090 - The Knowledge Panel and Brand SERPs in Google with Jason Barnard

In episode 90 of the SEOLeverage Podcast, Gert Mellak talks with Jason Barnard about Google's Knowledge Panel and Brand SERPs. They discuss the importance of accurately representing your brand online, the benefits of using schema markup, and strategies for optimizing brand visibility in search results. The conversation also covers the Kalicube process for building and managing Knowledge Panels.

In this episode Gert had a delightful and very informative conversation with the widely known title of The Brand SERP Guy, Jason Barnard. Jason is an author and he used to be known as the Blue Dog cartoon character in Boowa and Kwala in 2007.

Using the child analogy with the History teacher, the teacher is the authority on the subject of history, but not a good authority on how to bake a cake. This is where the Knowledge Panel comes into picture and how Google will present you to the searchers, e.g. who you are, what you have to offer, what is your brand, etc. Listen and learn how easy it is or how much less effort you can build up your Knowledge Panel using the Kalicube process than doing it manually.

There's more to this episode that you can pick up especially on brand SERPs, so listen to the very end and make sure to download the transcript of the episode.

Podcast Highlights:

01:05 Introduction of the episode, the guest and how did they get introduced

03:34 The background of Jason Barnard and how he got to correct Google in presenting him as the character Blue Dog.

04:56 Why is it important to connect the dots for Google to see the different properties that they will take into account, according to Gert?

06:26 What is the difference between branded and non-branded searches? (...When should people start to worry about their brand?)

10:01 How important are rich snippets for courses or in a coaching program? (...What is Schema Markup in terms of how Google makes sense of what a web page is actually about?)

12:56 What benefit can it give you to take as much advantage of Google, play their game as a bonus perspective, rather than thinking of it as taking something away from you?

17:30 Although Google My Business and the Knowledge Panel are set up differently, how can the two exist together? (...Can everybody get a knowledge panel?)

21:18 What are the different options in Kalicube that people can use and what is the three-step process that goes on an eternal cycle for Google?

24:18 How long does it take to build the Knowledge Panel? (...What are the caveats to it?)

27:55 What are second party websites that you can have partial control of and what about the third party websites that you have no control of, but are confirming what you are saying on your website?

30:24 How much effort does one need to put up a knowledge panel by doing it manually compared to the Kalicube Pro's process?

31:57 How was Jason able to change his description with Google from a musician to being an author first?

35:45 What are the 3 most important things than Google's offering on Schema Markup? (...How important is entity description?)

30:39 How does Google take into account when it comes to ranking non-branded terms?

42:23 Where to connect with Jason Barnard?

43:25 End

Resources:

Past episode with Katrina McKinnon - https://seoleverage.com/podcast/088-how-to-write-helpful-content-with-katrina-mckinnon/

Book, The Fundamentals of Brand SERPs for Business by Jason Barnard - https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Brand-SERPs-Business/dp/1956464107

Connect with Jason Barnard:

Website - https://jasonbarnard.com/

Website - https://kalicube.com/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/jasonmbarnard

Kalicube Academy - https://kalicube.academy/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmbarnard/

Connect with Gert Mellak:

Website: https://seoleverage.com/

Email: info@seoleverage.com