Michael Epps Utley {kind=image/jpg}
Are consumers able to find your business when they’re looking for it on search engines like Google? Ideally, the answer is yes. After all, people who are familiar with your company are more likely to buy from you.
This guide explains three proven ways to improve your branded search.
Branded Search Traffic: The Basics
Branded search traffic arrives at your website after prospective customers use keywords to look for information on Google and other search engines that specifically mention your company, product, or service. Branded search terms are employed by people who already know about your brand.
Non-branded traffic comes from searches where people use general keywords to seek out products or services that meet their needs but not from a specific brand. These people are typically further up the sales cycle than those searching for solutions from a named company.
Three Ways to Improve Your Branded Search
Here are three proven ways to ensure your company gets found online.
1. Create Content Centered Around Your Brand
If you're not developing helpful content that leverages your branded keywords, you're missing out on a massive opportunity to dominate search engine results for those terms.
Creating this content with end users in mind is vital. It should serve their information needs, so they engage with it. Presenting the best quality and most authoritative content using branded keywords on your website is a sure way to reap Google gold.
High-value authoritative content does the following:
Features top-quality writing
Resonates with readers
Engages people
Answers questions
Evokes emotion
If you do one thing to improve your branded search, invest in original, high-quality branded content.
2. Earn Branded Backlinks
As part of a complete branded SEO plan, you should invest time and effort in obtaining high-quality backlinks.
Backlinks signal trust for search engines like Google. They indicate your site is a credible source of information because trusted authoritative sites direct traffic to it. When a high-authority website links to your content, Google views it as an endorsement, which could result in ranking your content and site higher in search results.
While getting branded backlinks (ones that include your brand name in the anchor text) is critical, ensuring these appear on credible websites is equally — or more — important. Use tools like Linktegrity and Moz’s Spam Score to avoid pointing spammy links to your site.
3. Invest in Brand Marketing
People aren’t going to know about or search for your brand if they haven’t been exposed to it. That’s why it’s essential to promote it on platforms where your customer base is active. This could include a variety of social media platforms, blogs, email, and more. If you’re not sure what media your buyers regularly engage with, ask them, and focus your marketing activity in those areas so new consumers will become aware of your brand and current ones keep it top of mind. It’s the only way to generate any branded search traffic.
Here are some of the most valuable and cost-effective brand marketing tactics:
Nurture customer relationships. Use things like personalized messages, loyalty rewards, and excellent customer service to build lasting connections with your customers and maintain exposure to your brand.
Leverage social media. Using social media as part of your strategy to attract buyers will increase brand visibility and bring in new leads. By interacting with people on social media, posting engaging content, and participating in conversations, you can grab their attention, make your brand known, and encourage them to visit your website.
Innovate. Launching novel products or services and informing the market about what makes them unique can help you generate fresh demand because your company becomes a category killer.
Branded Search: The Final Word
Be aware that earning authority and increasing branded search traffic takes time. The results of your branded SEO efforts will only be realized after you've invested a decent amount of effort into marketing your brand and developing quality content. If you’re diligent, you will start to see branded search improvements in months that will continue over time. Don’t give up if you haven’t seen any movement after the first week or two. A commitment to branded search is worth it because the results are a sure way to attract more traffic from people later in the purchase process who are more likely to buy from you.
