With Google’s updates in March earlier this year rankings of the major brands have reached new heights. At first, it did not happen for UK. As the momentum caught on, the results on Google.co.uk also began to rise up. No patterns were observed except the error where results were appearing for other countries (mostly the US) even when the searches were made UK specific. Presently, authority websites are making it to the top rather than the results for competitive keywords.
Earlier, ranking for a competitive term was very difficult. Grabbing one of the top ranks required link building and on-page SEO techniques. Google has become smart enough to recognize authority websites even though they may not have many external links. Google uses internal linkage and places its trust in these websites and lets them get to the result page where they belong.
Getting to the top positions is easier for the large brands after this. This update has not only affected the authority websites but has greatly affected the SEO process for medium size companies. Since half the positions on the first page are occupied by the big brands, there are only five positions on the first page to compete for.
What is this supposed to mean? Is it necessary for us to be a brand to be listed amongst the first pages? The answer is still not clear. But one thing that is clear is that gaining a position through traditional SEO is completely different from doing the same by being an authority site.
Google has its own ways for trusting and ranking brands or authority websites. Google keeps an eye on the mentions of the website in media and if any links to your website are available on mainstream media sites. If your website is creating a buzz and people are talking about you, it sure gives you better chances to rank up high with Google. Then of course, statistics like the number of people that visit your website without having to search for it, or search for the brand name itself say a lot about the relevance and popularity of your website.
By Search Engine Optimization Team, Synapse India
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