Welcome to another insightful week with The SEOs Diners Club newsletter. Leveraging over a decade of SEO expertise, I aim to distil the week's most critical developments into a concise read that will take less than seven minutes. Let's dive into the insights that matter.

Google’s Brand Interest: Strong Brands Win in SEO

Google prioritizes brands. Explore branding strategies to stand out in SEO and learn effective SEO tactics for non-branded sites.

There are serious signals that Google has been giving more preferential treatment to brands in recent years. This is especially evident in the recent trend of brands having more visibility in search results. However, this does not mean that non-branded sites will fail. This article will examine how brands stand out in SEO and how non-brand sites can implement strategies.

Increasing Brand Visibility in SEO

In recent years, Google has increased the visibility of brands in organic search results. This is not only a situation specific to SEO but also manifests itself in consumer behaviour in general. Users prefer brands they trust, and Google is bringing these brands to the forefront. As Google's understanding of content evolves, brands are better recognized and their visibility increases. In particular, features on search engine results pages (SERPs), shopping results, and recent major algorithm updates favour more prominent brands.

The “small personal sites” parameter in the algorithm, which we discovered thanks to the Google leak last March, continues to confuse us. I wonder whether Google may be intentionally labelling some sites as small sites and reducing their ranking performance. I think this is why being a brand is so important.

The brand concept is defined by various elements in terms of SEO: Brand search volume, click-through rate (CTR), knowledge panel, digital availability, brand keywords and relevant backlinks. These elements play an essential role in how Google ranks brands higher. For example, if brands are found to be more trusted by users, searches for brand keywords increase, and the brand has social proof, Google prioritizes these sites more.

Google's Prioritization of Brands

One of the main reasons Google prioritizes brands is that users want them. As Eric Schmidt, Google's former chief executive officer, has noted, brand loyalty is deeply rooted in human nature.

People gravitate towards brands they know and trust. Another reason brands rank higher is that Google wants to maximize the user experience. For example, intermediary sites such as meta-search engines (Skyscanner, Dogpile, etc.) can often be less useful to users, and Google favours brands over such sites. In particular, Google has recently reduced the visibility of intermediary sites that compete with large e-commerce sites and retail brands.

Small Sites and Their Impact on SEO

Google's brand-centric strategy can pose some challenges for non-branded sites or more minor players. In particular, as larger sites in various verticals (e.g. fashion, health, finance, travel) gain more visibility, smaller e-commerce sites and publishers can fall behind in the rankings. This has led to big brands dominating SERPs for highly competitive keywords in some verticals (e.g. credit cards, auto insurance, watches).

Strategies for Non-Brand Sites

So, what should you do if you don't have a brand? Here are strategies that non-branded sites can implement:

1. Review and Feedback Management

Google cares a lot about third-party reviews and user feedback. For this reason, you should closely monitor reviews about your brand and manage your reputation by taking quick action against negative feedback. This is a critical step not only for SEO but also for increasing user trust.

2. Invest in Brand Marketing

Investing in marketing activities to increase brand awareness can directly impact your SEO. Increasing brand awareness through advertising campaigns, social media efforts, and content marketing can help you rank higher in the long run. For example, you can regularly check searches with your brand name in Semrush Keyword Research.

3. Combine Product and Brand Strategies

SEO should be integrated with your product strategies. Pay attention to how your brand is mentioned and in what contexts. Make sure your brand is represented correctly on third-party sites. This will improve the quality of your SEO efforts.

4. Decide on Exact Match Domain (EMD) Usage

EMDs - exact keyword match domains - may work in the short term, but the long-term benefits of building a memorable brand are far more significant. If you're using an EMD, developing a branding strategy is essential. While EMDs are easily forgotten, a firm brand name is remembered for a long time.

5. Monitor Your Brand Traffic

Analyze the balance between brand and non-brand search traffic in your SEO efforts. If your brand searches are low, your brand is not yet strong enough. To achieve this balance, focus your efforts on brand awareness.

6. Brand Links and Recognition Rate

Brand links are an essential part of SEO. Not only general backlinks but also brand-specific links should be considered. If the inbound links to your homepage are related to your brand, it can positively affect your search engine rankings.

Tips for Small Sites to Rank on Google

Not being a brand doesn't mean you will fail at SEO. You can succeed in search engine rankings by implementing the right strategies for small sites. These strategies include improving user experience, managing third-party reviews, investing in branding, and focusing on brand links. As your brand grows, you will gain more value in Google's eyes, making it easier for you to rank higher in search results.

