SEO "brandjacking" - anyone tried this?!

[jrbobdobbs]

Just trawling for juicy keywords as usual and had a thought. Has anyone ever tried ranking a site for a major brand that get 10,000s or 100,000s of searches?

For example, "chase online" gets over 2,000,000 searches a month (CPC allegedly $3+, presumably competitors also trying to get a foot in), for obvious reasons - people are logging into their Chase accounts and can't remember the address so they are Googling it.

Thing is, when you Google "chase online" you basically get 10 results on page one which are all from the same two domains more or less. Surely Google is itching to put something else on page one from a different domain? A nice, informative, well-written site all about Chase Online, with some Adsense ads (which might get a relatively low clickthrough, but what's low/2,000,000)?

Ah, you say, but you couldn't get an EMD because you don't want trademark problems with Cahse. Well, who cares, you don't need an EMD to rank on page one, just plenty of backlinks. That way they couldn't give you any trouble - what's wrong with an informative site about their bank, no law against it?

So whaddya think? Crazy talk? Anyone tried "brandjacking"?

 

[Reefer]

reputation management does this all the time. just tough to rank for "chase online"

 

[jrbobdobbs]

reputation management does this all the time. just tough to rank for "chase online"

Right - this is my question, IS it that tough? All those "supplementary" results on the same chase.com domain. Some with NO on-page SEO at all, some with no backlinks showing. Wouldn't some decent content have a good chance there? Could always just try it I suppose

 

[jstover77]

Most brands will not be that competitive. This is a great idea though. I already do this. You can get some good targeted traffic this way. You most likely won't get the top ranking though, unless they so weak with their SEO. Still worth it though. Some of these brands don't actually optimize their own brand keywords, which leaves it wide open for others to.

 

[Mysterio]

also a good way to get sued, considering that chase is trademarked

 

[thesilent]

Many guys do this already. keyword+review,keyword+scam are few examples.

 

[Expertpeon]

Many guys do this already. keyword+review,keyword+scam are few examples.

Note:
Many guys that do this make literally no money doing it.

 

[ContentMachine]

This looks interesting. gotta try this

 

[thesilent]

Note:
Many guys that do this make literally no money doing it.

Some guys make low to high four figures every month

 

[jrbobdobbs]

Not sure about the sueing, what they going to sue me for? I am not using a trademarked domain. Just making a nice site about the Chase online banking system. Admittedly, they will probably twig what I am doing and not like it - and their lawyers would be way too scary regardless of any infringement.
I was thinking some SLIGHTLY lower-profile brand than Chase, anyway, that was just an extreme example.
We know this works with physical products etc, why not with a brand, even if as someone said, you do not hit the jackpot with the main keyword I bet you can get plenty of long-tail traffic.

 

[jstover77]

also a good way to get sued, considering that chase is trademarked

The only way you are going to get sued is if you have the keyword in your domain, or use their logo or info on your site. Basically anything that could confuse the visitor into thinking that is Chases site. You can still optimize a site without doing this.

If you optimize "Chase Banking" and show up on the first page, how are they going to sue you? You can't control Google's algorithm.

 

[Expertpeon]

The only way you are going to get sued is if you have the keyword in your domain, or use their logo or info on your site. Basically anything that could confuse the visitor into thinking that is Chases site. You can still optimize a site without doing this.

If you optimize "Chase Banking" and show up on the first page, how are they going to sue you? You can't control Google's algorithm.

Saying something like "chase webpay a SCAM!" in a title can def get you sued... and you'd probably lose.
I'm not sure how you'd profit from "chase online" otherwise... unless you're extremely good at marketing a product via a completely different than expected page to your visitors

Being good at doing that is far more difficult than simply being good enough to rank for most of the terms you're selling.

Some guys make low to high four figures every month

lol no they don't
Case study it yourself and try to make even $1k/mth with IM on these terms.

Try it on "pizza hut" ... 3.3 million exact searches/mth, extremely low competition.
I thought about highjacking pizza hut's results about 4 mths ago... because of the search results. But monetizing the traffic would be next to impossible.

I guess people on here are happy with like $10/day though, but I don't undertake a new website unless I'll make at least $1000/day from it.

 

[jrbobdobbs]

I'm not sure how you'd profit from "chase online" otherwise... unless you're extremely good at marketing a product via a completely different than expected page to your visitors

Being good at doing that is far more difficult than simply being good enough to rank for most of the terms you're selling.

