How to Unlock Branded Today’s Search Features In Google

Google is your new home page. When a brand dominates its own search engine results, it sends trust signals to prospective customers. Controlling aspects of search results — such as the Knowledge Panel, carousel images, location information, Google Posts, and social media posts — lets brands showcase their strengths while keeping competitors out of their online brand-space. This article covers the most effective ways brands can control how they appear in search.

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Search engines are more than a directory — they want to solve problems directly. Few people click through to a brand’s main website when Google or Bing offers an information shortcut on the results page itself.

Your new home page is Google. You want all of your important information displayed on the first page of results so customers and prospects can find it immediately. The challenge is that brands cannot control Google the way they control their own website. Unless a company actively manages its search profile, brand sentiment can suffer — potentially costing thousands or millions of dollars in lost revenue each year.

This article outlines the changes that make the most difference. Do these things, and your branded search results will improve.

Metadata: Title and Description Tags

The first thing a brand can do to influence search results is manage its own site’s metadata — specifically, the Title and Description elements of its HTML.

• Google indexes title tags for home pages more quickly than in the past. Change your <title> tag and expect search results to reflect the update in short order.
• Sale items, for example, can be added to the Title temporarily. When the sale ends, revert the tag and Google will follow.
• Both Bing and Google may override your HTML title tag in search results. Since Google’s 2021 title rewriting update, Google frequently substitutes its own version rather than using your tag verbatim — so what you write isn’t always what searchers will see.
• Your Title tag still serves as the primary input Google uses when generating its own headline. Think of it as a strong recommendation rather than a guaranteed headline.

Knowledge Panels: Local

There are two kinds of knowledge panels: local and brand. The knowledge panel is the grouping of information that appears in the upper right corner of search results. It contains images, logos, social media links, posts, Google Reviews, and more.

Knowledge panels are an important trust signal because they appear above the fold — no scrolling required. To understand the full range of panel types, see our guide to personal, brand, and local knowledge panels.

• Start with Google Business Profile (GBP) to begin populating your brand graph.
• GBP offers different templates depending on your business type. Restaurants can add a menu link; medical practices can add a booking link so patients can schedule appointments directly from search results.
• Hours and other details can be added and updated at any time.
• Tip: Log into your Google Business Profile dashboard frequently and enable notifications for suggested edits. Users can submit incorrect information or damaging images without your approval — catch these before they go live.
• Load your profile with high-quality images of your space and products. Since users can upload images too, a strong library of brand-approved visuals helps you control your own narrative.

Knowledge Panels: Brand

Brand knowledge panels work a little differently from local panels and appear for recognized entities.

• Wikipedia content often appears in brand knowledge panels.
• Google’s Knowledge Graph draws from Wikidata, structured data (schema.org), Google Business Profile, and other authoritative sources to determine whether a brand qualifies as an entity. A Wikipedia page alone is no longer the only path. Learn more about the sources Google’s Knowledge Panel relies on.
• If your brand is not yet recognized as an entity, it can still earn a local knowledge panel.

Reviews

Good reviews add authority to your business and can increase both traffic and sales.

• Reviews can come from many sources. Third-party review sites you may not recognize can surface in your SERPs.
• Yelp discourages businesses from soliciting reviews. Google encourages them, though its policies have tightened — incentivizing reviews is prohibited, and the FTC’s 2023 rules banning fake reviews apply across all platforms. Ask genuinely; never pay or pressure.
• Respond to both positive and negative reviews on Google. Stay calm and authentic.
• Avoid using the same template for every response. Replying with “Thank you for your review” to every submission is a missed opportunity and can undermine the trust you’re trying to build.

Google Posts

Google Posts live in your local knowledge graph and sometimes appear in other locations within search results. On desktop, arrows on either side of the post carousel allow users to scroll through your content.

• Unlike most Google features, you have total control over your Google Posts.
• Posts are created and managed through your Google Business Profile dashboard, or directly within Google Search and Maps when signed in.
• Google Posts appear automatically in your Knowledge Panel.
• Standard posts expire after about 7 days. Event posts stay live until the event date. Keep your post stream fresh, and check your GBP dashboard to confirm how posts are currently displaying.
• You can add a call to action to each post.
• Only the first 100 characters or so appear in the search results preview. Make those characters count — the rest is visible only after a user clicks through.

