When it comes to organic results on Google searches for the keyword terms “domain name” and “domain names,” it’s been a battle between NameCheap and Go Daddy (at least in terms of commercial websites). I am sure the higher ranking means a noticeable difference in business, so these terms are ultra competitive.
A few weeks ago, NameCheap outranked Go Daddy for the “domain name” search, but it now appears that Go Daddy is ranking higher, although both companies trail the Wikipedia definition page. I am wondering if Google Plus +1 has anything to do with the rankings.
Here are a couple of observations I made:
When NameCheap was ranked higher for the “domain name” SERP, the number of +1 the company had on Google Plus was shown below its listing. At the time of my article, NameCheap had 1,019 Google +1, and the company now has 1,367 +1 .
I initially wrote about the NameCheap vs. Go Daddy ranking battle on April 20th. I did not see how many Google +1 that Go Daddy had at that time, but the company currently shows 1,522 +1 below its listing on the search results page.
According to GoDaddy’s Google Plus page on March 9, the company announced, “we’re setting up shop here on Google+.” From March 9 – April 20, GoDaddy had just nine posts on its Google+ wall. From April 21 – today (approximately the same time period), Go Daddy has posted 22 times on its Google+ wall, and that has increased its Google+ activity.
While I wouldn’t label this statistically significant information, it seems possible that Go Daddy’s Google Plus activity led to more +1, and perhaps this helped lift them over their competitor.
