Branded search is when someone searches for the exact name of a brand or business. Regardless of the size of your business, you’ll want to rank in the first position for branded search. This isn’t always a simple task, as ranking for the top spot can be competitive, even when it’s for your brand name.
What are branded keywords?
Branded keywords are any queries in a search engine that include your brand, business, or company name. For example, looking up “Calibre9” on Google counts as a branded search. This can also include other words such as “Calibre9 agency” or “Calibre9 Collingwood.” All brand searches will consist of business names as the central part of the search.
Non-branded searches are any search terms that don’t include your name. Examples related to the ones above could be “SEO agency” or “SEO agency in Collingwood.”
Branded search helps show user intent
Using your brand name in searches, it’s evident that a user is looking for your company specifically, has heard of you or knows who you are. This means that they want to go directly to your site, making it crucial you rank first for all branded searches.
Is it easy to rank for branded search?
Most of the time, it’s easy to rank for branded search, as its basically just your business name. It can be more challenging depending on what your name ids and who your competition are. For a larger, established business, it can be more feasible. Some corporations, such as Disney, have multiple branded results from social media accounts to Wikipedia articles. However, if you’re a smaller company, there won’t be as many resources to help boost your branded search. This is where SEO companies like us can step in and help identify things preventing your business from ranking in the top spot.
- Your site is not indexed in Google
- Your business and another share a similar name and are competing
- Your site has not been optimised
- Your brand has multiple names
- Your brand name uses an acronym that another company shares
- You haven’t made your brand name available on your site
Your branded search can be helped with brand monitoring
Marketing agencies, alongside data tracking tools, use brand monitoring to describe the mentions of your brand on other websites. Many devices can aid in tracking these mentions and can also provide you with records for these mentions. There are also many ways for your marketing team to help boost the frequency of your brand getting mentioned online.
Brand mention frequency doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get to the top position in branded search, but it will help you get there faster.
Brand mentions and monitoring them is similar to PR. Your goal is to get your business’s name out to as many people as you can. Some examples of how you can boost brand mentions include:
- Getting mentioned on other websites, such as newsletters, news articles, or blogs. Especially adding branded anchor text.
- Business listings in search engines. Listings such as Bing Places, Google My Business, and Yandex are all business listings that offer your details and provide visitors direct information about the business.
- Social media profiles. There are numerous media sites, from Facebook to Twitter, that can help boost your business.
- Reviews for relevant reviewing sites, such as Tripadvisor and Yelp, can help boost your business reputation and drive traffic to your site.
