Its not my first stop when buying online, but when my wife asked me to check some xmas present ideas on M&S I was surprised with the results in Google. It’s strange to see that the main Marks and Spencer ecommerce site does not currently rank for any brand terms?
All the other sites such as M&S Money, M&S Corporate etc are returned but no sign of www.marksandspencer.com. Trying brand searches with some generics also returned no organic results, however they do appear on the paid results, and also by chance it includes the new adwords star ratings in the ad:
In the past we have seen major brands suffer penalties and it seems M&S have suffered a similar fate in the organics. Not exactly the perfect time with xmas just over 6 weeks away and also coinciding with the announcement today of pre-tax profits of £348.8m, up from £306.7m last year.
We also have the new M&S christmasTV advert set to hit our screens over the next few weeks and i’m sure that being removed from the organics was not part of their xmas campaign.
With Marc Bolland (new chief exec) outlining new strategies to increase growth, he might want to start taking a look at his SEO strategy.