What significance does the brand have on the Google ranking? Do strong brands generally have an easier time on Google? And does it make sense to strengthen your own brand?
The importance of brands is becoming more and more important in search engine optimization, the traffic value of brands and the associated conversion rate can be extremely valuable. Users like to click on known terms or brands. Brands create trust and increase recognition value. This has a positive effect on the click rate and thus also on the traffic. If the user has a choice, they will click more frequently on a search result where they have a positive image of the respective brand in mind. This is exactly why it can be worthwhile to invest in your own brand and to anchor this positive image in the minds of potential customers.
Definition: branding
Branding is understood to mean all brand management activities, including:
- Building the brand
- Positioning the brand
- Brand communication
- Brand maintenance
- Expansion of the brand
- Brand revival
Depending on , at which point the cursor is positioned and how the goals were defined, various activities are meaningful. Branding to introduce a new brand usually looks different than established and well-known brands. Well-known brands can be so strong that they enter everyday language and are used s ynonymously for products . Examples of this are for example: Tempo, Tesa or the word “ googling ” for using a search engine.
The company wants to use branding to specifically link certain properties, messages or emotions with its own brand.
Branding is also often associated with symbols or images. The purple Mika cow, the apple from Apple, the star from Mercedes and many other brand symbols immediately evoke certain associations in consumers through the branding activities of the companies , which in the best case have a positive influence on the purchase decision. This effect often happens unconsciously, but the purchase decision is often made knowingly, at least in part, on the basis of the image.
Brand SEO: How does Google deal with brands?
Google uses a variety of criteria to identify a brand . So far, Google has not yet given any precise information about what these are. However, the following are important:
- The use of your own brand domain
- The brand name is not only registered with the country-specific TLD (e.g. .de or. Com ), but also with other country domains.
- The brand has several social media profiles with a lot of followers and signals.
- There is a certain search volume for the brand, which shows the importance to users.
- These brand ads are booked in Google Ads.
- The backlink profile has many brand links.
- The brand is fire-resistant, i.e. no generic components in the name .
- Protection of the brand in the respective country or in EU trademark law.
Anyone who sets up or operates a website for their brand should meet all the criteria to make it as easy as possible for Google to recognize their own brand as such and also to connect the brand owner with it.
SEO and Branding: The Vince Update
With the so-called Vince Update in February 2009, brand websites benefited and were thus better listed in the search results. Particularly large and well-known brands are classified as authorities by Google and are therefore preferred for certain search queries. In some cases, brands’ websites also rank ahead of pages that objectively actually better match the topic and have been more precisely optimized for the search query. This makes work more difficult for SEOs when the competition has the advantage of the brand.
In response and explanation for this change, Google recommends , build their own brands. If your own website is perceived by users as an authority and convinces with positive user signals , this is also rewarded by the Google algorithm. In addition, such a website receives high-quality backlinks on its own, which further underpins the status as a brand.
Branding through content marketing
A problem with branding or branding campaigns is that the effect is difficult to measure. Brand awareness or attitudes towards brands can only be researched in a very complex way and it is therefore difficult to determine the exact effect of a single campaign.
One possibility to make your own brand better known and to positively influence the brand image is to use content marketing. The EAT factors (expertise, authority, trustworthiness – in English : expertise, authority and trustworthiness) also play an important role here, because a brand can definitely embody all three factors.
Who its content Ma under rketing – strategy produces consistent and useful content and published , can be for instance in a field. The best example here is Wikipedia. By own quality r guidelines of the sheer size and the many links enjoys this domain and Google very much trust and is accordingly far be ranked above. Anyone who makes an informational search query will almost automatically click on the search result with the Wikipedia link, so it only makes sense for Google to place this high up. But other brands also enjoy the trust of potential customers.
Become an instance of knowledge with the right content
Anyone who keeps appearing repeatedly in various search queries on certain topics will be remembered. Informs a provider, for example, constantly about fishing , brings the latest news and explains terms from the em field, it will be for users that on this topic information into a knowledge i nstanz. They combine competence in the field of fishing with the domain and the provider . If a product is then searched and you land on this page or the page recommends this product, this influences the purchase decision. This is how content marketing can work and a brand is shaped.
At the same time, high-quality content also provides useful backlinks . Good content is shared and linked from other websites. This supports branding, has a positive influence on the Google ranking and, in the best case scenario, also generates traffic.
Brand searches as valuable traffic sources and brand indicators
If your own brand is so well known and present in the minds of the users at some point, they are increasingly looking for the brand in the search engine. SEO and brand are directly related at this point. If Google erken its own brand as such nt, top rankings on all fire Searches be much easier and click-through rates to be correspondingly high.
How can I become a brand with my content?
In principle, similar rules apply here as with any content marketing strategy:
1. Answer questions and be a problem solver
Recognizes what questions your visitors might have, what situation they are in and what their problems look like and then offers you solutions with your content. What exactly is necessary for this, whether detailed explanations, brief information, video tutorials or other content, depends on your options, products and the search queries.
2. Find your niche
Recreating Wikipedia or offering answers to all kinds of questions will not only be difficult but also not very promising. Trying , to find your special area where you can be the absolute competence. Focus on this niche and expand your visibility here.
3. What does your brand stand for?
Define your own values for your brand and consider how you can represent them in your content. Anyone striving for a relaxed image should also take this into account in their content and adapt the language style and address accordingly. Values such as sustainability, level or the desired target group must also be kept in mind when creating content.
4. Define and get to know your target group.
Those who know their target group can precisely adapt their own brand and content. The better you know your target group, the better you can deliver content with added value.
5. Show who you are.
Present yourself and make who you are transparent. A brand works much better with faces behind it. People can also become brands, for example as influencers or bloggers. Anyone who regularly visits a website and reads a blog, for example, can easily find out who is writing exactly. In this way you can also build a long-term relationship with your visitors.
