I’ve been thinking about logos and brands a lot lately.
For the better part of the last 5 years or so, logos have had very little importance in terms of search engine optimization and marketing. By utilizing the beautiful simplicity of text, Google and other search engines served up results to users image-free.
For niche job sites (and Craigslist) with little concern for image in exchange for search rankings, this was a wonderful thing. By having to go through a list of search results with no images, users really didn’t care if your site was Joe Cool or Average Joe. If you were a top search result, that was good enough.
The Curve Ball: Google is slowly adding image integration into its DNA. And that could mean trouble for Brand X.
Google Base job content results are the most important example. Adding a job offers the option to add a logo to your listing. Now there’s word that icons will be used in local mapping results and Google Talk’s interface.
Understanding that a picture is worth a thousand words, if you’re a job seeker, which of the following would be the most appealing to click?:
Arguably, the stronger brands have a much greater advantage than a local niche site like Jobing or CareerBoard. The greater question is, do strong consumer brands like Adidas, Sony, State Farm, etc. have a leg-up on strong job board brands like Monster and CareerBuilder?
In Google Base, they probably do already. And it’s looking like major consumer brands might have the advantage on all of Google and search in coming years.
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