Train Thoughts

Recent SEO chatter indicates that “Brand” has recently been given more weight in the serps, so it appears that Google is doing their part to help folks like Ford with reputation management from the start.

However, Rob points out (I highly recommend reading his blog) that brands need to distribute positive content well beyond their own site in hopes of managing reputation in the serps.  I’m sure Google would prefer that the serps have a balanced perspective - To show content with a range of opinions/information - not all positive.

What I find the most interesting are the paid results.  I’ve suspected for a long time that the natural results for commercial terms will gradually shift to more paid results.  Taking Rob’s example of the Ford Fusion search, and his comment about the need for more positive content.  It seems to reason to me that Ford will produce quality content - possibly on other domains - then purchase the same search terms to squeeze Mazda and Car Price Secrets out of the top paid results.  At the end of the day, there is little a big brand can do to control the natual results, but it’s pretty easy to buy out the spots in the paid results.  Look for more brands to buy the same term multiple times across content destinations.