Just plonk Adsense on there - the most "innocent" approach, rather than promoting rival banking services actively and raising additional flags with Chase (or whoever), who would surely find a legal route to taking you out, trademark infringement or no trademark infringement.

Not sure if the Adsense CPC is really around $3 - can't back that up in SpyFu, no data collected it seems, but someone must be bidding on it, and even if not, you ought to get plenty of finance-related ads. From 2,000,000 searches you ought to pick up SOMETHING!

Am tempted to give something like this a go, though not with Chase of course

 

[Expertpeon]

Just plonk Adsense on there - the most "innocent" approach, rather than promoting rival banking services actively and raising additional flags with Chase (or whoever), who would surely find a legal route to taking you out, trademark infringement or no trademark infringement.

Not sure if the Adsense CPC is really around $3 - can't back that up in SpyFu, no data collected it seems, but someone must be bidding on it, and even if not, you ought to get plenty of finance-related ads. From 2,000,000 searches you ought to pick up SOMETHING!

Am tempted to give something like this a go, though not with Chase of course

The day I see someone sustain high 4 figures through adsense every month is the day I'll eat my shoe.
My guess is the CPC is more like 0.50

 

[jrbobdobbs]

P.S. Here's an even easier kwp - "chase login". Much lower search volume, but competition on p1 non-existent

 

[Expertpeon]

P.S. Here's an even easier kwp - "chase login". Much lower search volume, but competition on p1 non-existent

Monetizing webbanking traffic.
I'll have to see it to believe it.

I'd be impressed if you had a Conversion rate greater than 0.1%

 

[jrbobdobbs]

Monetizing webbanking traffic.
I'll have to see it to believe it.

I'd be impressed if you had a Conversion rate greater than 0.1%

Ha, yeah, I admit it would be pretty poor as they are not in a buying mood presumably. It would have to be a numbers game. As for the CPC, again, if you tweak your content in the direction of banking services etc. etc. you ought to be looking at a lot more than $0.50.

Well, thanks for the thoughts - if I try it I will report back. Or possibly keep very quiet

 

[Monrox]

Not sure about the sueing, what they going to sue me for? I am not using a trademarked domain. Just making a nice site about the Chase online banking system. Admittedly, they will probably twig what I am doing and not like it - and their lawyers would be way too scary regardless of any infringement.
I was thinking some SLIGHTLY lower-profile brand than Chase, anyway, that was just an extreme example.
We know this works with physical products etc, why not with a brand, even if as someone said, you do not hit the jackpot with the main keyword I bet you can get plenty of long-tail traffic.

I think owners of trademarks can forbid others from using it in any way, not just in a domain. The only exception is when the name is used in stating an opinion which falls under freedom of speech.

 

[SEOLair]

This is a great strategy especially when you have an affiliate or lead gen deal with the brand. The agency I work for has a lead generation division where this is one of their main strategies.

One pitfall to note is that conversion rates are low since a lot of the traffic is targeting support with no intent to purchase.

The real risk is that if you don't have permission to use trademarked terms, the brand can take your domain and all your work building up the SEO along with it.

 

[jstover77]

Saying something like "chase webpay a SCAM!" in a title can def get you sued... and you'd probably lose.
I'm not sure how you'd profit from "chase online" otherwise... unless you're extremely good at marketing a product via a completely different than expected page to your visitors

Being good at doing that is far more difficult than simply being good enough to rank for most of the terms you're selling.

Well that is a bad example of a keyword that you would try to rank, but there are many keywords you can go after without committing trademark infringement, which can make you a nice ROI.

First, you can rank a term without actually having the term anywhere in the meta tags and content of the website. I do it all the time. Especially if the keyword is not competitive at all. Try to include part of the keyword in the title tag or in the content of the website. For example: "Chase Mortgage Online". Try to have "Mortgage Online" in your title tag, content, alt tags ect. If the keyword is not competitive, many times you can get first page ranking with it. Just use heavier anchor text.

Second, most online companies simply don't have the kind of money to sue you. Suing someone is expensive, not to mention a huge headache. As long as you are being savvy about it, you should have no issues. I am not trying to condone trademark infringement, just trying to make a point.

The key to this is monetizing these keywords. If you are optimizing keywords that make you zero money, you are wasting resources. Just make sure you are quantifying your data. Simple as that.