hopefully see the rankings sooner rather than later.
-
Hey Karl, Thanks a lot, say we checked webmaster tools their no penalties. The other name of the company before is call ed FlakaSoft which i guess is what the FS is abbreviated for. When you type in they rank for first and it redirects to the new site.
-
Wiqas,
Thank you also for your helpful suggestions.
-
Thank you very much for taking the time to look at this it was helpful.
-
Hi Andrew,
When they changed their website, did the ensure that the necessary redirects were put in place so that any authority from the old website was changed to the new one?
It may also be worth checking for any penalties, algorithm or manual. Check Webmaster Tools for any messages to double check. Have they ever ranked for their brand name? Did they rank for their old brand name?
It could be, as the other 2 comments say, just be a lack of authority and quality links but it is definitely worth checking that redirects and penalties aren't having an effect because you could be fighting a losing battle if it is one of these problems.
-
Hey Andrew,
This issue comes with new websites with low authority! Currently you have
- Just 21 Referring Domains
Try to link with more. Your Anchors are non-money which is a good thing in deed but you can use your Brand as Anchor "FS Studio" This will help to get visible on Google for your brand name.
Currently your anchors are not pointing to your Brand Name at all: http://screencast.com/t/nHfp4tjQpmb
Best of luck!
Regards
-
Andrew,
The site in question has low authority compared to the ones showing up in the first page. Google is somehow associating your brand with a software called "Free Studio" and sites with almost impossible to beat authority are ranking above.
Google, compared to Bing (and Yahoo! that serves results from Bing), uses different ranking mechanisms.
In order to "claim" your brand's name, I'd suggest you establish several business listings pointing to the site, such as:
- Facebook Page
- Twitter Profile
- G+ Page
- G+ Local
- LinkedIn Page
- Crunchbase
- Yelp
- etc.
Try to put your company out there, expose its name as much as you can without purchasing any "featured listing." Once you have all those steps completed, compare results and see if the brand name starts to show up.
Another approach would be to "extend" the brand name, removing the FS and using the actual significance of those 2 letters ("FS" means?). It should be easier to compete with other sites instead of the ones that are currently returned by your brand query: "FS Studio". Softonic, CNET, afterdawn are not easy targets.
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
-
Is it important to have the brand name in all page title?
Hi Moz community, May be this is an obvious question but as i am not sure about the answer.... I prefer to ask you! If yes, is "keywords" - "BRAND NAME " the good option? If not, is there any rule? Thanks a lot, Amaury
On-Page Optimization | | adbds19730 -
My website ranking recently dropping - why?
Hi all, I am a photographer and do my own website and links etc. Website is: http://www.mckayphotography.com.au I have enjoyed good google rankings for my main keyword 'wedding photography sydney' for many years, and even recovered after taking a hit from the penguin (may 2012) update. But the last month has seen a steady drop from around 2nd - 4th down to now 10th. I have analyzed my site using all the moz tools and on most counts eg moz rank and moz trust I am ahead of my competitor sites....but still rank under them on google. So I would greatly appreciate on advice people could give on getting my ranking back up again! Thanks in advance Darryn
On-Page Optimization | | dmck0 -
Keyword in URL: Ranking Factor?
I've got a site about a specific topic, which we'll call "themes" for the sake of this discussion. I personally like to keep the url structure short and clean (for usability purposes, but mainly because I'm a perfectionist and a minimalist). I feel that adding "themes" to the url structure is a bit redundant. However, nearly every keyword phrase that my site should rank for includes the word "themes." So I'm wondering how much I'm handicapping myself by not including the keyword "themes" in the url? The domain name itself sort of includes the keyword . . . although it's in Italian (I chose the domain for it's brand-ability, not for the keyword). A quick example: My Url Structure: www.themo.com/topic/abc My Competitor's Url Structure: www.sitesample.com/themes/topic/abc For many of the keywords, the competitors with the keyword in the url rank highest. But, I'm not sure how much emphasis to place on this, because from my understanding Google doesn't pay as much attention to url keywords anymore . . . and those sites might just be ranking high because they've been around for so long (which also happens to be the reason why they coincidentally also include the keyword in the url, because they started the site when that was a high ranking factor). Thoughts? Should I just trash my perfectionism and add the keyword to the url structure? (By the way, the site is only a couple months old and doesn't have any significant backlinks to inner pages yet, so changing the url structure wouldn't be a big deal if I decided to do that).
On-Page Optimization | | JABacchetta0 -
We have 5 postions on page 2 in a google search, but none on page 1\. How can we fix this?
For one of our most important key phrases we have 5 listings on page 2 but none on page 1. We are an ecommerce company, the key phrase we're trying for is a Top Level Category name for us, so the 5 links we have on googles second page for the key phrase (in order) are the appropriate top level category page, the sites home page and than three sub categories of that top level category. So while that all makes sense, can't we convince google to concentrate all that link power/juice into just the top level category page? Hopefully bumping it to first page rank? The 5 ranks are 11-15
On-Page Optimization | | absoauto0 -
Search Results
I am sort of mystified at this . I have a homepage and it is for all intents and purposes optimized for the search term Charlotte electrician . If you type in Charlotte electrician I have no organic listing for this page . It does receive an A on the tool on this Site for the term target Charlotte electrician . Here is the URL http://www.providenceelectricnc.com/ now the strange thing is that for the search term electrician Charlotte the tool on SEO Moz gives me an F grade **as I would expect but I am the number one organic listing under electrician Charlotte . This is truly confusing to me it may have something to do with links but I don't see how at all . Thanks I've been studying search engine optimization and web development for about five years and appreciate any suggestion . this is a Joomla! site and I am running a lot of components and plug-ins . One combines CSS files and JavaScript files to minimizing HTTP requests . This particular component Seems to interfere with other scripts And is simply not compatible with certain other plug-ins . Perhaps it is the source or well I'm not sure thanks . ** http://www.providenceelectricnc.com/ tom.jpg 9sAhAAEAwMDAwMEAwMEBgQDBAYHBQQEBQcIBgYHBgYICggJCQkJCAoKDAwMDAwKDAwNDQwMEREREREUFBQUFBQUFBQUAQQFBQgHCA8KCg8UDg4OFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQU
On-Page Optimization | | SEOJunkie671 -
Trouble with Old Site Name
Trying to figure out what is causing a site to show up under a former name in Google. The name of the client is Fortenberry Legal. They changed from Fortenberry Law Group over a year ago. I can't find any code on the site that uses the old name. For some reason, it still shows up as "Fortenberry Law Group" in Google. When I search for "Fortenberry Law Group," that shows up in Google with a full set of site links. When I search under the new name (Fortenberry Legal), that also shows up in Google but without the site links. Any thought on what could be causing this?
On-Page Optimization | | Falconberg0 -
Optimisation for Google Images
What techniques do you use for the optimisation of images on Google. Alt tag , image title Surrounding text Anyone tested actual linking to the image url and not the page url. I have achieved hundreds of top listed images but when it gets competitive what is the most useful technique you have used. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | onlinemediadirect0 -
Does a page's url have any weight in Google rankings?
I'm sure this question must have been asked before but I can't find it. I'm assuming that the title tag is far more important than the page's url. Is that correct? Does the url have any relevance to Google?
On-Page Optimization | | rdreich490