Monitoring the competition when it comes to keyword rankings is often a daily task for SEO managers, but for pros working with major brands, there's the added problem of rivals actually hijacking
branded keywords. This can be as simple as a local car dealer ranking higher for "Honda Civic" than the local Honda dealership -- or as complex as a site created to trash a brand (for
example,
www.lowes-sucks.com) that claims a high-ranking organic search position.
Ayohwahr's Tom Crandall provides screenshots of a
similar situation that the Jiffy Lube auto maintenance company was facing, and gives tips for investigating where the incoming links to a negative or "gripe" site are coming from. After a
bit of digging, Webmasters may find out that black-hat tactics were used to generate all of those rank-boosting links -- and can then work to get the site de-listed or penalized.
Read the whole story at SEM Report Card »