Wikipedia and Wikidata

Wikipedia

Don’t create a Wikipedia page if your brand isn’t notable enough — it will likely be removed. Focus on Wikidata instead (see below).

If your brand is notable and doesn’t yet have a Wikipedia page:

• Always start with a stub.
• Add five notable references.
• Build the page up over time. For a deeper look, see how Wikipedia affects brand reputation.

Wikidata

If your brand can’t earn a Wikipedia page, Wikidata is a strong alternative.

• You can submit your brand as a Wikidata item — not as a full page, but as structured data.
• Google sometimes uses Wikidata to populate the Knowledge Panel. Learn more in our guide to setting up and maintaining a Wikidata entry.

Google Business Profile and Knowledge Panel Claiming

Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the hub for managing how your brand appears across Google Search and Maps. Verify your profile and keep all information accurate and current.

• A verified GBP establishes a consistent foothold in Google’s ecosystem and reinforces your brand’s presence in search results.

Claim Your Knowledge Panel

• Claiming your Knowledge Panel lets you suggest changes to images, facts, and other details. Search for your brand on Google and click “Claim this knowledge panel” to get started. The types of edits available are limited — Google controls what can be modified — but verification gives you a direct line to flag inaccuracies. See our step-by-step guide to claiming your Google Knowledge Panel for a full walkthrough.

Bing and the Bing Brand Panel

Bing Places for Business

Don’t overlook Bing. It holds a meaningful share of search traffic and has its own brand panel features.

• Set up your Google Business Profile first — it saves time when configuring Bing.
• You may be able to import your GBP information into Bing Places for Business, though what transfers can vary. Check the Bing Places site directly for current import instructions.

Bing Brand Panel

• Bing has traditionally cited sources within its brand panel, making it easier to trace where information originates. With the integration of Microsoft Copilot in 2023, Bing’s search experience has evolved significantly. Source citations remain a feature of AI-powered results, but how brand information surfaces continues to change as Microsoft refines the Copilot experience.

Structured Data

Structured data is code added to your web pages to inform search engines about your organization, owned social profiles, and more. The most important schema type for brands is Organization. For a practical walkthrough, see our guide on using schema markup to improve branded search results.

A fast way to get started is to use a schema template tool like this one. Key schema types to implement include:

• Organization — can include logo, social profiles, founding date, CEO, website, and detailed contact information
• Breadcrumb / Site Navigation — includes SiteNavigationElement and BreadcrumbList
• Video — pulls video content into SERPs
• Product — supported types continue to expand; review Google Search Central’s structured data documentation regularly for current rich result eligibility

Social Media and PPC

Social Media

Social media has a growing influence on branded SERPs because much of it is pulled directly into your branded search result page. Social sections appear when a brand is highly active and shows recent posts.

The most important platforms to manage:

• X (formerly Twitter) — appears as a carousel and as a standalone SERP item; engagement signals and posting frequency both influence visibility; X card markup (managed through X’s developer platform) helps boost engagement
• Facebook — appears as a SERP result; Facebook Recommendations can display as star ratings in search results, though this display has become less consistent; check current Bing Places features for available Facebook integrations
• Instagram — less prevalent in Google but appears in SERPs; Bing surfaces significantly more Instagram content than Google does
• YouTube / Vimeo — claimed accounts and individual videos rank in the search result carousel; Google prominently surfaces YouTube videos; content from Facebook and X may also appear, though YouTube receives the most consistent placement
• LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok — all surface in search results; TikTok in particular now appears regularly in Google SERPs; note that SlideShare was sold to Scribd in 2020 but still surfaces for some brands

PPC

• PPC (Pay Per Click) ads appear first in SERPs, above organic results.
• As the name implies, you pay for each click — this is not organic traffic.
• Adding ad assets (formerly called extensions) — such as sitelinks to specific pages — makes your ad larger and helps your brand own more above-the-fold screen real estate. Explore current options like Performance Max campaigns within your Google Ads dashboard.

There is much more you can do to improve your branded search results, but the strategies above will help almost any company gain a stronger foothold in Google.