Brand SERPs Foundations Course: Improving the Results You Do Not Control
Script from the lesson The Brand SERPs Foundations Course
Jason Barnard speaking: Improving the results where you have no control. What’s the situation? Content from a third party ranks, and that content doesn’t necessarily represent your brand or your brand message, or maybe it just isn’t incredibly positive, or maybe it just could be better. If you’ve picked this result out, it’s because the blue link and description on your brand SERP are suboptimal. If it’s outright bad, this lesson probably won’t help, and you’ll need to take the course about pushing results off your SERP.
Jason Barnard speaking: When it’s simply less than perfect, this lesson is perfect. First and foremost, you’re looking to get the meta title and description changed so that the message on your brand SERP is more positive and accurate. If you can get that changed, then you might also think about pushing further, as I’ll explain a little bit later. You don’t have any control over that result, but that doesn’t mean to say you can’t act and get that result improved. Here’s what to do.
Jason Barnard speaking: First, bear in mind that behind that content is a person, possibly several people. That’s easy to forget on the internet. It’s all about relationships. If you want to convince somebody to change a page on their site to help you, then start by building a relationship. There’s no point in just saying, “I want this changed” right off the bat. Even with someone you know, that wouldn’t be an approach that would often end in success. So you need to build a relationship with the person behind the content.
Jason Barnard speaking: Get an introduction from a mutual acquaintance. This is a really good way to start, so try this first. See if you know someone who knows them and ask for an introduction. Being recommended by a person you both know is absolutely perfect. You might also be able to start with a face-to-face. If that is possible, go for that. Perhaps the person responsible for the content, the journalist, or blogger or site owner or webmaster goes to meetups near you or conferences that you attend. Strike up a conversation at one of these offline events.
Jason Barnard speaking: If neither of those is possible, connect on social media. LinkedIn’s a great place for that because it’s a work-related platform for professionals. Add a note when connecting only if you have something to say that will be of interest to them. If not, don’t say anything. Saying ‘I run a great website that sells widgets and I’d like to connect with you’ is both self-centered and lame. Writing a note implies you expect a reply and you’re putting pressure on them right off the bat. The idea is just to get your name onto their horizon. They’ll see the connection request and at least skim-read your name and, importantly, see your photo. However vague, you have your name and your face in their minds. Follow them on Twitter too.
Jason Barnard speaking: Don’t overdo the connections on too many platforms. Avoid stalking them. That doesn’t send out a very good signal. Only once you’ve got some kind of contact with them can you think about approaching them to make the changes you want. You’ve started the relationship, but don’t rush forward too quickly. This isn’t like link-building where you might shoot off emails to 30 people and hope that a couple reply; there’s only one person here, and that person is sitting on your brand SERP, and they’re the only person that can help you. If you rush in and get it wrong, the game’s over.
Jason Barnard speaking: When you do contact them, you need to figure out how to approach this in a manner where they want to dialogue with you. For that, they have to see value for them in this relationship. You need to bring value to them. You’ve started a tentative relationship and starting the conversation can be quite tough. Most of the time, email is the most appropriate way to start. You might want to try calling. There’s no reason not to. Speaking to people can be really effective. Email or phone is a judgment call you need to make. I’ll focus on email in this lesson.
Jason Barnard speaking: Here’s an example of the start of an email that you might initially write and be tempted to send.
Jason Barnard speaking: “I’m Bob Linton, and my company sells widgets that we ship from our state-of-the-art warehouse in Ohio, and we are wonderful.”
Jason Barnard speaking: That’s how most of us write naturally, from our point of view, talking about ourselves. But put yourself in their shoes. What they’re hearing very loudly here is “I”, “me”, “mine”. Very few people enjoy listening to other people talk only about themselves. Most people react well when things are presented from their point of view. So you need to present things from their point of view. Make the email much more about them. This has more chance of success.
Jason Barnard speaking: “Your article about the current state of the widget industry in Ohio has generated some great feedback from my company, Bob Linton. Thanks for the positive mention. The article currently ranks incredibly well on searches for my brand too, which is also really positive for us. Perhaps we could have a chat to discuss how we can make that article work even better for both of us.”
Jason Barnard speaking: The first person I mentioned here is them. Great start. Then I mentioned myself and create a link between them and my brand. Then I create a relationship in their mind with the word “we,” and I suggest that the relationship could be mutually beneficial.
Jason Barnard speaking: Here’s another example.
Jason Barnard speaking: “I think your article gives a great overview of what Kalicube offers. We recently updated our product specs, so please update your article accordingly.”
Jason Barnard speaking: That sounds fine. But I start with a reference.
