9 Ways Your Business Can Use SEO For Brand Awareness

Time: 8 Minutes well spent!

As a business owner, brand awareness is one of the most important factors in achieving success. In today’s digital age, utilising SEO strategies to increase your brand’s visibility in organic search results can be a game-changing tactic.

Additionally, brand awareness through SEO can support and enhance other marketing efforts. When customers see your brand consistently appearing in organic search results and across multiple platforms, it reinforces trust and familiarity.

This can lead to a higher likelihood of customer engagement with paid advertising campaigns and increased referrals, and positive brand coverage.

Why Brand Awareness And Trust In The SERPs Are Critical For Business Success

When someone searches for your brand on Google, what do they see? Is it positive reviews and your website at the top of the search results, or do negative articles and poor-quality websites outrank your brand? Or even worse, are you even found when you search for your brand name?

That first impression is crucial to potential customers when they search for your brand name.

Imagine they’ve seen a great ad or heard about you in the news but never heard of you before; what do they do? They go straight to Google to check you out, and if your brand lacks presence or has a negative reputation, that potential customer might not even consider doing business with you.

Having a strong brand presence on search engines, specifically in the form of positive reviews and brand mentions on reputable websites, can significantly impact your potential customer’s decision to do business with you.

Building brand awareness and earning trust on the search engine results page helps establish credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of consumers. In fact, a 2020 report, shows that 70% of respondents say that trusting a brand is more important today than in the past.

These factors contribute to a successful business, as customers are likelier to choose a brand they know and trust over unknown competitors.

The User Journey And The Three Types Of Branded Search

Did you know that there are three types of branded search? These include navigational, informational, and transactional.

Understanding how your audience interacts with your brand at each user journey stage provides a clear path from discovering your brand to eventually becoming a loyal customer.

---

Navigational branded searches: occur when someone actively seeks out your brand by typing in your exact brand name or URL into a search engine.

Example – “brand name”

---

Informational branded searches: happen when a person wants to learn more about your brand, products, or services.

Example – “brand name + reviews”

---

Transactional branded searches: occur when someone is ready to make a purchase and specifically searches for your brand to do so.

Example – “brand name + pricing”

---

How to find your branded search terms?

One of the most effective ways for businesses to increase brand awareness is through targeted keyword research and optimisation. You can effectively target potential customers in organic search results by identifying the keywords associated with your brand, products, or services.

This drives more organic traffic to your website and increases branded searches – which In turn, helps boost trust and credibility in your brand as it consistently appears at the top of search engine results.

Additionally, having a strong presence in organic search results can ultimately lead to higher conversion rates and an increase in R.O.I. for your business.

By identifying relevant target keywords related to your brand and incorporating them into your branded content strategy, not only can you increase organic search traffic by a significant margin, but it will also help solidify our company’s reputation with consumers too.

Question: Are there different ways people could write or spell your brand name?

It’s essential to remain consistent with your organic presence, but if you’re finding many people searching for your brand name incorrectly, you could write an article about where the name came from and how it’s pronounced or spelt.

You can also target these misspellings with a branded Google Ads campaign, which will help capture these misspellings and reinforce the correct spelling.

Question: When you enter your brand name, what shows up in “people also ask” or “related searches”?

You can use a keyword research tool and enter your brand name as a search term. If your business is well established, most tools will have a lot of terms related to your brand.

However, keyword tools aren’t perfect, that’s why we always recommend simply doing a search for your brand name and seeing what comes up in the “People Also Ask” and “Related Searches” sections.

You’ll usually find related keywords such as brand + reviews, or brand + alternative directly within the drop-down from the search box too.

These results are an absolute gold mine to get a pulse on what people are asking about your brand and their sentiment.

Improve Brand Credibility By Appearing Prominently In Branded Search Results

Optimise your homepage for your brand in the page title and meta description

Optimise your homepage page title and meta description to include your brand name. You don’t need to include your brand name on every page of your site, as it can get repetitive and use up valuable space for more specific product or service-related info.

Include trademark or copyright symbols if applicable

By Including a registered trade mark symbol ® or using a copyright symbol © if you have exclusive I.P., you can assert your authority in the search results that this is the official website and related to your brand. 

Only include these if you have them. Mistrust will be rife if you lie about these things just to get more clicks.

Improve internal pages with optimised page titles and meta to boost site link performance

You are putting your best foot forward in the SERPs by optimising your website’s navigation and ensuring internal pages have well-optimised page titles and meta. 

Google will choose site links automatically, but you can improve how those pages appear in search – you can find your most visited pages in your analytics reports and start by making those as presentable as possible.

Utilise awards, accreditations, and certifications

Use awards, accreditations, certifications or other reputable assets in your copy. Credible third-party affiliations only make your brand more trustworthy, and even the most sceptical people will feel reassured when they investigate your brand via other sources.

Claim and optimise Google My Business listing

Ensure you have claimed your Google my business listing and optimised it with images, text, videos and key business operating info – Having great reviews on G.M.B. will help too.

Ensure your site is fast and error-free

Ensure your website loads super-fast and is error-free. A slow or broken website leaves a bad first impression and people expect a flawless experience on any device.

