Ranking over someone else who has your branded domain name

[American.Made]

Hello!

I have a client who has been in business for a long time, but was very late to the game online. As a result, the branded domain for his business (for explanation purposes I'll call it "Houston Tan"*) was already taken when he decided he needed a website, however it was not being used.

He approached the company that owned "houstontan.com" and they refused to sell it to him. Not only that, they turned around and opened a company and developed the website using his trademarked company name as one word instead of two, "HoustonTan."

It was brought to court and the judge determined that since they created a new name by combining the two words, there was nothing that he could do.

Still having to create a website for his company, he chose the domain "HoustonSunTan.com." Not sure who was advising him on that one. So now he has a domain name with only a partial match to his company name.

As you would imagine, when you search Houston Tan, HoustonTan.com is number 1, 2 & 3, and HoustonSunTan.com is #4.

My question is, do you think it is even possible for his company to overtake the top spot of Google? Or have you ever come across a situation like this and if so what worked for you?

FYI:

Even though it says Houston, the company is a global company in over 500 cities (with one 800 number unfortunately), so local SEO strategies wouldn't necessarily apply.

*Names are made up to protect both parties

[Todd_McDonald]

It's definitely possible to win. The exact match domain/branded domain isn't that big of an issue IMO.

Do the basics:

1. Make sure your site is fast, device agnostic, and aligned well with target market wants and needs. Make sure the site is technically sound.

2. Do things that excite your customers and get them involved in your business. Work on building your brand and reputation both on and offline. This focus will lead you naturally into creating that "amazing over the top" type of content we read so much about. The best things just come from focusing on what would delight/entertain/help/connect, etc. with our customers.

3. Research well and align your site content with how users are searching and what they're after.

If your product is strong, you understand your audience well and how to connect with them, and you understand how to finesse the digital ecosystem to help the naturally cool things you're doing for the business leave good digital fingerprints, then you can def. win.

[UmarKhan]

I agree with Todd. You should have come up with strong points that makes google to relate your branded search query with your web. As your brand is the real one and been in business from many years, they are more experienced, understand the needs of audience and surely can supply ample amount of knowledge as compare to other company.

Though, it will take bit time and lots of effort but it's worth time investing.

Good luck!

[ClaytonJ]

I will assume that for all other matters your site is equal or superior.  ie you have undertaken a technical audit https://moz.com/blog/technical-site-audit-for-2015\. All good. Also would be ideal to know the DA & PA of the respective sites.

That said the key to success, (as the boys have indicated it is achievable) would be building great content, where the links to your site are your actual brand name (not your url).  Also your link building strategy revolves around the brand name and not the url.

Could be a starting point, a strong and deliberate anchor text strategy.

Hope that assists.

[American.Made]

Thanks John, that's very helpful. Technical audit has been done and we are working on blogger outreach and creating great original content. For our site, the PA is 35 and the DA is 24.3. For their site, PA is 50.1 and the DA is 40.1. We've got a bit of an uphill battle, but the good news is that they are not doing much so I'm hoping we can catch up & pass them. Thanks for the encouragement!

[American.Made]

Awesome, thanks for the encouragement Todd. That's what I've been thinking too, that heavy PR online and offline is what we need to push us up there. Just didn't know if someone had had this type of experience and came out on top.

[Todd_McDonald]

You're very welcome Brittany. I've not personally been involved in these situations, but have seen this play out in a variety of different industries. Good luck and keep at it!