As a result, I've noticed that Google has recently increased its emphasis on brands, which may seem like a disadvantage for smaller sites. Still, it can be overcome with the abovementioned strategies. Just because your brand is not strong does not mean you will fail in the long run; on the contrary, by taking the proper steps, you can strengthen your brand and become a more valuable site in Google's eyes.

GA4 Direct Traffic: Understand the Power of Your Brand

Strengthen your brand awareness and conversion rates with direct traffic analysis on GA4. Learn how to analyze suitable traffic sources.

This week, I want to discuss direct traffic on Google Analytics 4 (GA4). For most websites, direct traffic is a metric with the highest conversion rates.

This type of traffic, which is closely related to the branding process, usually increases in parallel with brand awareness. The stronger your brand is, the higher your direct traffic rates will be.

So, which traffic is counted as direct traffic in GA4? Here are the seven most common examples:

1. If users type your domain name directly into the browser,

2. If your site is bookmarked by users and visited from there,

3. If your site is reached from messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Skype with links without UTM tags,

4. Clicks from documents such as PDFs,

5. If your site is accessed via mobile applications,

6. Visits from mislabeled UTM campaigns,

7. Visits from browsers that do not send referrer information.

Analyzing these traffic sources correctly is critical to understanding your brand's strength and conversion rates. Remember that direct traffic reflects the popularity of your brand and the level at which people know you directly. A direct traffic rate of 10% to 20% on GA4 is generally considered healthy and can be a good indicator of your brand's popularity.

However, if your direct traffic rates are unexpectedly high, you need to check if there is a problem with UTM tagging or tracking configurations. Examining the technical configurations in the system is one of the best ways to fix this situation.

To find your direct traffic data in GA4, you can go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition and find the heading “Direct” in the table report there. This section will give you valuable insights about users coming through direct channels.

Direct traffic is not just about numbers; it's also about understanding your audience and optimizing your website's performance.

Do Google's Algorithm Updates Improve Quality?

Google's latest algorithm update may penalise helpful sites instead of improving the quality of search results. Where is the trend heading?

In recent years, Google has been making constant updates, claiming to improve the quality of search results. But do these updates serve their purpose? According to Google spokesperson Danny Sullivan, Google is still working to give independent creators more visibility. But in reality, the results seem to be the opposite.

In its haste to join the AI race, Google seems to have forgotten its core mission: providing a good search engine experience. While the dominance of big brands is increasing in search results, quality and independent sites are penalized. Even valuable content falls victim to the algorithm without distinguishing between the right and the wrong. While Sullivan says, “Keep producing quality content,” no complex data shows it's being rewarded.

There is also this warning: “If your site is on page one, don't make changes.” It's almost as if Google admits that it doesn't understand search engine dynamics. The fact that search results are so uncertain and no one can predict what will happen in the next update seriously undermines Google's credibility. In trying to fix its algorithms, Google fails to deliver what it should provide its users: A consistent and quality search experience!

Google Adds Wayback Machine Links to Search Results

Google has integrated Wayback Machine links into search results. This feature provides easy access to older versions of pages.

Google's integration of the Wayback Machine into search results adds a new dimension to digital archiving SEO strategies. This development offers a significant advantage, especially for SEO professionals, as it provides easy access to old versions of lost or updated web pages. So, how can this feature be used in SEO efforts?

What is The Wayback Machine?

Wayback Machine is a platform founded in 1996 and serves as the digital archive of the Internet. Managed by a non-profit organization called Internet Archive, this tool stores past versions of websites and allows users to access these pages. With the Wayback Machine, you can examine how a website looked years ago and what content it contained. This platform hosts past versions of millions of web pages and provides an excellent resource for researchers, SEO experts and general internet users. You can visit https://web.archive.org/ to access the site.

How can you use the Wayback Machine in SEO?

So, how can this feature be used in SEO?

• Historical Content Analysis: By examining previous web page versions, SEO experts can analyze content changes and their impact on organic traffic. This allows them to understand which content strategies are more effective.

• Broken Link Management: The Wayback Machine can also solve broken link problems, which is critical for SEO. If links to old pages are still on some sites, you can fix broken links that harm SEO by redirecting to archived versions of these pages.

