February 13th, 2020

Are your search results stuck in the shadows?

Everyone agrees the Iowa Caucuses were not a good look for the Democrats. Few also know that they were even worse for Shadow Tech. Oh, but the cloud gaming company does! It has the unfortunate luck of sharing a name with the developers of the mobile app that took most of the blame for the Iowa vote tallying mess – Shadow Inc.

Google searches for the term “Shadow” on February 6 – while the caucus debacle was still unfolding – showed four first-page results of negative news articles with mentions of Shadow Inc. At first glance, visitors saw phrases like:

  • “Shadow, the app at the center of the Iowa caucus meltdown…”

  • “Key House Republicans criticize Shadow for not testing Iowa app…”

  • “Investors rush to downplay ties to Shadow, the firm behind…”

And, keeping it honest: it’s all first-glance these days. How many people do you think took the time to click through those headlines to the actual stories? Even if they did, the company name mentioned in the articles is virtually indistinguishable from its doppelganger.

The solution that would best protect Shadow Tech from being misrepresented to investors, journalists and clients is to ensure that its website – and other positive-sentiment content – appears highest in search results. Remember, two-thirds of all web traffic is generated by search – and 92% of users only view the first page of results.

It’s not all bad news for Shadow Tech (despite a low Lightbox Search score of 35 as of the 2/6/2020).

Even at the height of the caucus confusion, its website ranked at positions 2-3 on the first page of search results. But even there, missed opportunities worked as a headwind against lead generation:

  1. No sitelinks appear in search results – These are the indented columns of direct links to landing pages and a mini-search box for results within a well-optimized site, such as MetLife or Netflix. In search results for the broader term “Shadow,” Shadow Tech’s website is not shown with this primo placement of dense links to different areas of its site.
  2. No social media channels in search results – Shadow Tech is on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and other platforms, but you wouldn’t know that from Googling the term “Shadow.”
  3. No third-party profiles appear in search – Shadow Tech is also listed on Crunchbase and Glassdoor – and within Wikipedia’s entry for “cloud gaming.” But none of these appear in first-page results for “Shadow” either.

Things aren’t quite as bleak when you search for the company’s full name: “Shadow Tech.” If only that’s how people were looking for the company or its services on the web! The company lists itself as just “Shadow” on Twitter and Instagram, and also appears as just “Shadow” in its Wikipedia mention for “cloud gaming.” Overall searches for “Shadow” dwarf those for “Shadow Tech”: 90,500 vs. 5,400. In today’s business environment, you must cover all the bases.

Once the caucus media frenzy ignited, the term “Shadow” spiked all the way to a rating of 100 on Google Trends. That’s essentially “peak interest.” And while predicting a lightning strike is near impossible, the situation Shadow Tech management found themselves in early February was preventable. No C-suite executive dreams of waking up to a surprise like this one:

Lightbox Search can show a company the full story why it is mistakenly ensnared in a Twitter Trends dragnet – like Shadow Tech was after the Iowa Caucuses blew up. The first-of-its-kind technology platform empowers communications professionals to take greater control of page one search results by identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats among what business partners, clients, media and investors actually see when they search online to find you. Watch a demo of Lightbox now. Want more info? Get in touch.

And stay tuned to our Lightbox blogs. The technology platform informs you how to build your own “digital fortress” and keep the walls high, in case your company or organization’s name falls under an unexpected shadow. Or even to ensure you are constantly building your online presence.

Otherwise, you’ll learn the hard way what…

via GIPHY