Ignoring Nintendo and its library of culturally iconic intellectual property, PlayStation dominates the video games industry around the world. PS5, despite missing its lofty forecast, is by far the biggest home console on the planet – and its home to some of the most popular game franchises, both from first-party studios like Naughty Dog and Santa Monica and third-party developers like Rockstar.
The global appeal of Sony’s gaming brand means it tends to rule on social media, too, where its YouTube channel regularly puts up outrageously high views and its Facebook and Twitter accounts attract enormous engagement. However, there’s one area where the Japanese giant is quietly losing the battle against its rivals, and it’s all down to SEO, or search engine optimisation.
While the exact science behind Google results is something of a mystery for even the most qualified web builders, the very real reality is that the PS Store rarely ever tops the rankings when searching for a multiformat game. Take the recently released Skull and Bones, for example: you have to wade past Ubisoft (makes sense), Steam, Epic Games, Amazon, and Xbox before you get to the PS Store listing.
This trend is pretty consistent across most major third-party releases: Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered shows similar results, albeit with GOG.com replacing the Epic Games Store, where it’s not available; Persona 3 Reload, a game you’d expect to sell best on PlayStation platforms, can’t even get on the first page of results, with even Humble Bundle’s listing outperforming it.
There are exceptions: Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League ranks a little higher, as does Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. But even if you look at an older game, like the massively popular GTA 5 for example, you’re going to have to scroll for quite some time before you stumble upon the PS Store listing. If you remove the “buy” criteria from your query, you’ll find the PS Store listing nestled behind a digital version of the game’s manual available from the Google Play store.
So, does this matter? Well, it’ll definitely be something drawn up on a white board within PlayStation’s swanky headquarters. Sony will obviously be focused on converting customers already on its website or consoles, but there’s no doubt it should be ranking much better on Google considering the overall popularity of its brand.
The browser-based PS Store, while it has improved over the years, has always felt creaky. There are no screenshots or trailers, for example, of the games available; it doesn’t feel like it presents products in the best possible way. It’s a reminder that, while a lot of the PlayStation business is best-in-class, there are still areas it could significantly improve in order to get the upper-hand on its rivals.
Comments 33
I thought PC wasn't a rival to PS?
Also of course Xbox will appear before PS for Persona 3 Reload, MS has the marketing rights.
@ShadowofTwilight And all the other games?
I mean, most people buying a PS5 game will either buy a physical copy on an online retailer they trust (Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop, etc), or they'll buy a digital copy directly on PS Store via their console.
Although you could argue that there should be more effort made, it's a relatively closed subject matter compared to the SEO challenges I face in the gambling industry for instance, which by default, is a daily scramble for attention due to the hundreds of options available.
With a limited amount of players in this particular game, they could easily push up the SERP with a day or two's effort, so you have to wonder whether they are relying on good old word of mouth alone, or simply don't see the viability of making a bit more effort, as you either "are" or "are not" a playstation player.
Either way, it is a little strange to not capitalise on any option that is available to push the product and SEO is one such medium that can garner success.
No games, nothing to bother searching for...
"PS5........is by far the biggest home console on the planet " - No argument there (fat b*st*rd or my own PS5, "The Tub o' Lard")
As for the PS5 (hidden) browser-based Store, it's a real creaky mess compared to the PS4's built in store app. Yet again, I find the old stager doing something else better than the new pretender.
@get2sammyb
I admittedly homed in on the images lol. PC though I don't see the big deal since Sony doesn't consider it a rival platform.
@dellyrascal That's really interesting insight! Thanks for sharing!
Yet games sales are always in Playstations favour and by a LOT, so I don't think this is an issue at all especially when most people will just use the PlayStation App to buy their games and downlaod them straight to their console.
It isn't really a relevant metric. Most people buy games from the mobile app or console/steam itself.
Also look at PlayStations YouTube view metric compared to Xbox or Nintendo. Most third parties and first parties(unless they're the Nintendo heavy hitters) get better views on average.
@breakneck I wouldn't say it's not relevant, because I guarantee this is something they want to improve. Especially when, as you quite rightly say, they're totally dominant on YouTube and it definitely is a positive for their brand and platform overall.
Most people are buying on the console/app I completely agree, but I'm sure they'd much rather have the PS Store ranked right at the top when people search for popular games, as opposed to about ten listings down.
People can still find stuff with google searches these days? if I don’t put Reddit at the end of search it’s a landfill of content mill sharticles sourced from one answer on Quora.