• Competitor Analysis: You can analyze what content your competitors have used in the past and how that content has changed. This provides a valuable opportunity to see what your competitors have tried in the past and what has been successful in your content strategy.

• Recovering Lost Content: Thanks to the Wayback Machine, you can access content that has been accidentally deleted or lost from your site and protect your SEO potential by restoring it.

OpenAI's New “o1” Model Reasoning Like a Human

OpenAI's o1 model outperforms humans in complex reasoning. Expect significant changes in SEO and digital marketing.

The claim that the “o1” model introduced by OpenAI has made a significant leap in reasoning ability has caused a great resonance. Reaching a level that surpasses humans in mathematics, coding, and science may deepen the effects of artificial intelligence on both digital marketing and SEO activities in the future.

It is an excellent advantage for search engines to understand complex queries more accurately and quickly, especially in the world of SEO. The O1 model's ability to analyze questions more deeply will require content producers to produce higher-quality and original content.

Because o1 has the capacity to understand not only the superficial information but also the intention behind the questions, this could lead to a complete change in ranking criteria in search engines like Google. Instead of content that focuses only on keywords, content that meets the real needs of users will be more important.

In digital marketing, the fact that artificial intelligence is so advanced can provide more accurate predictions in target audience analysis. Thanks to O1's sophisticated analytics capabilities, audience segmentation and personalized ad campaigns will improve further. More real-world testing and validation are needed for this technology to reach the promised level, but for now, it is worth observing.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence will lead to revolutionary changes in the digital world. SEO professionals should constantly renew themselves to adapt to this process.

Google May Suspend Your Business Profile for Fake Reviews Detected

Google imposes restrictions and reserves the right to suspend business profile accounts that violate its fake reviews policies.

This is a very important development from Google! As you know, reviews on business profiles play a critical role in users' decision-making processes. However, fake reviews negatively affect this process, misleading consumers and creating an unfair competitive environment.

Google is determined not to compromise on fake reviews that violate its Business Profile policies. If a fake review is detected, Google cannot only remove it but also suspend your business profile. Businesses may then face various restrictions, including the inability to receive new reviews and ratings. Moreover, a warning may be added to your profile stating that fake reviews have been removed.

Business owners will be notified via email before such restrictions are applied, and businesses will have the right to appeal. However, remember that violators of Google's fake engagement policies could face serious consequences.

The list of banned content provides more information on this topic and details the appeal process.

Recommended Tools & Services

• WhitePress: WhitePress is a content marketing platform that enables accessible article publishing across 90,571 websites in 30 languages, offering native copywriting and automated global publication services.

• Cannibalization Explorer Looker Studio Report is a tool for identifying keyword cannibalization and providing insights into how keywords perform across different pages.

• SurferSEO is a tool for creating and optimizing content for SEO. It analyzes the top-ranking pages for your target keywords and gives you suggestions on how to improve your content. Surfer AI also has a feature that can generate ready-to-rank articles in minutes.

• Copilot Pro: Copilot Pro is available for $20/month for cloud-based GenAI models and $27/month with Microsoft 365. It is integrated with Microsoft 365 applications and provides access to GPT-4 Turbo and advanced AI rendering tools.

• AlsoAsked is a helpful tool that can boost your visibility in the “People Also Ask” section of Google's search engine results page.”

• Semrush Map Rank Tracker is a Google-changing tool for local businesses looking to dominate their niche and attract more customers. I've been using the free version for a while now, and I'm impressed with its ease and effectiveness.

• ContentShake AI is an intelligent writing tool that combines AI with real-life competitor insights. It guides you from ideation to publishing directly to the blog, generates SEO-friendly articles, and helps you optimize them for organic traffic and engagement.

• Microsoft Clarity has recently introduced a feature called Copilot, which incorporates Generative AI through Large Language Models (LLMs) into the analytics tool. This integration aims to make data more accessible and understandable for users by leveraging the same technology created by OpenAI, which powers the new Bing or ChatGPT.

• InLinks is an SEO tool that uses a knowledge graph to optimize content for search engines. It automates internal linking and schema markup, simplifying SEO processes and content strategies.

Subscribe to my newsletter to stay informed about the latest in SEO and digital marketing. Next week, I'll continue to share the newest insights, tactics, and strategies for navigating the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape.

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Best,

Mert Erkal