There’s no doubt you should aim to both build brand awareness and improve your company website’s search engine optimization (SEO). But how should you plan your marketing efforts when the two priorities don’t always align well?
For example, if your small business suffers from low brand awareness online, optimizing your website to rank well for brand keywords in search results might not be effective. An example of this could be targeting the phrase “Best Buy” instead of “32 inch LCD TV.” After all, few people are likely to be searching for those specific phrases if they aren’t familiar with your company in the first place.
The converse also holds true. If you’re looking to build a business that’s successful in the long run, you need a recognizable brand, not just a few high rankings for generic search terms. Home Depot, for example, doesn’t fare well in organic search results but still leads the home-improvement industry and enjoys enormous brand recognition.
Here’s how to balance these competing opportunities to promote your brand and build traffic through search engine results:
Related: Three Steps to Optimize Your Website For Google's 'Freshness' Update
Analyze the Potential of Branding Your Business
Decide whether to focus on brand building or SEO by analyzing your business model and long-range goals. Are you simply looking to make a few dollars selling products online? If so, there’s no reason to build traffic for brand keywords. Concentrate instead on the buyer-oriented phrases your target customers will be looking for in search engines, as determined through keyword research and the search keywords found in your website analytics program.
On the other hand, brand building can be a must if you want to expand your company’s web presence and become recognized as a leader in your industry. In that case, consider splitting your efforts. Increase brand recognition by commenting on and contributing to industry websites and social networking sites, which can also help to improve your rankings for brand keywords. Consider targeting generic keywords in your SEO efforts -- at least, until your recognition grows to the point that brand keyword traffic is self-sustaining.
Related: Seven Tips for Improving Pay-Per-Click Campaigns
Consider the New Role of Personalized Search
Recently, Google launched “Search, Plus Your World,” which displays items a business determines will be relevant to it based on its personal connections. They appear alongside the traditional SEO-based results.
As an example, say you subscribe to the RSS feeds of several different blogs about bodybuilding -- a notoriously competitive search environment. When you search using keywords related to bodybuilding, you might get results from certain blogs because you’re already following them. With Google’s new feature, it doesn’t matter that the blogs aren’t strong enough to achieve high rankings on their own.
Because of this new development, a case can be made for the power of brand building. Companies with established brands are often more likely to be mentioned in blogs and on social networking sites than businesses without a strong image. Because these social mentions are now included in search results, brand building can be an important way to leapfrog the traditional SEO rankings and draw more traffic to your site.
Related: A Six-Step Survival Guide for Search Engine Updates
Identify the Ideal Blend
No matter what industry you’re in or the type of business you’re trying to build, consider including both brand building and SEO in your marketing strategy. You don’t have to focus exclusively on one technique at the expense of the other.
If you determine that brand building should pay off better, focus on building links from other websites pointing back to your own pages that use brand keywords as your anchor text -- the underlined text that people click on to follow a link -- and invest a significant effort in your social media presence. Mentions of your brand in social media are likely to lead to increased exposure and greater awareness.
But because it may take some time for your brand to permeate the digital world, also consider investing at least a small amount of time in generic search phrases related to your business. As your brand awareness grows, you can dial down the amount of time spent on generic keywords.
And even if you plan to rely on generic keyword search results for the bulk of your traffic, there’s still value in doing some brand building activities. Google’s expansion of personalized search, as well as its elimination of thin content sites through the Panda updates, seems to indicate the company’s preference for strong, well-defined brands. Remember to include at least a few brand keywords in your SEO activities to reap the benefits they can bring to your website.
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Comments:
Exactly my point. There are some websites that won't have any branding objectives, although some of the recent prioritization given to social networking and brand indicators in the SERPs makes me think that even small sites won't be able to escape the need for branding in the long run.
You need your business model and analyze long term goals before you decide which way to take. If you're only looking to get quite a few dollars by selling products online, there is no need to build traffic for brand keywords. Instead, you can concentrate on buyer-oriented phrases that your target audience can find in search engines.
I think there are a few instances where companies will want to focus exclusively on one or the other (small-scale affiliate marketers, for example, might not have much use for branding, while companies launching totally new service offerings like Pinterest can't necessarily rely on traditional SEO traffic if relevant keywords aren't being searched for). But you're right - in nearly all cases, businesses will benefit from employing both strategies.
