Recently, we helped a home services company with great ratings and lots of customers avoid a disaster with their website. They were changing their brand, and it almost killed their visibility on search engines like Google.
If this happened, it would've been really stressful for a company doing well in a weak economy. People who have hired a new marketing or branding company and lost their rankings and web visitors know how bad it feels. But if you've never had really good rankings on Google, you might not realize what you're missing.
It's a love-hate thing with branding companies.
They do important work, and I like what they do.
But they often mess up SEO rankings, web traffic, and getting new customers more than other marketing companies do. This means we end up having to fix a lot of problems – and it's happening more and more.
Here's how you can shield your SEO and navigating the Risks of Rebranding. For the sake of making money, getting new customers, growing your business, and keeping your good Google rankings, please hire an SEO expert to help with your brand update.
You won't know how much you've lost online until it's gone.
Navigating Your Brand Update: Essential Steps to Shielding your SEO and Ensure Success
In the ever-evolving landscape of online business, a brand update can be both an exciting opportunity for growth and a potential minefield for your SEO rankings. However, with careful planning and expert guidance, you can navigate this journey successfully while safeguarding your hard-earned search engine authority. Let's explore the essential steps you need to take to mitigate SEO risks and ensure a smooth transition during your brand update.
1. Mitigate SEO Risks with a Comprehensive Redirect Map and Strategy:
- One crucial step in your brand update journey is creating a detailed redirect map and implementing a smart redirect strategy.
- A redirect map acts like a roadmap, guiding users and search engines from old URLs to their new destinations, preserving search engine authority and preventing broken links.
- Utilize 301 redirects to inform users and search engines that pages have permanently moved, maintaining search engine rankings during the brand update.
- Test and validate each redirect carefully to ensure effectiveness, and communicate changes to search engines through sitemap updates and the Google Search Console.
2. Monitor Google Search Console Closely:
- Throughout your brand update process, diligently monitor the Google Search Console (GSC) to gain valuable insights into the health and performance of your website.
- Pay specific attention to sections such as Performance, Experience, Indexing, and Enhancements within GSC to assess the impact of your brand update on organic search visibility and user experience.
- Act promptly to address any issues, crawl errors, or penalties detected in GSC, safeguarding your SEO efforts and ensuring a healthy online presence.
3. Have a Responsive Team of Proven SEO Experts on Call:
- Ensure you have a responsive SEO team readily available to address any challenges or complications that may arise during the brand update process.
- SEO experts can swiftly troubleshoot and fix issues to maintain website visibility and performance in search engine results.
- Engage in open communication with your SEO team to align efforts, address potential risks, and collaborate on preserving SEO rankings and lead generation.
4. Update Your Citations / Directory Listings:
- Update your citation profile across online directories, listings, and third-party platforms to reflect your new brand identity accurately.
- Consistency in citation information enhances brand credibility and plays a significant role in SEO, particularly for local search results.
- Utilize tools or services to streamline the citation update process, optimize listings for SEO, and maintain consistency moving forward.
5. Manually Update Key Social & Association Profiles:
- Manually update social media profiles and industry memberships to ensure consistency with your new brand identity.
- Optimization of social media profiles for SEO increases brand visibility in search results and reinforces credibility across platforms.
- Updating business listings on platforms like Google My Business and Yelp ensures accurate information for potential customers and strengthens SEO efforts.
6. Time Your Re-Brand Launch Strategically:
- Strategically coordinate your brand update launch with other marketing activities to manage brand signals effectively and ensure a smooth transition.
- Allow search engines ample time to crawl and index your updated website before making public announcements, minimizing disruptions to SEO rankings and user experience.
- Synchronize your web launch with other promotional efforts to create a cohesive brand experience and maximize the impact of marketing campaigns.
7. Bonus Tip: Have “The Talk” with Your Branding Agency:
- Engage in open communication with your branding agency to address potential SEO risks associated with the brand update.
- Collaborate to establish clear responsibilities, align expectations, and develop a contingency plan to mitigate SEO challenges.
- Foster a collaborative approach to safeguard SEO performance and ensure a successful brand update.
The bottom-line, navigating a brand update requires careful consideration of SEO implications and proactive measures to mitigate risks. By following these essential steps and engaging expert guidance, you can preserve SEO equity, maintain online visibility, and ensure a smooth transition that drives continued growth and success for your brand.
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