This post was sponsored by Similarweb. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.
According to Rand Fishkin:
‘For most small and medium businesses and newer creators/publishers, SEO is likely to show poor results until you’ve established credibility, navigational demand, and a strong reputation among a sizable audience.’
In other words, if you want to build organic traffic, build your brand.
The question is how do search engines measure brand, and what does that mean to your SEO?
In this post, I’ll dig into what influence SEOs have over brand-building, and show you:
Why branded SEO is an untapped opportunity you should grab with both hands.
How brand in SEO differs from traditional brand strategy.
Ways you can educate Google about your brand.
Branded SEO, An Untapped Opportunity
Branded SEO remains a largely untapped SEO opportunity. It’s untapped because, as SEOs, we’re trained to ignore branded traffic. However, by ignoring branded search, you are potentially missing some big opportunities to move your business forward.
The reason is that users don’t just use search engines to discover information and products. They also use search engines to discover brands. By focusing on how your brand shows up, you have an opportunity to influence how middle-of-the-funnel users perceive your brand. If you get it right, that could turn into a long-term relationship with your brand. Get it wrong, and I’m sure you have a number of competitors that would love to have the business.
This leads us to a crucial question…
Is There An SEO Angle To Brand?
As SEOs, we influence how content appears on search engines. The function of a search engine is to match end users with content. This means as SEOs, we are not just dealing with how users perceive your brand. We are dealing with how search engines understand how users perceive your brand.
The difference is not subtle.
Search engine algorithms measure how strong a brand is and incorporate those signals into the search results. They primarily seem to use three methods:
Measuring branded search queries
Measuring brand engagement metrics
Understanding your brand entity
So, if the search engine incorporates brand signals into how it generates search results, then as SEOs we should be looking for a strategic way to influence these signals.
1. Branded Search Queries
Google’s leaked documents reveal a crucial aspect of branded SEO: the strength of a brand significantly influences its search rankings. This is measured through what we can call the BrandQueryFactor. This metric assesses how frequently users search for a brand by name. The more brand-specific queries a company receives, the higher its likelihood of ranking well in search results.
We understand that branded searches affect your rankings, the question now is, in what way do they affect your rankings?
Perhaps the answer can be found in a Google patent called Ranking Search Results. This patent describes how Google uses branded search queries as a quality factor similar to links. In fact, it describes branded and navigational queries as implied links that demonstrate user trust and intent.
These ‘implied links’ have a slightly different role in establishing a site’s authority than actual links:
Links act as a vote of confidence from other websites, often indicating external recognition or authority
Branded queries reflect real-world user interest, signaling how often users search for and interact with a resource through queries
Putting that together with the Google leak metrics above, we see that brand signals include user engagement and branded query analysis. Google uses these signals to see how users engage with your brand.
Increasing brand signals with branded queries and direct traffic
As an SEO can you increase branded traffic? The sad truth is, not directly. When your SEO starts to bring in traffic you will see an increase in branded searches. But this is an indirect benefit rather than a branded search strategy.
Does this mean branded search is out of your hands?
To answer this, it’s important to first understand how to increase brand signals.
A few years ago, when I worked as an SEO manager, I noticed something. Whenever we ran PPC campaigns, we would see increasing amounts of branded search terms in our Search Console accounts.
The reason is pretty simple. People saw our ads and Googled the brand name. Take a look at the Similarweb Channels report below. What do you see? (Hint, the blue line represents organic traffic.)
Screenshot from Similarweb, September 2024
Channel data for greenies.com
As we see above, organic traffic seems to correlate directly with paid search.
Screenshot from Similarweb, September 2024
Looking at the organic search breakdown for the brand in 2023, we see that 72% of the site’s keywords were branded.
Screenshot from Similarweb, September 2024
Channel data for elorea.com
What we see above is organic traffic directly correlates with other channels.
Screenshot from Similarweb, September 2024
Looking at the organic search breakdown for the brand in 2023, we see that 81% of the site’s keywords were branded.
The reason for this pattern is that the more your audience sees your brand, the more likely they are to Google your brand.
Another great example of this is monday.com. The brand has doubled down on its brand strategy, focusing primarily on YouTube ads.
Screenshot from Similarweb, September 2024
Its YouTube ads together with its memorable domain name has led to unprecedented levels of direct traffic.
Screenshot from Similarweb, September 2024
Although I haven’t yet seen evidence that Google uses direct traffic as a ranking signal, it stands to reason that it does. What’s more, you can see that Google has taken notice of the brand.
Try Googling the word Monday and then Google the word Tuesday and compare the results. To Google the word Monday refers to a brand.
Screenshot from search for Monday, Google, September 2024
Tuesday, on the other hand, is a day of the week.
Screenshot from search for Tuesday, Google, September 2024
The takeaway: You can increase brand signals like branded keywords and direct traffic by focusing on other channels.
So where does this leave you as an SEO?
You have the data to assess branded keywords and direct traffic, putting you in a unique position to partner with marketing leaders to work on big-picture marketing strategies designed to increase branded keywords.
2. Brand Engagement Metrics
Looking at the Google leak we can also see that Google measures user engagement as a signal of brand strength.