Losing position for branded keywords can be a significant blow to any business, especially when these terms are associated directly with your company’s name, products, or services. Branded keywords are often one of the highest-converting sources of traffic because users searching for these terms already have familiarity with your brand. When your site drops in rankings for these key phrases, the impact can be felt across traffic, conversions, and overall revenue.
In this article, we will explore the potential causes behind such drops and actionable strategies to recover your rankings. With the right approach, it’s possible to reclaim your position and regain the traffic that comes with it.
Table of Contents
- What Are Branded Keywords and Why Are They Important?
- Common Reasons for a Drop in Branded Keyword Rankings
- Steps to Diagnose and Identify the Problem
- How to Recover Rankings After Losing Position for Branded Keywords
- 1. Conduct a Comprehensive SEO Audit
- 2. Strengthen Your On-Page SEO
- 3. Fix Technical SEO Issues
- 4. Optimize for Mobile and Page Speed
- 5. Rebuild Your Backlink Profile
- 6. Focus on Content Refresh and Updates
- 7. Engage in Reputation Management
- Conclusion
1. What Are Branded Keywords and Why Are They Important?
Branded keywords are search terms that include a company’s name or specific product names. These keywords have high intent and are critical because they signify that a user is specifically seeking out your business. For instance, if you own a company called “TechWave,” branded keywords might include:
- TechWave products
- Buy TechWave gadgets
- TechWave reviews
Why are branded keywords crucial?
- Higher conversion rates: Users already know your brand and are likely to be further along in their purchase journey.
- Lower competition: Because these keywords are specific to your business, you’re typically competing with fewer entities compared to generic, non-branded keywords.
- Brand awareness: Ranking for branded terms strengthens your online visibility and credibility.
However, if your rankings for these branded terms drop, users looking for your products may land on competitor sites, leading to loss of both traffic and revenue.
2. Common Reasons for a Drop in Branded Keyword Rankings
Understanding why you’ve lost ranking positions for branded keywords is the first step in recovery. Common causes include:
- Algorithm updates: Google and other search engines frequently update their algorithms. Your website may have been penalized or de-prioritized due to an update.
- Content issues: Outdated, thin, or irrelevant content can lead to a drop in rankings. Fresh, valuable content is prioritized by search engines.
- Competitor activity: Competitors may have improved their SEO strategies, overtaking your positions.
- Backlink profile deterioration: A decline in quality backlinks, or an increase in toxic backlinks, can significantly affect rankings.
- Technical SEO problems: Issues like slow page speed, broken links, or mobile-unfriendly design can harm rankings.
- Manual penalties: In some cases, Google may apply a manual penalty due to non-compliance with search guidelines.
- Reputation issues: Negative press or reviews could diminish your brand’s authority in the eyes of search engines.
3. Steps to Diagnose and Identify the Problem
Before implementing any recovery tactics, it’s crucial to understand the root cause of the ranking drop. Here’s a step-by-step process to diagnose the issue:
1. Use Google Search Console:
Check for any manual penalties or significant changes in impressions, clicks, and rankings. Google Search Console can help pinpoint whether specific pages or keywords were impacted.
2. Analyze Algorithm Updates:
Check if there have been any significant algorithm updates at the time of the Google rankings drop. Websites like Moz’s Google Algorithm Update History can help you track these.
3. Monitor Backlink Profile:
Use tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush to assess your backlink profile. Have you lost valuable links, or have toxic links been introduced? These can negatively affect branded keyword rankings.
4. Review Competitor Rankings:
Identify if any competitors have overtaken your rankings by conducting a competitor analysis. Tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs can help track where they’ve gained traction.
4. How to Recover Rankings After Losing Position for Branded Keywords
Once you’ve diagnosed the potential issues, it’s time to take corrective action. Here are key strategies to recover your rankings:
1. Conduct a Comprehensive SEO Audit
An SEO audit helps identify both on-page and off-page issues that could be impacting your rankings. Areas to focus on include:
- Crawl errors: Fix 404 errors, redirects, and any other technical issues that could harm search engine crawls.
- Indexing issues: Ensure that all critical pages are being indexed correctly by search engines.
- Site structure: Review your internal linking and navigation to ensure it’s intuitive for both users and search engines.
Tools like Screaming Frog and Google Search Console can be useful in conducting these audits.
2. Strengthen Your On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is vital to regaining rankings. Here are a few areas to optimize:
- Title tags and meta descriptions: Ensure they are optimized for branded terms. Include your brand name and product-related keywords in a natural, user-friendly manner.
- Content: Make sure your branded keywords are used appropriately across your content. Avoid keyword stuffing, but ensure that brand-related terms are visible in headings, subheadings, and the body text.
- Schema Markup: Use structured data to help search engines better understand your brand and offerings.
3. Fix Technical SEO Issues
Technical SEO plays a critical role in your site’s rankings. Here’s what to address:
- Page speed: Slow pages frustrate users and rank lower. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and fix issues.
- Mobile optimization: Google uses mobile-first indexing, so ensure your site is responsive and mobile-friendly.
- Broken links: Fix or remove broken links that can disrupt user experience and search engine crawlers.
4. Optimize for Mobile and Page Speed
Given that Google primarily indexes mobile versions of websites (mobile-first indexing), a poor mobile experience can severely hurt your rankings. Additionally, Google emphasizes page speed, and slow-loading pages may be pushed down in the SERPs.
5. Rebuild Your Backlink Profile
Branded keyword rankings are highly influenced by the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to your site. Here are strategies to improve your backlink profile:
- Acquire high-quality backlinks: Reach out to industry websites, authoritative blogs, and partners to build links.
- Disavow toxic backlinks: Use Google’s Disavow Tool to remove any harmful links that might be hurting your rankings.
- Reclaim lost links: Use tools like Ahrefs to identify lost backlinks and reach out to webmasters to recover them.
6. Focus on Content Refresh and Updates
Regularly updating and refreshing your content is crucial for maintaining and recovering rankings. If your branded keywords are tied to product pages or blog content, keep this content up to date with the latest information. Adding new media like images, videos, and infographics can also improve user engagement and ranking potential.
7. Engage in Reputation Management
Negative reviews, articles, or poor online reputation can negatively impact your rankings for branded keywords. Here’s what to do:
- Respond to negative reviews: Address any concerns raised by customers professionally and attempt to resolve them.
- Encourage positive reviews: Proactively ask satisfied customers to leave positive feedback online.
- Monitor mentions: Use tools like Google Alerts or Mention to keep track of what people are saying about your brand online and respond accordingly.
5. Conclusion
Losing rankings for branded keywords can be daunting, but it’s not the end of the road. By diagnosing the issue, conducting a thorough audit, and implementing both on-page and off-page recovery strategies, you can regain your position and continue attracting high-converting traffic. Remember, SEO is a long-term strategy, so patience and consistent effort are key to seeing results.
