Ok, let’s start by understanding Google’s current take on Brand TLDs. Google’s latest announcement on December 10, 2015, stated that the new TLDs (including the Brand TLDs) would be given no more or no less authority for search rankings. (See Google’s new TLD blog post). We know that simply owning and using a Brand TLD isn’t going to wave some magic wand on your SEO efforts.

But, there are things you can do right here and now, to leverage your Brand TLD, to improve your SEO performance and set your brand on a path to be an innovation leader.

Innovate with your Brand TLD and make an impact on your SEO today

Before you can begin to consider what activity will drive your SEO performance, it’s a good idea to consider the algorithm for search results. Now no one truly knows the formula Google uses but THREE factors are widely acknowledged by SEO experts, industry stakeholders and indicated by Google themselves to improve performance.

Content is king

Content marketing is not only the new kid on the block, it is now a principle component of marketing. Content needs to be relevant to the audience it is intended for.

How can your Brand TLD allow you to do this?

Once you have your segments, you can use your Brand TLD to serve up specific content on clear and concise brand labels for engagement. For example, let’s take ethical investments. As a Financial Services or as an investment advisory firm, you could create a label such as ‘ethical.brand’. This page could be focused on what’s happening in the ethical investment space, why someone should consider ethical investments, how to choose the right ethical investments etc. This would be an effective way to engage with a segmented audience interested in ethical investments and provide content that is an exact or broad matched keyword search.

Importantly this would be an optimised page in the eyes of Google. Connecting searchers to relevant content is Google’s number 1 priority. Bingo.

Linking is extremely important

Linking is a proven tactic to improve customer journeys and deliver a good experience for the user. Connecting your internal site is known to enhance SEO performance.

Let’s use the ethical investment example again, to understand why a Brand TLD has a positive role to play in SEO. If you create an evergreen piece of content, ‘5 things to consider to maximize your ethical investment portfolio’. You can use this targeted content to attract visitors and then use this to promote something related back on your flagship website, for example an upcoming event.

What does this do for SEO?

  • It helps you spread link juice from one page to another and link juice leads to better performance in search. Also to add into the mix, it helps you bridge link worthy content, with your most profitable content. So a win for you, a win for the user experience and for your SEO because the content matches the users search request.
  • It allows Google’s bots to easily index your corporate digital ecosystem, to understand the architecture and how it is all interconnected. This allows you to get your web properties listed on Google.

Authenticity, legitimacy and security influences SEO

By claiming your own Brand TLD, you are indicating to both consumers and the search algorithm that your Brand TLD domain names are you and only you. This is your brand and therefore you are announcing and saying this is our brand, which immediately makes it legitimate and authentic. Result? A positive impact on your SEO performance as the search engines recognize your Brand TLD as authentically your brand.

Also, it is more secure and trusted by users. You are sending a clear signal this domain is you and another domain may be an imposter. This gives your brand the ranking authority it deserves. You could easily add a certificate and make it an even stronger signal.

If you have your Brand TLD or are considering obtaining yours, it is clear there will be inherent SEO benefits that will increase as more Brand TLD use cases are rolled out. You just need to be creative to consider how you can deploy innovative use cases on your Brand TLD.

Get a jump on your competitors with a new, better and different experience and enhance your SEO performance.

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