Google has integrated search engine marketing further into its organic search engine results pages (SERPs) with a new “Brand refinement” feature.
Similar to the “Recipe rich snippets” that were introduced by the company in what was often seen as a competitive gesture to Bing, the new feature aims to help shoppers research their purchases via Google.
“Sometimes when searching for product information on Google, you may not know some of the brand names relevant to your particular search,” said the company’s VP of engineering, Jen Fitzpatrick. For example, if you’re taking on a new river rafting hobby, it’s quite likely you don’t have a clue about kayak manufacturers just yet.”
“So, we wanted to make it easier for you to find the brands other people consider useful for popular product searches.”
Now users who search for a popular product – such as mp3 players, sports trainers or even handbags – will be given a series of links for five well-known brand manufacturers of said product.
These five links appear at the top of the SERP, just below or in place of AdWords link units, under the heading “Brands for _________”. Currently the feature is only active in the US but as with many other features, it will likely soon be extended to the rest of the world.
A click on these highlighted brand names will take the user to a similar SERP page – but one where the query included the chosen brand name as a keyword.
According to Fitzpatrick, these brand names are “determined algorithmically” and provide an interesting way of linking general search queries to search engine marketing. If rolled out to the UK, SEO consultants could start to see increased competition on brand keywords associated with their clients products.
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