Search engines fosters websites that make continuous efforts in their marketing strategy to keep the interest of the user engaged and focus on buyer persona to drive traffic to their website. With people spending more time than ever you need to optimize your website to make the users navigate through different sections and take the intended action. Whether you are focusing on improving ad rank and position or implementing SEO plan & strategy to improve the ranking of the website on SERPs, all these marketing techniques yields desired result when the target audience gets in touch with your brand. Let us see ahead in the blog how you can optimize marketing on the online platforms to increase branded search traffic.
What is branded search traffic?
A branded keyword is a search term entered by the user that contains your brand name. Branded search traffic is the number of visitors that your website receives in a given duration like weekly, monthly, etc. The more the people are familiar with the brand name, the more they would directly enter the name and get the desired results. So, when the keywords or phrases entered includes your company’s name, it helps you understand that your marketing efforts are yielding desired results. It is proof that your brand awareness strategy is well implemented. You can then take necessary steps in website optimization to keep the user engaged, leading them to take the intended action and improve the conversion rate. E.g., when a user searches for - ‘Outsource SEM white label SEO services’; in this search term, ‘Outsource SEM’ is the brand name.
With a proper SEO marketing strategy, you can build brand awareness and increase branded search traffic. In the era of online marketing, different from traditional marketing, you need to focus on SEO trends to gain the users' trust in your brand name. Search engines also perceive that the business is trustworthy as people search directly by entering the brand name. It shows the clarity in users' search and where they intend to get the product or services from. When performing remarketing, as you focus on preparing an email marketing list, content marketing, etc., in the same way, you can consider some of the tips discussed ahead to increase branded search traffic to your website.
Tips to increase branded search traffic
1. Prepare branded keyword list - In your strategy to increase branded search traffic, you need to focus on preparing a brand keyword list. In your branded keyword strategy, you need to choose the high traffic relevant keywords so that the ranking of your website on the SERPs increases. The more number of users view your website, the higher are the chances of them making a click on your website. You need to write great product page descriptions to improve the post-click experience of the user so that the interest of the user is engaged that ultimately leads the users to take the intended action.
To increase the organic visibility on the search engines and increase branded search traffic, you need to focus on conducting keyword research. When you work on SEO optimization, you need to focus on increasing the branded search traffic. The more time users spend on the website means they would navigate through different sections. You need to focus on increasing the average session duration of the users in your website optimization strategy. In organic search traffic, when the users choose your website over competitors, you need to focus on user retention so that the users choose your website every time for the relevant keywords or search terms entered. With the help of brand keyword list, you can identify the users' interests and then focus on writing user-generated content that lures them to stay intact with your brand. One thing that you need to focus on is choosing the long-tail keywords, as in your branded search traffic, you figure out users in a given duration like weekly, monthly, etc. So, you need to decide whether you are getting branded search traffic from small keywords, generic keywords, etc.
2. Focus on link building - Another point you need to focus on to increase branded search traffic to your website is link building. When you are working on your SEO optimization strategy, you focus on implementing the changes like providing flawless user experience, increasing dwell time, focusing on content organization, avoiding keyword stuffing, etc.; in the same way, you need to focus on building links. The more links your website generates, the more users are attracted to your website. This helps increase the users' trust and improve your brand recognition. The more number of referring domains that your website receives correlates with the better website ranking on the SERPs.
In PPC advertising, you run ad campaigns on various Google Display Networks to get in touch with the relevant target audience when they reach the landing page by clicking on these ads. In the same way, to increase branded search traffic, you focus on improving organic search and getting quality backlinks for your website. When you start writing blogs, articles, etc., for your website, you emphasize increasing the number of internal links and external links in website optimization so that the users move movements to reach different pages of your website and links that you get from relevant websites. In link-building, you need to focus on getting the links from authoritative websites and not black hat websites. You can also avail of offshore SEO services and hire virtual assistants from offshore digital marketing to increase branded search traffic to your website.