Are the results similar using Bing? I assume Xbox would come out top there.
Removed - unconstructive feedback
Sony made SEO optimizations only for Duck duck go
SEO isn't a valid representation for this method; you're literally admitting there's no clue how it's calculated, so you're also not aware of the potential for deliberate manipulation of the results (we already know that you can pay to have your search results appear higher, there's no reason to not assume people are paying for their positions).
Also, your research is region-specific. A Google search of the above games on a newly-generated account from Ireland has PlayStation appear higher on the listings than Microsoft and others (Steam, Epic, Amazon), with the publisher/developer usually taking the first spots.
Its not surprising in my opinion, like others said, if i buy a game then its either through a retailer i know or the PS Store. When its retailer ill search for the retailer and not the game, if i even search and for PS Store ill just use the app or console.
It also matters you cant really buy codes for digital games for PS4 / PS5. Something you can do for Xbox, PC and Steam, which gives reason to search for those games.
So I typed Tomb Raider Remastered on Google after reading this. Here is my results:
Steam store
Wikipedia
The Guardian Review
The Gamer
PlayStation store
The Verge
Xbox
Epic and Nintendo didn't even enter the first page.
Why would you just ignore the largest console on the planet, to try and pretend the ps5 is?
The switch is at 132.5million sales, a number the ps5 is very unlikely to get close to in its lifetime. To try and pretend otherwise wise is pretty disingenuous.
And yes the switch is a home console, it literally switches between being a home console and a handheld. It's the whole reason for the name
This is such a non-story. Why would you searching Google to buy a game or a DLC pack you can just buy it on their PlayStation or phone directly? You aren't competing for where to buy it like other products, you either have a PlayStation, Xbox, Steam or you don't.
Xbox/steam etc etc all can use key websites to get them cheaper. So obviously search to see which is the cheapest.
PlayStation can’t. So obviously they will search less. As you can only buy the game from the store, or you go to your trusted retailer directly.
I'm surprised that searching for "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League" returns any hits at all at this point.
Psn store appears quite high for all the games I'm testing on my mobile (chrome) browser. Aren't search results personalised based on your own usage somewhat nowadays anyway?
If you own a PlayStation and you want a digital game for your console you can only purchase it from one place, so why would Sony pay Google to bump them up any search results?
People will search for what they want and then type the word "PS5" at the beginning or end of that game title they are searching for. Most of the others will go straight to the PS Store.
@Sakai Don’t worry, I’m sure the good folks at PS aren’t trying to slight the conquering behemoth that is the Switch, truly the Toyota Corolla of gaming. Rather, with Nintendo’s characters being so popular in other forms of media, amusement parks, etc. they likely add a large number of searches that are unrelated or tangential to gaming.
"Ignoring Nintendo and its library of culturally iconic intellectual property, PlayStation dominates the video games industry around the world. PS5, despite missing its lofty forecast, is by far the biggest home console on the planet"
Bit of a sensationalist and round about way of trying not to say it's the second biggest...
Massively overblown and probs not even as slight concern for PS tbh.
If somebody wants a game for PlayStation, they’ll search title name and PlayStation.
Not sure who just searches “buy title name”.
This means nothing. If I was to purchase a game for Xbox, I have to do it via browser or console. Not the Xbox App. The PS App is makes it very convenient to make purchases. Why would I have to search for a PS game via Google Browser?
Well Sony needs to improve the store anyway. The fact you still can't purchase games to give to people as gifts after all these years is baffling. And reeks of incompetence a little as well, I have to say. As does not being able to buy from the different national stores. You are stuck with the one from whatever country you initially created your account in.
Sony's store is stuck in ages past and that performance in search engine results is only a reflection of the reality.
So we are going to act like people give a damn about the ps store pc edition? LOL. Sammy if the day is slow this site never made a story about the secret fps project Sony is working with ex Deviaton devs.
is that mikasa mikoto lol
Although SEO matters somewhat, the real issue Sony must address is how mind bogglingly bad the web-based PS Store is.
Just yesterday, I tried to use the search function and the term "Hubris" returned zero results. I then proceeded to manually browse filtering for "PSVR2" and "Adventure" genre and again, no success. So I tried "Action" and finally found Hubris on the second page, if I recall. Just ridiculous. And this is not the first nor the second time it happens.
Not to mention it looks very outdated and yes, the page for each game does a very bad job at selling it.
People still use google? Duck Duck Go is where it's at bro.
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