Implement schema markup for brand information in SERPs

Use useful schema markup about your business, such as;

• “organisation”,
• “local business”, 
• “reviews”, 
• “author” 
• “person”

These data points can help search engines show additional info about your brand in the SERPs – Ensure the schema is valid and kept up to date.

E.A.T. and Building Trust With High-Quality Content On Your Website

E.A.T. (Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness) has been a key part Google search for several years now.

It is important in every industry but critical in industries where the information can directly affect your money or your life (YMYL), such as finance, health and politics, where brand credibility is important.

Showcasing your brand’s expertise, authority, and trustworthiness through content such as case studies, awards or accreditations, positive customer reviews, and industry partnerships can improve brand credibility and, ultimately, your search rankings.

By having valuable, high-quality content on your website, you can build trust with potential customers and make them more likely to choose your brand over others.

This includes blog posts, guides, resources, and even product/service descriptions that are well-written and informative. The benefit of this is two-fold, by improving user experience (more conversions) and sending better quality signals to Google (higher rankings).

You can do this by using industry or niche expert writers for blog posts and other content, regularly publishing valuable content, and obtaining brand mentions from reputable sources.

Well-researched, correctly cited content shows that a brand takes the time to investigate and accurately present information to its audience thoroughly, which helps establish the brand’s expertise in their industry and promotes trust among new and existing customers.

By focusing on these areas, you’ll strengthen your brand perception and trust among customers – a net positive for all.

Create Link Building Opportunities And Earn Brand Mentions

Backlinks and brand mentions are important aspects of E.A.T. because they signal to search engines that a brand is reputable and trustworthy.

Additionally, these links drive referral traffic to a brand’s website, which can boost “discoverability”, grow sales and support other marketing efforts too.

Overall, earning brand mentions and link building should be a key focus for any brand looking to improve its E.A.T. and overall search rankings. 

Some ways to earn brand mentions and backlinks include creating valuable content, reaching out to industry influencers or websites, participating in relevant industry events or partnerships, and offering to guest blog on industry/niche-specific websites.

7 Ways you can build more quality backlinks and brand mentions

1. Creating valuable content that others will want to link to.
2. Reaching out to industry influencers or websites.
3. Participating in relevant industry events or partnerships.
4. Offering to guest blog on reputable websites.
5. Leveraging brand awards or media coverage to earn backlinks.
6. Utilising social media to promote your content and brand mentions.
7. Networking with other industry professionals and businesses for potential brand mentions or collaborations.

Overall, using link building as one of your SEO strategies can improve brand awareness, lead to a stronger brand sentiment among customers, and build trust with Google.

It’s important to remember that building brand credibility and trust takes time and consistent effort, but the long-term benefits are worth it – so get started today.

Gain Insights About Your Target Audience Through Data You Already Have

SEO data and analytics can provide valuable insights about your target audience, such as their demographics, interests, location, search behaviours, and website engagement.

You can find a goldmine of data and insights from sources such as Google Analytics, email lists, social media metrics, Google Ads, and Search Console better to understand your target audience’s interests and behaviours.

This information can help inform your brand messaging and improve the targeting and tailoring of your content to resonate better with your audience.

Utilising these insights can help drive brand awareness and success in the long run, so take advantage of the valuable resources you already have available.

Adapt Your Branding And SEO Strategy Based On User Behaviour And Search Trends 

As search algorithms and user behaviours constantly evolve, it’s important to stay up to date and adapt your brand’s SEO strategy accordingly.

By monitoring search trends, consumer behaviour, and industry news, your brand can stay on the pulse of what’s relevant and garner more attention from potential customers. 

Tools like Google Trends, Google Alerts, Buzzsumo, industry blogs, and social listening can provide valuable insights on the latest developments and trends related to your brand or industry.

These resources allow you to adjust your brand messaging, content and SEO strategy to stay current and relevant. In addition, attending events or conferences in your industry can provide a wealth of information and networking opportunities to enhance your brand awareness further.

Being proactive and flexible with your brand strategy is key to keeping up with our fast-paced digital world, and getting feedback directly from your market can be a game changer.

Don’t Underestimate The Power Of Local SEO For Brand Awareness

If your brand has a physical location or serves a specific geographic area, it’s important to use local SEO strategies to improve brand awareness among potential customers.

This includes claiming and optimising your Google My Business listing, actively managing and responding to online reviews, and including location-specific keywords in your website content and metadata.

The insights you gain from direct customer feedback and understanding how they interact with your business in the real world can be vital information you can use to enhance your offline presence.

Overall, utilising local tactics can help your brand stand out among competitors and attract new customers in specific regions or communities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, incorporating SEO strategies into your brand awareness efforts can greatly improve your online presence and attract potential customers.

By utilising data insights, staying current with trends, adapting your brand strategy, and focusing on local SEO tactics, you can enhance your brand’s credibility and trust to ultimately drive your business’s success.

Looking To Take Your Brand To The Next Level With SEO? We Can Help

Are you ready to take your brand awareness to the next level with SEO? Then why not schedule a free SEO strategy call with Codarity today?

Our team of experts can help create a personalised plan for your brand and provide valuable insights on how to improve your online presence.

Book Your Free Strategy Session Here >>