How Google Identifies 'Real Brands'

Important signals your site needs to send

The days of autistically gaming the algo are over.

Google’s already figured out how to ID sites that are following the vintage pre-HCU SEO playbook.

It’s over.

Google wants Real Brands™.

Here’s what they’re looking for.

Branded queries

It’s obvious that you’ve built a Real Brand™ if people are appending your brand name to search queries.

Searchers aren’t the proverbial monkeys sitting in front a typewriter who accidentally write War and Peace.

They’re real people who are typing queries with intention.

What they search for conveys important information. If enough queries include your site’s brand name, Google notices and rewards you accordingly.

Visualize it is as your branded:unbranded ratio.

If all of your impressions and clicks come from unbranded queries - let’s say ‘best espresso maker’ or ‘best coffee grinder’ - it’s a sign that you’re gaming the algo aka doing what Google doesn’t want you to do.

No one knows or cares that your site exists, or if they do they aren’t impressed enough to seek it out.

This is a major strike against you.