Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
In the Google search results, the company name (with the drop down arrow) next to the result URL is incorrect. The company being displayed here is a company we acquired many years back. How do I adjust/fix this?
-
When I search any term for my organization, we are getting good results BUT the company name, next to the results URL is of an orgnization we acquired many years back and not the name of our company. The URL is correct page JUST the company name next to this URL is incorrect on the Google search results page.
How do I go about changing so the company name next to the URL ?
-
All good stuff. I must admit I am ignorant around the Open Directory Information and how it impacts Google display Information.
I’ve put in a request with DMOZ. I’ll be adding the meta tag you suggested, and I’ll reach out to our Communications team to see if they have the ability to edit legacy company’s old Wiki page. Fingers crossed.
I’ll continue to dig through the links Patrick provided.
I’m a team of one – so really have no one to bounce ideas off of - it’s great to be able to reach out to people that have some real tangible knowledge. Thanks again and if any other ideas feel free to pass them along.
-
And I forgot to specifically say that I would definitely choose to update these if possible, rather than delete them, because they would also be strong signals for your current company name.
-
You request an update in DMOZ, explaining about the change. They are much quicker at updating an entry than at adding a new one. (I know, because I had to do an update myself.) There is also a handy meta tag you can use on your site, , which tells robots not to use Open Directory information.
For Wikipedia, if you know a friendly editor you can ask them to make the change, or else you can request an edit on the company talk page.
-
Hi there
You can take a look at Wikipedia's editing capabilities and see if you can update the company URL, as well as blurb about the company being purchased by your company.
Not sure about DMoz - but that could take some time, but I would keep it - any thoughts Linda?
-
Thank you both!
Linda, yes the 'legacy company' is still in listed in Wikipedia and DMOZ. What would the best course of action be, attempting to delete those profiles? Update them? I know both have stringent rules, why i ask.
-
^ Yes! Great idea Linda!
-
Along with Patrick's great ideas, take a look at Wikipedia and DMOZ (Open Directory Project). Is the old company listed in either of those? Sometimes signals from those sites can be very strong.
-
Hey again!
Thanks for the information - does any old company profiles still exist? If so, can you gain access to those profiles to shut them down, update, or delete them?
What could be happening is that those profile URLs could be redirecting and somehow signaling that that company name is still associated.
Or, there may be some tagging in your code on your site that is referencing the old company and somehow translating to the Knowledge Graph.
Lastly, I would check your local SEO and citations to see if listings still have references to that URL and company. You can let these services know "Hey, this is ______ now and not _____ company." You can run your business through the Moz Local Check Listing and see what they find too.
Let me know if I can be of any more service! Good luck!
-
Thanks Patrick for the response and the helpful links, much appreciated.
Really strange, as our site has been live for just over three years and gets over 150,000 visits a month. I give that context, to highlight that the site is not new and has some traction.
The company we acquired - which is appearing in the display - site was shut down over two years ago, their old domain redirects to ours now. We’ve done this with several other companies we’ve acquired as well. I'm not sure why this one is percolating to the surface and showing in our results.
I’ll read away, the information you sent and hopefully can find a nugget. Thanks again.
-
Hi there
This is a matter of connecting profiles to your site, having a well thought information architecture, and other factors for Google to attach the URL to your website. It's based on the Knowledge Graph.
I would read the following: More information about websites to help you find the right result (Google)
How to Get Search Traffic from Google’s Knowledge Graph (QuickSprout)
Link your brand page to your website (Google)
7 Ways to Make Your Google Search Result Stand Out (SEW)
Changing URLs in search results (Yoast)
Schema.org Structured Data (Moz)
Sitelinks Search Box (Google Developers)Make sure your company profiles are properly connected and related to your new website. I would read the above information as a "checklist" to make sure you have your bases covered.
Hope this all helps! Good luck!
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Two companies merging into a new website. How to merge two existing websites into a brand new website and preserve search rankings.
Brand A and Brand B are merging to form Brand C. Brand A has a great search presence (prominent rankings, answer boxes, and impressive organic traffic). Brand B has a good reputation in real life but their web presence was extremely weak (we've been helping with that over the past few months and it is improving). What are the steps we need to take? The previous domains from Brand A and Brand B are going away and we need to promote the newly minted Brand C website. This Q/A summarizes what we want to do but with one exception: They only discuss merging Brand A into BRand B and there is no Brand C.
Branding | | CommandPartners0 -
Avoid Keyword in New Domain Name?
