There is an easy thing you can to improve discovery and engagement for your games.

It’ll take about 10 minutes to set up, and two minutes a day to maintain when you have the motivation. I’m not going to call it a hack, because it isn’t. It’s just… y’know… a thing you can do. It’s free. Like 100% free. And doing it doesn’t help Network N at all – but here it is for your delight.

As far as I can see, out of all of these businesses, only one does it… Ubisoft, Epic, Blizzard, Activision, Capcom, Nintendo, Sony, EA, Tencent, Bandai Namco, Nexon, Wargaming, Gaijin, Warner Bros, NCSoft, Rockstar, 2K Games, Zenimax, Disney, Pixar, Sega, Creative Assembly, Sports Interactive, Fanatical, King, 4Networking, Sumo, Codemasters, SGame, Turtle Beach, Roccat, Logitech, Plantronics, HyperX, SteelSeries, Razer, Astro, Stardock, Versus Evil, 505, Jagex, Microsoft.

Step forward for your medal of honor… Electronic Arts.

Before the tip… a tiny Network N plug

Hello. I am James Binns, CEO at independent games media business Network N. We do three things.
* We publish a bunch of games media – including our flagship PCGamesN (around 6m monthly uniques users), genre sites like WarGamer, StrategyGamer, PocketTactics, utility sites like SteamIdFinder and social communities like the massive League of Kappa.
* We run an advertising network – our total portfolio of around 100 sites includes the world’s biggest Xbox and the world’s biggest PlayStation site. We deliver around 600m ads every month.
* We help clients communicate in more complex ways via our agency – with clients like UK retailer GAME (social, video, web and print), OMEN by HP (esports social media) and Epic (agency of record for launch of Fortnite in Europe).

Got a games discovery or engagement challenge? We can help!
Ping me at james@network-n.com

Now. To THE TIP.

You can manipulate Google search results around your game to improve experience and showcase your latest content.

When you type your game or company name in to Google as well as search results and advertising it returns a knowledge panel – a block on the right panel on web/page one on mobile.

It’s normally pulled from Wikipedia and will pull in some review scores. At the bottom of this panel is a lozenge with a blue tick and the words ‘Claim this knowledge panel’.

Click on the lozenge and start the journey to GET VERIFIED. You need to have access to your Search Console.

After verification you can suggest changes to info that shows up on search, including images, stats, or other facts.

And most pleasingly you can also publish direct on to the page. This is information that shows up in the knowledge panel and can include stuff like your latest games news and polls.

I used to be THE BEST at Google+ (long story) but this repushing of Google Posts is the next best thing. And as far as I can see only EA are doing it.

Check their panels for Apex Legends and Anthem.

That’s it. Get verified. Improve your presentation. Build your community and push your news.

Comment on this thread on LinkedIn if you liked this post. But don’t share the URL. This tip isn’t for lurkers 😉

Want more patronising rants about discovery? See my YouTube secrets post