Earlier in the year Google released an update to their algorithm which became know as the “Vince update” (named after the Google engineer that created the change). The update affected a relatively small pool of generic queries in competitive niches, and saw “big” brands gain visibility for such queries where they had none before. The fact that big hitters started getting visibility and traffic for high volume keywords had commentators crying foul that Google was favouring corporations and multi-nationals, possibly even going outside the boundaries of their algorithm and hand editing natural results to move them to the top of results in exchange for a few twenties…
The Vince update was rolled out in the UK around June time, and with the recent coverage we decided to look at why Google has done this, and what you can do to sit at the table with the big boys.
Why is Google favouring big brands?
Rather than actually favouring big brands, the results are a sympton of the changes that Google has made. It’s common knowledge that Google likes everything to be algorithmic and scalable, and any changes involving hand editing or cherry picking fly in the face of this.
In the aftermath of the Vince update going live, a Google engineer called Matthew Trewhella stated that the Vince update was to do with the number of times a user had to refine their searches until they found a result they were satisfied with. If a user has to search several times before finding a satisfactory result, then Google feel they have failed with the user’s experience. The Vince update intends to use Google’s vast bank of user data to see which sites a user will typically end up at and cut out some of those steps in query refinement. As it happens, a lot of those sites were big brands.
If what Google is communicating about the Vince update is true (and everything they say should be taken with a pinch a salt…) then the takeaway here is to ensure there is close alignment with your site’s purpose and the phrases people use to find your site, as well as ensuring users are satisfied enough with your content that they don’t feel the need to search again. The old mantra “content is king, build sites for your users” rings true here.
It’s no coincidence however that user satisfaction ended at big brand sites. Google has enourmous banks of user and site data, so what other factors could they be using to define a brand?
Brand Impressions
How many visitors does your site get from Google for searches on your brand name? How many searches are conducted per month? The higher these figures are the more branded your site looks. But what can you do to increase these?
Brand alignment with core keywords
So you get a lot of traffic through direct searches for your brand, but what keywords do searchers associate with your brand, and does Google recognise this? Google stores relationships they see between keywords (such as through their Wonder Wheel tool) and give hints at associated keywords in their SERPs. The image below shows associated searches for the word “hotels”, with suggestions of “hilton hotels”, “travel lodge”, “late rooms” and “expedia”. It’s probably not a coicidence that three of these are on the first page for a search for “hotels”!
Click-Through Rates, Bounce Rates, “Satisfaction Rates”
Blogstorm coined the phrase “satisfaction rate” - to describe the number of search refinements a user makes to reach their end goal. Aligned with this is click-through rate (CTR) - the percentage of searchers who click on your result (usually high for branded searches), and bounce rate - the number of people who leave a site having visited only one page. Note a high bounce rate isn’t necessarily bad - if aligned with a high satisfaction rate then the user has achieved their goal. The common thread between a favourable CTR, bounce rate and satisfaction rate? Quality, engaging content.
Citations and the Social Graph
How many mentions does your brand get on social networks and the web as a whole? The search engines will be factoring this into their algorithms more and more, and it’s pretty simple to track.
Link profile
Although we’ve seen big brands with low quantities of links and vice versa, inbound link volumes and your profile as a whole is an obvious factor. When the Vince update was initially rolled out, Google’s Matt Cutts stated the intention of the update was “factoring trust” into results. Trust builds trust - does your site earn links from trusted and authoritative sources?
If all of this leaves your head spinning, then get in touch with Fusion Unlimited. Our search engine optimisation service can help you build your brand online.