Danny Sullivan, a search liaison at Google, responded to a new SEO “advice” circulating in SEO circles that says review content should not include the brand name of the product being reviewed. Sullivan disagrees with this advice, saying, “Don't be afraid to say the brand name of the product you're reviewing.”
So SEO is saying not to mention your brand name because it will hurt your rankings, Google is saying not mentioning your brand name will hurt your rankings.
“Jake, trust me, it's the word 'New Balance.' Don't expect to get on page 1 with third-party branded content,” Taleb Kavala wrote to X. “I may sound like a conspiracy theorist here, but I've audited dozens of sites already, but feel free to disagree,” he added.
“I disagree,” Google's Sullivan responded. “No, you shouldn't be afraid to say the brand name of the product you review. It's literally what readers expect, and our systems strive to reward what's helpful to our readers.”
“How can you write a review about something and not say what it is?” Sullivan continued. “This can be easily disproved by anyone by just searching the search results. If you run this exact query, you'll see two little review blogs in the top list. Jake's own page is somewhere around page 2, but not on page 1, and yet for some reason our system doesn't recognize it as relevant, so it's far away,” he added.
Those posts are:
Trust me, Jake, it's the word “New Balance.” Don't expect to get onto page one with third-party branded content.
Relatedly, your site fell off for those keywords.
Sounds like a conspiracy theorist here, but I've already audited dozens of sites, so feel free to chime in if you disagree…
— Taleb Kabbara (@TalebKabbara) June 25, 2024
I disagree. No, you should not be afraid to mention the brand name of the product you review. It's literally what readers expect, and our system is trying to reward things that are helpful to our readers. What would be the point of writing a review of something and not mentioning the brand name…
— Google Search Liaison (@searchliaison) June 25, 2024
That's right, don't do that.
— Google Search Liaison (@searchliaison) June 25, 2024
As I stated in my previous reply, “This is something that anyone can easily prove false by simply searching the results.”
The top results for this query aren't from big brands. The YouTube videos aren't from big brands. They're from Jake. And ideally, our system would… pic.twitter.com/hKhGZxLuOH
— Google Search Liaison (@searchliaison) June 25, 2024
Forum discussion on X.