The connection between SEO and online brand protection

 

Data analyst and software company Sistrix has released its 2024 SEO rankings in Germany. The report, titled IndexWatch 2024, builds on Sistrix’s own SEO software tool and its visibility index, which measures how visible a domain is in a Google search. The company examined over 10 million domains in the course of 2024.

 

As SEO is a crucially important aspect of online marketing that can make or break a brand’s ability to drive organic traffic to its site and thus raise its visibility, Sistrix’s rankings can also be interpreted as an indicator of a domain’s overall success.

 

The rankings highlight the domains that gained, as well as those that have lost the most points on the visibility index. News portals, wiki pages, tourism websites, and streaming platforms are heavily represented on the list. But as online brand protection experts, we’re most interested in how e-Commerce domains did.

 

 

Absolut winners of SEO points

While Wikipedia got the top spot, Amazon.de is a close second and thus the best-performing e-Commerce domain on the ranking. The platform gained 824.2 points on the visibility index since last year, although its victory march slowed down in the second half of 2024 due to Google changing its search engine design.

 

The next e-Commerce domain is second-hand platform kleinanzeigen.de, which comes in tenth on the list, with online bookstore thalia.de grabbing the fourteenth general and third e-Commerce spot.

 

As you can see from the above, an interesting development is the rising popularity of second-hand platforms, as well as online bookshops like the aforementioned Kleinanzeigen, thalia.de, as well as booklooker.de (46th place), medimops.de (67th place), and Vinted.de (100th place). This surge could definitely be aided by the growing desire of consumers to become more sustainable in their purchases.

 

Find out all about the rise of refurbished products in e-Commerce!

 

 

e-Commerce sites that lost the most

Interestingly, while second-hand and smaller platforms seemed to have gained an edge, some big names find themselves on the losing end of the ranking. eBay.de, kaufland.de, Etsy, and fashion site AboutYou.com are considered to be amongst the biggest losers, with eBay losing 136.9 visibility points and Kaufland coming in close second with a loss of 99.1 points.

 

 

The role of SEO and Google ranking in online brand protection

But e-Commerce is not the only area where a good SEO ranking could come in handy for brands. The safety of your business’s IP rights could also enjoy a boost from SEO.

 

If your genuine domain ranks high on Google, it certainly leads users to your website and not to fraudsters imitating you. As only 0.67% of people move past the first page of their Google search results, it’s easy to see why appearing on top would lead consumers away from fake shops and towards your genuine website.

 

And the ultimate way to rank high on Google is through SEO. Targeted SEO measures ensure that your website, social media sites, webshops, etc. appear on top of the results when users search for terms associated with your company, services, and products, forcing fraudulent sites lower and much less visible amongst the results.

 

 

Illustration of SEO optimization depicting a computer screen with data and graphs

 

 

It’s important for all of your sites to have good SEO, because this way they can all appear in the search results. These repeated appearances strengthen brand authority, help build your reputation, and ultimately, trust amongst your users.

 

SEO also strengthens brand awareness, ensuring your authentic content’s strong presence for all brand-related search terms. This again weakens the chances of fraudsters and competitors using your search terms for their purposes.

 

And finally, let’s not forget the importance of the digital word of mouth that is online reviews. SEO leads traffic to your sites and allows satisfied customers to leave positive reviews, building trust amongst future customers and strengthening your reputation.

 

Related topics

5 things your brand needs to do to adapt to AI-powered online searches

 

Google is allegedly testing blue ticks to guarantee the authenticity of websites

 

Improved accessibility requirements for online platforms in the EU

 

 

Negative side effects of SEO for online brand protection

Unfortunately, when used by malevolent actors like fraudsters and dishonest competitors, SEO can also become a weapon against your company. The easiest way to do it is simply spreading false information and negative content about you, which is a method as old as time, albeit greatly aided and accelerated by the internet and social media.

 

Content scraping, the act of copying and distributing content, is another surefire way to weaken your standing, along with the targeted removal of high-quality backlinks and the introduction of toxic backlinks that lead to spam and other malicious websites.

 

But copying your content does more than simply infringe on your copyrights. Indeed, it can prompt Google to label your original site as a duplicate, which would get it ranked much lower and thus result in a great loss of visibility. In addition, if a fraudulent site manages to associate your brand or product name with negative terms like fraud or scandal, your reputation could suffer significant and lasting damage.

 

Fake reviews on Google, Yelp, and any other review sites would further weaken your customers’ trust in you and leave you to fight an uphill battle against a malicious word-of-mouth campaign.

 

 

Illustration of a person writing a negative review on their phone

 

 

But fraudsters and competitors don’t even have to go that far to cause you damage. All they have to do is simply add your keywords (brand and product name, etc) to their content and wait for your reputation to do all the work. If they’re successful, they can siphon a significant amount of traffic off your website, stealing your customers and your revenue in the process.

 

This is why you should monitor the usage of your trademarked terms on the internet. But don’t worry: this is not something you have to do on your own. That’s exactly what online brand protection is for.

 

 

Online brand protection against malicious SEO use

globaleyez’s online monitoring services ensure that any malicious use of SEO against your company will be swiftly detected and dealt with.

 

We quickly uncover any duplicated and/or scraped content and monitor online mentions of your keywords, including your brand/company name, product and service names to detect any malicious content as fast as possible. This is called online reputation management (ORM), and it includes any kind of content from fake reviews and profiles to negative content.

 

We also advise you on the best acts to counter the effects of malicious SEO use. For example, depending on your exact case, we may suggest you release press releases, positive blog articles, or incentives for real customer reviews.

 

However, some advice is valid for everyone. If you hadn’t already done so, register your trademarks and copyrights, because that gives you the best basis for their protection.

 

The final step is enforcing your rights. We demand the removal of any dubious content from the internet, whether it’s a blog post, website, duplicate content, or anything else that is not authorized by you. We take it upon ourselves to report fake profiles, copycats, infringing content to the relevant platforms, and in case of criminal activities, even to the police.

 

 

Conclusion

SEO is a double-edged sword. Make sure to use it best for your advantage, and let globaleyez take care of any malicious SEO use against you.

 

Contact us and tell us your concerns regarding SEO or any other IP infringement issue you’re facing.