Pretty much. It's easier to understand if you think about an example - "Pinterest" in this case, isn't a real word on its own, but it's a powerful brand keyword that people might be entering into the search engines. Home Depot is another good example - people aren't looking to buy "home depots". Although the company will still want to rank highly for that phrase, they should also be interested in traditional SEO phrases, like "Dewalt power drill" or "35 gallon wet/dry vac". Make sense?
It is a given: no matter what niche you are part of, or type of business you have to consider including both brand building and SEO in your marketing strategy. You do not need to choose one technique and focus on it entirely.
What would be an example of a "brand keyword?" Does this mean company name, slogan, logo, etc?
thanks for the useful tips
Thanks, great article
Haha - I was wondering that myself... Although I guess the WWE is such a great example of branding and marketing that it makes a little sense :)
Luis - Great point. If you're able to develop a distinctive brand that provides good value, you may not need to worry at all about traditional SEO (although it probably won't hurt, as more traffic is usually better!).
Alireza - Exactly. That's why it's so important to know what your business model is and what your natural search traffic expectations are in order to determine how to best allocate your SEO efforts.
Ryan - Great point about having your online strategy reflect what you're doing in the offline world. If branded, offline advertising isn't a big focus for you, it might not be a big online focus either, although I agree that for most businesses, a combination of both types of keywords will be most successful.
Definitely agree that both are important for building a strong long-term business (assuming your goals aren't simply to get a page ranked to make some quick cash). It's also important to keep in mind that if your brand is new, people might not be searching for your branded keywords yet - but they will be down the line. This makes it a good idea to target both types of keywords from the start as part of your overall strategy.
Thanks for the tips! I've been recently thinking about this a lot actually because I'm one to focus mainly on the SEO side of things and I know that I need to focus more on the entertainment and brand building aspects. These tips will help out. Billee Brady
Very useful information pointing out the importance of keeping the balance between SEO and branding. Thank you.
I would say that crime crime apparently does pay ... but if I say that then apparently I risk being stopped at airport security for plotting a crime??? What is this world coming to anyway?
Great article AJ!
Interesting post. I seem to be seeing pretty much similar contents on SEO blog articles and posts these days. Having said that, you have some fresh insights on here.
Great article!
As a small business it is important that you distinguish yourself from other businesses. Branding expresses these differences. A business is in the market of making profit after all and making yourself recognizable isn't a bad idea. As you have pointed out, businesses should practice SEO and branding. They really go hand in hand and work together to drive traffic. It is essential in maximizing profit.
Excellent thoughts. A few additional points from an SEO: - I'dd add that even if your first consideration is SEO, you still want to rank for your brand or company name, for the simple reason that it can be a good barometer for the overall health of your site. Put another way: if you aren't ranking for your own brand or company name, you may have an SEO problem. - For many sites I've worked on in the past, even for those that used organic and paid search as their main marketing channels, the highest traffic and conversions were around branded search. So focusing on nonbranded KW to the exclusion of your branded search could backfire. - Yes, SEO is hard. But depending on your industry or niche, brand building could be even more challenging, not to mention expensive and harder to measure. It's worth remembering that if you're talking about building brand, then you're almost certainly talking about offline advertising at some point. In other words, money money money. But your web presence should serve to reinforce whatever you're doing offline. Which brings us back to the importance of ranking well for your branded terms. :) In short, I don't think it's one or the other. The author's last few paragraphs are worth remembering.
second that !
interesting...didn't see that
They both were successful brands in wrestling
I think this article will help alot for those individuals who are trying to step into the market
My experience shows that SEO sells. When I began to optimise my site, the sells started.
It all depends on what kinda business you have. If you are a payday lender and only care about leads and applications, then branding won't matter as much but if you are an commerce site, then you do care about you're a brand
Many new and advanced marketers usually forget that branding is as or even more important than getting search traffic. If you build an strong brand you don't have to depend on search engines because your audience will bypass the engines and go direct to your site... Is all about having the right balance in your marketing strategy.
Two greats..its hard to decide which one will win..in this case hard to decide whether to use seo or brand building..
Just curious as to what Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant have to do with the article? I am not making the connection.