Using search.yahoo.com
and google.com to conduct my search, the top organic search results in both instances appeared as follows:
As you'll notice, CNET is #2 on Yahoo! and #1 on Google (following the News Results) with Apple.com nowhere insight other than paid search. In fact, Apple.com does not appear on Page 1 organically until below the scroll. And while I
certainly don’t know all of the ins and outs of why Apple.com is so low while
CNET is so high, I do have two ideas based on this week’s
readings and materials.
For
starters, the file name for CNET’s webpage is cnet.com/iphone-5; this is in
stark contrast to apple.com’s URL—apple.com/iPhone. And entering the
following URLs—apple.com/iPhone5, apple.com/iPhone-5 and apple.com/iPhone_5—all take users to a “Page Not Found” page instead of being redirected to its iPhone page. In my opinion, the lack of the redirects is a huge missed opportunity by Apple.
The second factor
that may be contributing to the search results can be found “under the hood” in the
coding of each site. While the title and description of apple.com/iphone and
cnet.com/iphone-5 both include the word “iPhone 5,” Apple’s website shows no
sign of keywords. Meanwhile, CNET’s code appears as follows: <meta name="keywords" content="Apple iPhone 5, Apple iPhone 5 review,
Apple iPhone 5 reviews, Smartphones reviews, Smartphones"/>. In fact, the word itself (iPhone 5) is
used more than 50 times on the page containing CNET’s review of the device—with plenty of links to other CNET content—and only 20
times on Apple’s website. Given CNET’s prominence within the technology
community (as evidenced by the number of comments and social media shares for
their iPhone 5 review page) and the number of times iPhone 5 is used, it’s no
doubt that it ranks so highly.
Now, I'm sure there are other factors impacting these search results, and I’m not suggesting that Apple—or its marketing
agencies—don’t have a firm handle on their digital presence. Apple's brand is so strong that it doesn't need to be the top result on the page to sell the iPhone 5. As we know, pre-orders sold out in an hour. Instead, this search test shows the importance of SEO during a product launch. If you're making headlines as a new company or a company who doesn't have Apple's brand recognition, it's important to make sure you have SEO tactics in place to make sure your website ranks towards the top of the page in order to drive traffic to your website.
