I don’t know about anyone else, but when Moz re-branded from “SEOmoz” back in May of 2013, I was more or less flabbergasted!
Part of me thought it was genius, part of me thought it was utter suicide. Nevertheless, it seems like it was a great move for them and it’s been a lot of fun watching the change happen.
When this first happened, I wondered how long it would take for “Moz” to occupy Google auto-complete. At the time “SEOmoz” completely owned auto-complete for pretty much everything.
So I set off to do a super-informal case study to see how long it would take for “Moz” to own Google auto-complete.
The Moz Auto-Complete Case Study
Self-Imposed Rules*
- Test will only include “moz+space” with no variations.
- Logged out of Google, Private Browsing, Personalization Off
- Grab a screenshot every week or so
- Be TAGFEE
* huge disclaimer- I definitely realize that pretty much everyone will see different auto-complete results. This study was more for me than anyone, as I haven’t really taken a good look into auto-complete in a few years.
May 30, 2013
The day after the re-brand. No love for Moz whatsoever and it is looking like they will have stiff competition with “Mozilla” and a few competing brands.
June 1, 2013
Still no love. Moz is nervous?
June 7, 2013
Nothin.
June 13, 2013
Movement, still no love.
June 14, 2013
I kept asking myself, “what is Moz-ART” then I finally figured when I Googled “MOZART” (like the composer, duh)
June 20, 2013
Still no love, but thinking about getting some moz wheels.
July 5, 2013
Zilch.
August 11, 2013
Right at about the 2 month mark Moz starts showing up in the SERPs!
August 22, 2013
About a week or so later they really start poppin’.
August 27, 2013
Another week and solid branding remains.
September 2, 2013
Into September and still seeing the same auto-complete.
September 6, 2013
There has definitely been some fluctuation but I think all these impressions are finally registering with Google.
September 27, 2013
At this point Moz is steadily occupying 2/4 or 3/4 auto complete spots.
October 1, 2013
No changes today.
October 2, 2013
The day Google decides to show me their new logo, also my birthday. No major changes.
October 6, 2013
Still can’t seem to knock these “moz wheels” folks off the top here.
October 23, 2013
This is the first date I noticed Moz took the top slot.
October 31, , 2013
They kept the top slot from that moment on.
November 2, 2013
Or did they.
November 5, 2013
Moz wheels strikes again, but Moz keeps 3/4 auto-complete slots.
November 6, 2013
No changes.
November 13, 2013
This is the first major change I saw in a while. We are now seeing “moz google updates” along with “moz analytics” which I’m sure Moz is super stoked about.
November 23, 2013
3/4 slots dominated, way to go Moz!
November 27, 2013
3/4 slots dominated, moz wheels remains a player in the Moz war.
November 30, 2013
Same stuff, no changes today.
December 24, 2013
An early X-mas present to Moz. The first time 4/4 Moz auto-complete slots were occupied.
December 25, 2013
Christmas morning Moz owns auto-complete.
January 8, 2014
Tested one last time yesterday and they are going strong, with a little fluctuation.
Great job Moz!
It appears as though you’ve conquered the mysterious auto-complete. Again, if 5 other people ran the same test I am sure we would see 5 completely different case studies.
As a matter of fact, within about a week or so after the re-brand with personalization on and location set to “Seattle, WA” “moz” was dominating quite a few autocomplete slots.
Many people have failed at this daunting task, but over the years we can conclude a few things about auto-complete:
- it is algorithmic
- personalization and geo-targetting are huge factors
- the algorithm takes into account impressions / search volume
- social mentions might be a factor
- co-citations might also be a factor
Any questions or criticisms please leave a comment!
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