Many of the site owners that I’ve worked with over the years don’t see the value in optimizing their site for branded keywords (company or product names). After all, if it’s their product (meaning they aren’t an e-commerce reseller) shouldn’t they always rank #1 for those phrases? While this makes perfect sense in theory, you have to remember that the web is the great equalizer of publishing and anyone can write just about anything they want about anyone—including your company. If you don’t ensure that your site is well optimized for your own brand and branded keywords you risk losing control over the SERPs when it comes to branded searches. If someone is looking for your company or product by name you want to ensure that you control the search results as much as possible!

Optimizing for branded keywords helps ensure that you control the SERPs for your brand.

If you did a quick Google search for my SEO company name “Brick Marketing”, chances are you would see a search results page that included (among other things) Brick Marketing’s:

  • Website
  • LinkedIn company page
  • Company Twitter profile
  • Company blog
  • Company Facebook page
  • YouTube channel
  • Local business profiles
  • and more!

A good majority of those results are profiles/content that I have created over the years and have control over. This means that I can control the brand and image of Brick Marketing online, as well as ensure the messaging is consistent from touch point to touch point. Now controlling the SERPs for something as simple as your company name is relatively easy (although not guaranteed), but what for a more long tail branded search like “Brick Marketing reviews?” Chances are if you search for “Brick Marketing reviews” one of the first results you’ll see is actually the client testimonial page on the Brick Marketing website! I used branded keywords to ensure that the company website was well represented in the search for client reviews/testimonials, especially when there are so many 3rd party review sites that customers/consumers can leave company and product reviews on. I wanted to make sure that potential SEO clients had the chance to click over to the Brick Marketing site no matter what branded keyword they used in their search process.

If I hadn’t optimized that page of my site for “Brick Marketing reviews” there are plenty of other sites where a potential client could read reviews, but why send them to 3rd party sites when you can give them the kind of information they want right on your website! Remember, the overarching goal of SEO is to drive more, targeted traffic to your website. Branded keywords are a great source of targeted traffic but you want to ensure that you send them to the right page of your site, which brings me to my next point.

Optimizing for branded keywords improves the user experience.

Let’s say I was having trouble with my Comcast service and wanted to speak to a customer service representative. Where would I find the phone number I needed? Chances are I’m heading to Google as opposed to trying to find a copy of my last bill (either paper or electronic). I might just head over to the Comcast home page, but I have a very specific goal in mind—I need the customer service phone number. As opposed to trying to dig through the site (which is really geared towards selling) I can quickly search for “Comcast customer service phone number” and, provided Comcast has properly optimized their website for branded keywords, I should be able to find the exact phone number I need with no fuss.

Optimizing for branded keywords helps improve the overall user experience of your website because it helps searchers find the exact piece of information they need. Are they looking for a particular product manual or guide? Branded keywords can help ensure they find that manually quickly and efficiently, which goes a long way in creating a great customer experience and building consumer and search engine trust. You want to make it as easy as possible for a searcher to connect with your brand when they need it!

These are just two reasons it’s worth optimizing your website for branded keywords. Remember, a well-balanced SEO campaign will incorporate a good mix of broad, long-tail and branded keywords into their onsite, link building and content marketing activities to make your SEO as natural as possible.

About the Author – Nick Stamoulis

Nick Stamoulis is the President of the SEO company Brick Marketing, which offers full service SEO services for B2B and B2C clients across the country. With nearly 13 years of industry experience, Nick Stamoulis shares his SEO knowledge by writing in the Brick Marketing SEO blog and publishing the Brick Marketing SEO Newsletter, read by over 150,000 opt-in subscribers.

Contact Nick Stamoulis at 781-999-1222 or nick@brickmarketing.com

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