As anonymous websites and shady SEO tactics clog up Google’s search results, the Mountain View-based company is increasing the level of value it gives to websites with ‘brand signals.’
Brand signals, despite the buzzword-sounding name, are simple indicator that your website is linked to a legitimate, long-term business. In simple terms, brand signals are indicators that your website is here to stay, not just around for short-term SEO.
From small local businesses to online companies, any type of business with its own address, its own phone number, and its own local presence can benefit from brand signals. Enjoy an immediate SEO boost that has lasting long-term visibility benefits.
Just like social signals – Facebook Likes, Twitter followers, and LinkedIn accounts – indicate that your website has a legitimate social presence, brand signals like phone numbers and addresses indicate that your website has a real support presence.
Does your website feature your phone number? If so, is it posted on your website in plain text format so that Google’s indexing bot can read it properly? Is your trading address listed on your website? If so, is it marked with a local pin on Google Maps?
If your website has an ‘about us’ section with company profiles, is it linked to your employees’ LinkedIn profiles? If you have testimonials, are they all from legitimate businesses with a social and maps presence, or anonymous online entities?
Over the last two years, SEO has become less about building links and more about ensuring that your website looks legitimate. Over the next to years, it will become less about looking ‘legitimate,’ and much more about actually being real.
As business addresses, phone numbers, and real staff become more important to Google’s quest for search quality, being one step ahead of the curve and listing all your brand signals now is becoming a far more appealing prospect.