Jason Barnard speaking: To me, the writing is passive. The message isn’t very exciting, and once again, we’re not addressing it from their point of view. Think about what makes them tick. This would have a much better chance of success.
Jason Barnard speaking: Your article gives a great overview of what Kalicube offers, and you’ve sent quite a few happy customers our way over the last year. Thank you. We updated our product specs last week, so the information in your article is no longer a hundred percent up to date. Could you spare a little time to chat so I can share the details? Please let me know when would suit you. Looking forward to chatting with you. That’s really positive. Talking about it more from their point of view. Making them the initial focus, even though it’s really all about us. And we’re making them feel that we really want to talk to them. We want to engage with them. We want to build a relationship.
Jason Barnard speaking: Importantly, don’t use template emails. Each case is unique, and each individual is different. If you want to build a relationship, you really don’t want to use a template email to start it. You only have one shot at this.
Jason Barnard speaking: Now, the next step is to convince them to make the changes. For that, you need to bring value to them. You’re asking them to change their meta title and their meta-description. They might do it out of the kindness of their heart, but probably not. Most of the time they need to see some benefit for them if they are to do it.
Jason Barnard speaking: What benefits are there? Explain that the content will get better rankings on the search terms it ranks for already, plus it may start ranking for other search terms. In both cases, they get more visibility and probably more traffic. Also, their page looks better in Google SERPs for every search term it ranks for. There is some value for them.
Jason Barnard speaking: So, if you can demonstrate that this will bring benefit to them, they’ll change it, and they’ll change it with pleasure, and then, who knows, your relationship may develop and bring you more things further down the line.
Jason Barnard speaking: If they’re resistant to changing, it might be useful to point out that the metas are only visible on Google’s results. The visitors actually consuming the content on their site will see no difference. But importantly, don’t bully them. Remember, it’s their content and their site. If they don’t want to change, then leave it. It almost certainly isn’t their priority.
Jason Barnard speaking: They’re very probably busy on more important things, or it might be they just don’t like you sticking your nose in their business, so drop it. You can try again in a few months. They might be more open, especially if you can find a better way to communicate the benefits of this change will bring them. In the meantime.
Jason Barnard speaking: If there are results below that are better for your brand SERP, you can work on pushing those results up over this one. The “Pushing results off your SERP” course is full of techniques on how to do that.
Jason Barnard speaking: Now, for a couple of examples, here’s a result that’s pretty boring. It’s not bad. It’s just not brilliant. It’s easy to make this more attractive, and a better meta title and a better meta description like this is good for example.com and good for you. Reach out to the person, ask them to change it. Better metas will help their rankings and their click-through rates on all their search terms. That’s value for them.
Jason Barnard speaking: Here’s an example of a review. Somebody who’s given a positive review of your services and products obviously likes them, but they haven’t been incredibly enthusiastic in their metas here. Asking them to make the meta title and meta description more attractive isn’t unreasonable. And if you think they’re open to the idea, offer to provide them.
Jason Barnard speaking: If the site owner does accept that you provide the title and description, be careful not to get selfish. Write it so it will look great on your brand SERP to your audience, but also it will look better to their audience and potentially rank for more search terms, bringing them additional traffic. Remember that the benefit they get is better SEO for them. Maybe something like this.
Jason Barnard speaking: You can also help them make the result look more attractive by suggesting that they give you a rating. In that case, you would need to provide them with the relevant review schema markup. Look at Google’s examples for how to do that. If they don’t know how to add the markup to their page, help them with that too. Just be careful not to step on any toes. You have no idea about their internal politics, and at this point, you’re getting pretty involved.
Jason Barnard speaking: Here again, you’re bringing value to them. They’re getting something for free, and you’re getting a better brand SERP. If the situation suits, then you can push further and really nail their spot on your brand SERP. Be careful only to do this if you are really happy for that result to stay there.
Jason Barnard speaking: If the content on the page is neutral or only semi-positive for you, then don’t suggest any changes beyond what is visible on your SERP. That’s the metas. If you have SEO skills, you might want to help them make the overall content better to improve their rankings across the board with that content. Of course, your win is that the page will become more solid in your SERP and perhaps even rank higher.
Jason Barnard speaking: Assuming the metas are wonderful, the content is great, and the rating they give you is five out of five, that’s wonderful news for you. Once again, both parties get value and at this stage you’ll have a relationship. They’ll appreciate the help you gave, and that will probably pay a second time somewhere down the line.
Jason Barnard speaking: Obviously there’s a vast range of possibilities out there, and I can’t cover them all in this one lesson, but as long as the content isn’t negative, the approach is always the same. Reach out, build a relationship, and suggest changes that bring benefits to them.
Jason Barnard speaking: Thank you.
