Even if your website has great content and is well-optimized, without branding behind it, it will be much harder for you to be found in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Without clear brand authority, people will be unaware of the product range and not consciously looking for it. Although ranking for branded keywords is relatively easy, getting customers to search for them is more difficult. This is where an SEO agency can help you.
This is where branding comes into play. In a way, building a strong brand is similar to reverse engineering SEO. It helps get a lot of people talking about your brand online, for example through ratings, social media, quotes, and backlinks. The buzz around your brand will tell Google and other search engines that you are important in your market. And, since there is a connection between your brand popularity and your rankings, you should start gaining more traffic and customers.
“Organizing the world’s knowledge and making it universally available and useful” is Google’s mission. Customers, in the end, help Google to know who and what you are. The more people search for and interact with your brand online, the higher your brand authority and ranking.
Your domain authority, a search engine ranking score that predicts your website’s ability to rank in SERPs, is also affected by brand authority. When creating a SERP for a keyword query, Google considers a number of factors, including website content, internal links, mentions, and comments.
When your brand receives a high amount of digital engagement, Google’s algorithms will begin to associate your brand with a product category. The more Google brand searches you get, the more you can carve out a sphere of influence on the web.
We have all used Kleenex, for example. With the facial tissues, it has become a household name. You can ‘fix’ the framework so that users don’t go to Google for ‘facial tissues’ if you create a strong brand. Instead, they will search for the word “Kleenex.”
If you can achieve this level of brand authority in your market, you have not only taken control of most of the SERPs, but also the mind share that brands crave. Although SEO can help, the brand does the heavy lifting in this case.
real world example
Let’s look at an example of a company that has successfully leveraged their brand to increase their online visibility.
zoom
Zoom was top of mind for many people looking to host virtual meetings in March 2020 as the world shifted to working from home due to coronavirus. Zoom’s popularity skyrocketed compared to rivals like Skype, WebEx, and Google Hangouts in a short period of time. The word “Zoom” became a verb. And for many companies that need remote workers, it has become the de facto solution.
Searches and sales increased dramatically almost overnight. But it was not by chance. It was the result of a long-term brand commitment that paid off. The stock rose 130% in just three months, from January to March 2020. People were attracted to Zoom due to its popularity as an easy-to-use solution in the market.
In March 2020, ad traffic accounted for more than 70% of all visits to zoom.us.
People searched for ‘zoom’ or ‘zoom video’ instead of ‘video conferencing tool’ or ‘virtual meeting tool’ because of brand name, not price.