Good morning SEO world. Today I read something pretty interesting on SEOMoz. I’d like to do a little debate/exercise thingy.

1. Everyone go to Google.com
2. Search for the word “Apple”
3. Now what do you see?

This is what you get:

(Sorry if the screenshot’s abit small) The first 7 results are all coming from Apple.com, the company who makes Apple iPods etc. The last 3, highlighted in blue are not coming from Apple.com but are ABOUT apple.com.

What about try searching for the word “Sky“. You see the top 5 results dominated by Sky.com, the media /entertainment giant.

What does it mean for people searching for the word apple as in the fruit or sky as in the one thing that Rupert Murdoch does not own?

What does this mean for searchers and SEO folks like us? What does it mean for retailers of certain branded products? Does this mean Google is becoming more brand-centric? The first 7 results dominated by 1 single company - does this mean less competition, therefore more unfairness, for other authorised retailers of the same product? Will retailers will have to spend more on PPC just to be on the first page? What’s the point of searching when there isn’t any variety?

This is only currently happening in .com and not .co.uk.

Posted In:

Brand value, Google, Search Engine Optimisation