The template effect: is it real?

In the same way that individuals size each other up and make a conclusion based on their impressions, Google also judges websites as part of its ranking process. It pre-classifies each search term entered into its monstrous database and groups it for later recall. Now, this makes a lot of businesses nervous because it means that Google can still show content that isn’t relevant to a brand’s current storyline long after it has passed. Even worse, it can insist on returning negative searches from long-past events and still associate them with the brand’s online assets.

The template effect

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Some of the world’s largest brands are currently dealing with this issue and desperately trying to shed unfavourable digital content that is returned against their name. Search engines are designed to intuitively return the type of information that the user is looking for, but as any Dublin SEO agency will tell you, it is extremely difficult to contextualise intent.

Considering context

Understanding the context for any given query is hugely complex, even for humans, and some of the most key searches simply won’t include that type of detail. For example, if you search for a person’s name, Google doesn’t have any clues for ranking – are you looking for a historical reference, his address, his contact details, his line of work, or his dating profile?

These “context-less” queries are vital, and they lead to audiences forming brand opinions. Google is a machine controlled by a complex algorithm; it doesn’t hate your brand and is simply returning results based on the information it has. This will lead to wrong choices.

Make use of those templates

The key is changing what Google shows by using its templates. This means using an agency such as www.rycomarketing.ie to carry out research into the data and information that sits behind a search. Although content is key, it must be the right type of content – not just endless post churns.

Knowing this means that the idea of templating becomes key to planning your brand’s content. If you can employ these templates to seek out certain movements and trends that occur for brands with an affinity or likeness to your own, you can be strategic in creating the kind of targeted and impactful content that Google will be primed to show.