Natural Listings Dominating More Space For Brands

Once again Google have been testing the arrangement of the search space, this time it’s the natural listings that have been reorganised. Google seem to have given favour back to the big brands by allowing their pages to dominate a section at the top of the natural listings. The question here is whether these brands are actually being given a greater share of the SERPs space or whether Google is simply tidying up the first page, which would have presumably already been littered with the official brands listings (just in a less organised fashion.)

How will this effect you & resellers of your product?

If you own a Brand experiencing this change, this new format should be a positive change. Google is essentially giving your brand a stamp of approval. For brands such as ghd (pictured) who have an ongoing counterfeit problem this could be key in communicating to the consumer that you are the official retailer.

If you are bidding on brand terms in Paid Search, it could also bring down your advertising costs as natural search is given more visibility & thus a greater chance of winning the click.

If you are a reseller or affiliate of the product, you may find it harder to fight for attention as your listings get ‘pushed’ down the listings. The new format also draws more attention to the official retailer which could cost you traffic.