We are looking to rebrand our domain name. Our existing domain is www.nyc-officespace-leader.com. We own www.metro-manhattan.com and were hoping to use this domain. The company name is Metro Manhattan Office Space, Inc. Is the fact that the new domain contains "Manhattan" a negative? I know that the fact that it has a hyphen is weak. Manhattan is part of such keywords as "Manhattan office space". Regarding the company name, is the fact that it contains the target phrase "Manhattan office space" bad? Our company name may sound like exact match anchor text and I am not sure what to do about this if anything. I would really prefer to keep our name but it is necessary to change it to improve SEO we will do so. Would it be better to change to a new name like "Integrity Real Estate" which does not contain target phrases or keywords ("real estate" is not a major target phrase as it is to generic) ? Or how something like www.mmos.com for the domain and leave the company name alone? How would I go about finding a company that would assist is in creating an SEO friendly domain name and perhaps a new corporate name if necessary? Thanks, Alan
Branding | | Kingalan10 -
Where Should Your Company Press Releases Live
Hi there, Our company publishes press releases on the company blog and have found we were hit by an algorithm update. We have identified the press releases as being the culprit and would like to move all press releases to a company press page on the main site and title it "press room" or "press." We have a lot of media sites that visit our blog to grab the most recent releases, so they are important to the business. My question is, how should we handle the page SEO wise? Should we do a "no index" or a "no follow" on all the links? I'm curious what advice the community has on how to handle a company's press page. Thanks!!
Branding | | Ecom-Team-Access0 -
Should I remove spaces from my brand name?
I'm looking for some second opinions on this one. In talking with another SEO, he is of the opinion that if my company name is two words like Crazy Man, I should write some news release that have my brand combined as Crazyman because it is a variant of the brand name. He claims that Google does not look at my brand as Crazy Man, but as one word and in Google's mind Crazyman as one word is my brand. What do you all think?
Branding | | kadesmith1 -
Drop In Branded Traffic
Hi, We took on a new client in March. Over the last few months I have noticed that their Branded Organic Traffic has dropped off considerably, around 20%. On further investigation I discovered that the drop off occurred between Jan & Feb this year (prior to us taking over). In Jan they launched a new site, the drop off seems to coincide with the launch of their new website. I also found out that their Page Rank had disappeared before the launch of the new website, and is still a PR/na. My first thought was that they have been penalised. How likely is this on a very well known site which gets roughly 170K visits per month? Could the drop in Branded Traffic be due to a decrease in advertising budget elsewhere (to compensate for the cost of the new website, leading to less brand exposure)? Could it be that there are just fewer people searching for their Brand? I guess the questions I am trying to find out are: 1. What are the reasons for massive drops in Branded organic traffic? 2. As an seo I am tasked mainly for optimising for non-branded organic traffic, is there anything I can suggest to the client to help get this traffic back? 3. If it is an algorithmic penalty (Panda, Penguin), how do I know which one? I have started with their links and disavowed known toxic links, fixed crawl errors, optimised their top pages etc etc. If it was a penalty and I mange to fix it, will their branded traffic return? Any help with the above would be greatly appreciated. Jon
Branding | | JonRaubenheimer0 -
URL Stucture: Folders or hyphens?
Hi guys, I've been reading through other similar asked questions regarding this but I can't seem to find the answer I need.... I'm having a discussion with my director regarding what would be more SEO friendly for a new page/URL we are creating. Is using folders or hyphens better? The new page is question would be something along the lines of either: (home page) www.eteach.com/utc (about us page)--> www.eteach.com/utc/about (talent pool page)---->www.eteach.com/utc/talent-pools Using the folder structure here will always show the user that they are on the UTC pages, then shows them what pages they are on int he UTC site. OR! (home page) www.eteach.com/careers-at-utc (about us page)--->www.eteach.com/about-utc (talent pool page) -----> www.eteach.com/talent-pools-at-utcs which doesn't make it as clear to the user, but is this way more SEO friendly? Can anybody make a good argument for and against folder structure vs hyphens? Thanks, Virginia
Branding | | Eteach_Marketing0 -
How to get Google to link external review sites in Google Places
Hi, I have several company profiles in Google Places and Google Sites, I also have the same profiles for those companies in review sites like Yelp! and so on. I have seen that other sites have links on the bottom where Google points to those external review sites, but that doesn't happen for me yet, is there a way to tell Google that I have profiles on other review sites so they can link them or is it Google whenever they find them that will link them? Here's an example: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=14126341780178539960&hl=en At the bottom you'll see that it says: Reviews from around the web Now this is one of mine: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=12168877126282825032&hl=en Now how do I get that line at the bottom provided that I know there are reviews out there in other sites? Is there something I can do? Or is it all about Google doing it whenever they see fit? Thank you!
Branding | | tass0 -
Twitter Account names for Fictional Characters
I'm consulting for a web series that features ~6 well established characters, and I would like to establish a twitter stream for each character before the start of the new season in a few months. The characters all have first names but no last name, and the web series's name (Naked In A Fishbowl) is too long, and the acronym NIAF is not well-branded yet. What would be the best way to pick Twitter handles for cast members (BonnieNIAF, Jean NIAF? BonnieFishbowl? Bonnie_NIAF?)
Branding | | EthanStanislawski0