Google No Longer Parsing Keywords in Brand Names?

Just in the past week or so, I’ve noticed that Google seems not to be parsing out the keywords in brand names listed as BrandName or BrandName.com in Google SERPs and cached pages.

Some examples:

In the SERPs, Google ignores the keywords "washington" and "post" inside WashingtonPost.com.

In the SERPs, Google ignores the keywords find and "articles" inside FindArticles.

On the cached page, Google ignores the same keywords.

To a certain extent, this algorithm shift makes sense. For example, PeopleSoft is not relevant for the keywords "people" nor "soft". For some companies, Google’s (former?) ability to parse out the words in their irrelevant brand name may have actually diluted the meaning of their page.

Susan Esparza is former managing editor at Bruce Clay Inc., and has written extensively for clients and internal publications. Along with Bruce Clay, she is co-author of the first edition of Search Engine Optimization All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies.

See Susan's author page for links to connect on social media.