Branded Keywords

Branded keywords are search queries that include your brand name or any variation of your brand. If someone runs a search for “Solvid link building” or simply just “Solvid,” those are branded keywords.

They are the opposite of non-branded keywords, which are more likely to be generic terms like “link building services” or “link building tools,” where the individual running the search will have no particular company in mind. This distinction is more important than it may first seem, because the two different types of keywords will behave very differently.

Importance of Branded Searches

Just as the name suggests, branded searches have the potential to be responsible for your best traffic. If someone is already searching for your name, they already have a good idea of who you are. This means they’ve heard of you from somewhere, whether it’s through a recommendation, past contact, a piece of content, or a brand mention.

This level of familiarity means that branded queries tend to convert at a far higher rate than more generic ones. They’re also typically cheaper to win, both in terms of organic and paid search.

Ranking for Your Brand

You should almost always rank first for search terms directly related to your brand, and if you don’t, then it’s a clear indicator that something could be seriously wrong with your SEO.

Tracking your branded versus non-branded performance is a great measure to refer to when tracking the success of your SEO efforts. Higher branded search volumes can be one of the best signs that your overall marketing efforts are a success. This is because it implies that more people know about your name and are seeking you out directly.

It’s also a key indicator of brand growth that a lot of businesses overlook. For instance, if you’re pouring effort into a PR and content campaign and your branded searches aren’t increasing, it could be a cause for reviewing your strategy.

Tools like Google Search Console allow you to filter queries to separate your branded and non-branded, which is an excellent way to better analyse the ways your leads discover your business.

Growing Branded Search

You should also keep your link-building and PR connections in mind when growing your branded queries.

The activities that earn you links and mentions, digital PR, guest posts, original research, and partnerships are the same activities that can grow your branded search on a substantial level.

Every time your name appears in front of your target audience, a proportion of them will be more likely to search for you directly later on.

With this in mind, a strong link-building strategy can help to compound your efforts into more branded traffic over time, which is one of the more under-appreciated long-term benefits of doing off-page work properly.

Protecting Your Brand

To make a success out of your branded keywords, it’s essential to protect your branded terms. This is because competitors can sometimes bid on rival brand names when it comes to paid search, and it’s likely to be a good idea to defend yours.

Just because you already rank for branded queries, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t continue in optimising for them. Be sure to keep essential landing pages in mind, as well as your homepage and key service pages, because you’ll need them to accurately represent your brand and maintain a high degree of relevance.

Branded traffic is one of the most precious commodities in SEO, and squandering it with a weak landing experience is a big mistake that should be avoided at all costs.