Google’s Webmaster Guidelines provide a great starting point on how to optimize your site for Google. However, it fails to mention one aspect of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that has recently become much more important in getting your site to rank well – Branding.
On January 18th, 2009, Google updated its search engine to put a much higher emphasis on name brands. This was not entirely unexpected – last year, Google CEO Eric Schmidt made some comments about branding and how it can be used by Google to help filter out sites of low value.
In an interview in October, 2008, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said,
The internet is fast becoming a “cesspool” where false information thrives, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said yesterday. Speaking with an audience of magazine executives visiting the Google campus here as part of their annual industry conference, he said their brands were increasingly important signals that content can be trusted.
“Brands are the solution, not the problem,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Brands are how you sort out the cesspool.”
“Brand affinity is clearly hard wired,” he said. “It is so fundamental to human existence that it’s not going away. It must have a genetic component.”
After the update, SEO expert Aaron Wall reported that several well known brands were now showing up in the top 10 search results for generic keyword searches in their markets.
For example, prior to the January update, searching on “airline tickets” did not show any of the major airlines, but only travel sites and others that were optimized for that phrase. After the update, major airlines suddenly jumped up in the results for that same search.
Aaron also noted that RadioShack.com now shows up for the search term electronics and Hallmark.com now shows up when searching for gifts. Prior to the update, these sites were much lower on the search results.
Why Do Brands Help Filter Out The Garbage?
One of Google’s biggest challenges is to filter out spam sites from those that contain real value for the public. These spam sites are essentially set up to display ads or direct searchers to another site by way of an affiliate link. These sites generally do not add substantial value to the internet and often frustrate users.
A brand that is associated with a market takes time to build and promote and likely some monetary investment. Most spam site creators or affiliate marketers are not willing to do any of these. Once Google can associate a brand name with a market, the link could be made to related keywords.
Note here that I’m not talking about ranking your site for some unique name or phrase you were able to come up with – that’s actually pretty easy. The goal here is for your site to rank for a market or niche related keyword without you specifically optimizing for that keyword.
When this happens you know Google has associated your brand with your market.
OK, So What Do I Do Now?
Well, when it comes to your website, you should definitely still follow the webmaster guidelines and other known SEO strategies. These are no less important, especially if you don’t yet have an established brand. These aspects of SEO help link your brand to your market.
For the long-term, you should think about branding your business as a whole. Branding is not something I can cover here completely, but here are some suggestions to get you going:
- Thoroughly research your market and think of ways to dominate it. This may require you to rethink your business and narrow your niche or specialize.
- Be more than just a business with a website – be active in your niche via trade-shows and conferences. Establish a tribe of dedicated followers.
- Build a great looking website that establishes credibility among peers and other media. Yes, you might just have to spend some money.
- Do not shy away from making waves – if you are bland and boring, no one will notice you.
- Once you have a logo (probably not one designed by you or your cousin Joe) be sure to use it consistently.
- Create a useful and free version of your product or provide lots of quality information for public access on your site. This will encourage people to link to your site naturally.
Again, these are just a few tips to get you thinking about branding. Remember, this is not an overnight process, so the sooner you get started, the better. Another resource I can recommend is 48 Days.net. This site is packed with great advice on building a business. There is even a group centered around Branding and Positioning.
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