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| SEO and brand building in start-ups |
Gone are the days when simple tactics, "cheap" text, and artificial links could be used to fake relevance to search engines. The search engines, above all Google, have developed enormously in recent years and are increasingly able to identify real brands and quality websites from the signals. We show how you can build and strengthen your brand awareness with sustainable SEO in connection with a healthy marketing mix.
The following applies to SEO: The database that Google uses is no longer limited to the backlinks and content of a website. A large number of independent signals and factors are included in the calculation of the rankings. For example, the mere mention of a company on a trustworthy site is a positive signal, as is a targeted search for the company name, domain, or company-specific product name.
In addition, user satisfaction is also playing an increasingly important role. At least since the introduction of the Panda algorithm, the search history of real users can determine the success or failure of a website in the search engine results.
Any sustainable and long-term successful search engine optimization must therefore be primarily based on the needs of the users. Sustainable SEO, therefore, works best as part of a healthy marketing mix. If other channels are already generating traffic and if there is a certain brand awareness, it will also go up much faster in the search engine rankings.
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Why does Google trust brands more?
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt already said in 2008 that brands are the solution and the way to drain the spam swamp: "Brands are the solution, not the problem [...] Brands are how you sort out the cesspool." In the same speech, he even went a step further and explained that people's brand affinity has a genetic component: "Brand affinity is clearly hard wired. It is so fundamental to human existence that it's not going away. It must have a genetic component.”
Because we trust well-known brands, can access their products more quickly, and sometimes even have religious feelings for our favorite brands, this statement does not seem to be completely absurd.
For example, the number of search queries for a website or the brand name is included in the evaluation of the domain, as is the ratio of branded search queries to unbranded ones. If, for example, 5500 users search for “shoes” every day and 1350 users enter “Zalando shoes” on Google in the same period, then this means that “Zalando” is extremely relevant to “shoes”.
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How to check if your website is already a brand for Google
Simply enter your brand name or the name of your website on Google. If your website is in 1st place, that's a good start. With real brands, however, Google not only displays a hit here but also expands the place of the first hit to include additional links, the so-called site links.
This is simply because users who are looking for a brand primarily want to get to that brand themselves and will click on the first search hit more often than average. This gradually gives the search engine the signal that the page stands for this term - it is a so-called "navigational search". The rule applies: "So the more space Google gives your shop on the search results page when searching for your brand name, the stronger your brand is on Google."
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| SEO and brand building in start-ups |
In addition, you can also find out which generic terms your brand or your company stands for from Google's point of view. At the bottom of the first search results page, you will often find related searches.
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If it contains search queries for your brand in combination with generic search queries or also searches for competitors in your market segment, there is a very high chance that Google will locate you in the right environment and users are already searching for your brand in combination with other terms.
SEO and brand building in start-ups
This information can also be read from Google's auto-completion function (Google Suggest). To do this, simply type your brand name into the search box and see the suggestions that appear below.
SEO and brand building in start-ups
These suggestions are sorted by search volume and can also be read out completely with the help of external tools such as the Long Tail Keyword Tool. You can find another example of this approach in my free white paper “SEO for online shops”.
Also Read: 9 Proven Tactics to Increase Clicks on Your Google Ads
How can fire signals be specifically enforced?
For new start-ups in particular, there is little trust and relevance from the search engine’s point of view at the beginning. The good news is: All measures that increase awareness of your brand and increase targeted demand for your content, products, and services have a positive effect on the SEO potential of your website.
In the start-up phase, it is therefore well advised to do other things related to PR and marketing, because organic traffic via SEO needs time and continuity to become a relevant factor. For example, a targeted display campaign via the Google Display Network can improve visibility in the medium term by generating search queries for your brand and direct visits, and it can even pay off in the long term.
Although this form of advertising usually has a very low click rate and high costs per conversion, the display of advertising leads to an increase in brand awareness, which can be reflected in increased search traffic via brand keywords or direct calls to the domain.
Some TV campaigns are particularly sophisticated, in which the brand is very strongly associated with a generic term and repeated in all commercials. This leads to a measurable increase in search queries for these combinations (e.g. “Shoes Zalando”) and is a very strong signal to the search engine that the Zalando brand stands for shoes and is directly associated with them by consumers.
But even without a large advertising budget, you can build an effective Google brand! Content marketing campaigns can bring about measurable branding effects and changes in search behavior that have a positive effect on SEO performance.
Creativity and real added value as well as a certain reach of this content are the keys to success. The right content marketing in combination with effective seeding also ensures natural linking and therefore has a direct effect on improving the visibility of your website.
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Conclusion: Think holistically
If you concentrate too much on being at the top of the organic search results without providing the visitor with the desired result and satisfying their actual needs, there will be no positive search experience and therefore no sustainable added value for the search engine, your website continues to list.
You shouldn't approach your SEO efforts with a crowbar, especially in the early stages of founding a company. While search engine optimization is all about improving the website's visibility in search engines, the overall goal must always be to attract converting users to the website.
A decision for the user is always a decision for more relevance in the search results in Google's own interest in the long term.
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