The Google Algorithm has been changed on us again! OMG!
While the case used to be that a domain could only appear twice in Google’s search results for any one query, Google has now expanded this limit. According to Google’s Webmaster Central blog, this applies to “queries that indicate a strong user interest in a particular domain.” Using Google’s example, if you do a search for “exhibitions at amnh,” 7 of the 10 results listings on the first page are from the American Museum of Natural History’s website; Google identifies pages on the site that each speak to a specific exhibit, because they want it to be easy for the searcher to quickly find info on various exhibits at that museum.
Using our own example, if you do a search for “chicago cubs jerseys” you should see our client CubWorld.com at the top of your organic results page (depending on where you live and how/if you’re logged into Google), followed by an array of other online retailers. But if you do a search for “jerseys at cubworld” you’ll see that 8 of the 10 results (as seen below) are various jersey pages on CubWorld.com. Apparently Google wants to speed up your shopping experience on that particular site.
So, what does this really mean?
- Your brand is important. But let’s face it, we’re not all Nike or Coca Cola. So your brand combined with rich, compelling, well-organized content is really important. “Cubworld” alone doesn’t hold as much weight as a search query as “jerseys at cubworld” — there’s a band and some boy scout organizations who prove this. So yes, keep focusing on optimizing your site for both brand name-focused searches and other keywords.
