As a retail search marketing agency, we pride ourselves on our ability to help your brand get noticed on the SERP. This week, Google is pitching in.
Google is implementing a rule that in organic search queries, domains will have a maximum of two results show up on the search results page. While they leave room for exceptions (like branded searches), this change has made organic results more competitive for all types of businesses. Whether you’re in a wide-open industry or trying to gain share in a niche vertical, this rule change has created a significant opportunity to improve your search rank.
As part of this “site diversity launch,” subdomains (like a blog) will count towards a domain’s two search result listings. This change only applies to main web search listings, so other search units like featured snippets, local listings, and images will not count against a site’s two listings. With SEO constantly changing, this is another rule your team has to be sure and consider in your strategy.
The Big Winners & Losers
Right off the bat, the obvious winner here is any business who isn’t a behemoth that’s taken over the SERPs. Amazon product page listings or other large companies that dominate the space are now capped when it comes to how many search results listings can show for a given keyword. The other winner is the user, who’s going to see more variety in their search results, further optimizing the listing and ensuring they can find what they’re looking for.
That being said, if your business has put time, effort, and investment into canvassing a results page with different site links, this is going to throttle that strategy. It also opens up competition for your organic brand terms, so you’ll want to fortify those positions. How to do that? Well, you know where this part of the blog is heading…
Here’s How You Can Solve for X
Be Aggressive
Most domains are going to get a small bump in their search rankings with this rule change, but the greatest opportunity lies in getting from positions 11 to 15 to position 10 or lower. Getting on to the first page of search results, 75% of search users will only use the first page, making it imperative that your listing is what they see. You can improve your ranking with a consistent commitment SEO and content best practices, such as sharing more articles and building content based on target keywords or sitelinks. Remember: it’s all about context. You might also consider promoting these links in Google Ads to increase the traffic. Everything you can do to improve your page’s Quality Score even a few notches can go a long way.
Make Friends
Blogging about keyword topics and user pain points while displaying expertise is a vital component to increasing search rank. Doing some blogger outreach and link building (perhaps with guest blogs or having your work shared) is a differentiator that any brand can take advantage of. You can also leverage Affiliate partnerships to gain a foothold on the top organic positions for brand terms, ensuring you do not cede them to your competition. The key takeaway here is that expanding your presence where other domains corroborate your authority on the topic (a.k.a. the keywords) are a powerful tool to cement your search rank among the top listings.
Want to learn how you can adopt these tactics to transform your search presence? Contact us today to discuss your SEO and taking advantage of Google’s rule change.
