In part 16 we learned about Domain Diversity, Transactional Searches, Local Searches, Top Stories Box, Big Brand Preference, Shopping Results, Image Results, Easter Egg Results, Single Site Results, and Payday Loans Update.
Brand Signals
161. Brand Name Anchor Text
Backlinks with brand-name anchor texts to the homepage can be beneficial for websites. Such anchor texts send brand/quality signals to Google.
162. Branded Searches
Branded searches send trust signals to Google. If people search for your brand online, Google considers your domain as a real brand.
163. Brand + Keyword Searches
People often search for keywords that include brand/website names. This gives Google a quality signal toward a specific website.
Example: Percoyo SEO Company in India
164. Site Has Facebook Page and Likes
Websites with FaceBook Page likes to tend to have social signals that may help in search rankings.
165. Site has Twitter Profile with Followers
Twitter profiles with many followers send users to websites along with trust and quality signals.
166. Official Linkedin Company Page
LinkedIn page is one of the social signals that help with SEO. Real businesses do have a LinkedIn page that adds a trust signal in the eyes of Google.
167. Known Authorship
Google has confirmed that known authorship sends relevant author signals that help content rank at the top.
Here is what Google’s former CEO ‘Eric Schmidt’ had to say about Authorship:
“Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results. The true cost of remaining anonymous, then, might be irrelevance.”
168. Legitimacy of Social Media Accounts
Social Media Account spam is seen on many websites that appear on the SERP. Google will treat social media accounts with 1000 followers, 5 posts, and zero interaction differently when compared to accounts with 1000 followers and constant interaction.
169. Brand Mentions on Top Stories
Big Brands often get mentioned in the ‘Top Stories’ on Google’s SERP all the time. These brands have a news section located on their website that happens to appear on the first page of Google.
170. Unlinked Brand Mentions
Even though brand names get mentioned without linking to the website, Google considers this as a brand mention or a quality signal. Here is a detailed post about unlinked brand mentions.
171. Brick and Mortar Location
Physical Location can be a quality signal that Google determines to assess whether a website is a brand or not. Google may fetch deeply into the data to find the actual address of a ‘Branded Website’.