Most SEO advice talks about optimizing for keywords that don’t mention your brand because that is how you can attract complete strangers to your business. But what about search queries that do mention your brand?
In other words, what about attracting people who are exactly searching for your business? Naturally, you can optimize your website for these kinds of queries too. In this guide, I’ll explain how to do that. We’ll cover the following:
Difference between branded and non-branded search
Why optimize for non-branded search
Why optimize for branded search
How to optimize for branded search
Difference between branded search and non-branded search
The difference between branded and non-branded search is that a branded search contains your company, service, or product name, whereas a non-branded search doesn’t. This applies to both organic results and search ads.
Infographic on difference between branded and non-branded searches
Why optimize for non-branded search
Ranking for non-branded keywords allows you to attract people who are searching for products or services related to your business but may not necessarily know your brand. Hence, this is a great way to attract new customers.
Organic keywords report results for Ahrefs' article on SEO checklist
Our blog article about our SEO checklist attracts searchers who don’t necessarily know our product. Data via Ahrefs’ Site Explorer.
We have an entire SEO course that focuses on optimizing for non-branded keywords. So in this article, we’re going to focus on SEO for branded search.
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Why optimize for branded search
Ranking for branded keywords allows you to attract people who are specifically searching for information about your company.
They already know your brand but want to learn more about what you do. For example, they may be looking for reviews, comparisons with other brands, or specific information like technical data or media assets.
So with branded search, depending on the query’s intent, you’re targeting people who are:
Close to buying from you – People may be looking up your brand specifically or searching for comparisons between you and your competition. You can address any objections, answer questions, or reassure them you are the right choice.
Your current customers – Keeping your current customers informed is a straight path to keeping them happy.
The press – The aim here is to be the #1 source of information.
Brand fans and other people simply interested in what you do