With advertisers using Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, YouTube Ads, etc., to increase the number of clicks on your ad, similarly, social media marketing cannot be missed by the marketers to increase branded search traffic on the website. As social media channels are used by like minded-people, e.g., Facebook is operated by friends & family, LinkedIn is used by professionals, c-level executives, etc. So, in SEO marketing, if a user is satisfied by the product or services you are offering, they are likely to discuss it with their near & dear ones, which helps in affiliate marketing. When you get links from partner websites, the chances of the users feel that the website is trustworthy, which is the reason why the website is getting more backlinks. Some points that you can consider in website optimization are listed below.
a. Focus on guest-blogging.
b. Optimize broken links.
c. Build brand awareness.
d. Perform competition analysis to determine where they are getting links from.
3. Use brand name in metadata - Another point you need to focus on in branded search traffic is using your brand name in the metadata. The brand name in metadata strengthens your brand name and is unlikely to be mistaken for another company, thus ensuring that the branded search terms lead users to the right product or services they are searching for.
You can analyze the performance of various SEO metrics in your SEO campaign and determine whether the meta titles & meta tags are working fine or not. With changes in SEO trends, you need to keep updating the meta description so that the user does not misjudge your offerings. As you focus on ad relevancy in PPC advertising in the same way, you need to ensure that the content on the website has relevance to the metadata. Some points you can consider in writing metadata with brand names listed in it are discussed below.
a. Use your brand name in the meta title.
b. Use focus keyword in metadata.
c. Ensure that it has unique content.
d. The content should resonate with the users intent.
e. Include a compelling call to action.
4. Leverage social media platforms - Another point that you need to focus on in your strategy to increase branded search traffic is to utilize social media platforms. With the increase in the number of users on social media platforms, you cannot miss the opportunity to get in touch with this wide audience. You should consider social media marketing to get in touch with these audiences.
You should consider building brand awareness on social media platforms so that these users can easily choose your brand name. Having social brand pages on different social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc., is becoming a necessity nowadays so that the users can get in touch with your business 24/7. You should consider that the users on these platforms get in touch with your social media posts. The more the users engage with your social media page, the better are the chances that the user would take the intended action. You should ensure that the users like and subscribe to your pages so that they receive regular notifications regarding your business. Some points that you need to consider in social media marketing are listed below.
a. Choose the social media platforms appropriately.
b. Focus on audience segmentation.
c. Use small engaging videos in stories and reels.
d. Conducting SEO audit to detriment the performance of KPIs.
5. Encourage user ratings & reviews - In your strategy to increase branded search traffic to your website, another point that you need to focus on is user ratings & reviews. When a user avails of your product or services, you should consider them asking for ratings & reviews. There are chances that the user must have some questions to ask from the business. So, you should consider asking the users asking questions and if they have any feedback to share.
The ratings and reviews section on your webpage helps in increasing brand loyalty as the visitors on the page feel that the company does not hide any business points from the users. You can consider adding robots.txt to hide the pages that you do not want to be visible to the users. You should also consider showing the negative comments. Some points that you can consider adding in your SEO optimization strategy to increase branded search traffic are listed below.
a. Follow up your buyer's journey.
b. Work on attribution report to identify where the users come from.
c. Perform remarketing those who did not convert.
d. Include user name and image in testimonials.
6. Marketing on multiple channels - The next important point that you need to focus on in your branded search traffic is to focus on marketing channels. When your website appears for the organic search on different marketing channels, you see increased traffic. You can consider conducting an SEO audit to determine where the users to your website come from.
When you advertise on multiple channels, your brand recognition grows. Various channels have a different number of users and the interest of the user varies accordingly. So, you need to focus on targeting the exact users that have high chances of taking the intended action. As you focus on writing ad copies in PPC advertising to make the users click on a pay-per-click ad. In the same way, you should consider writing great descriptions about your product or services so that the users click on your website. You should consider including engaging call-to-action that creates urgency among the users to convert into customers. Some points to consider in multi-channel marketing are listed below.
a. Maintain a single view of the users across all channels.
b. Create great user experiences across all formats.
c. Focus on customer touchpoint to make them take intended action.
7. Focus on local SEO - In your strategy to increase branded search traffic, another point that you need to focus on is local SEO. It plays a crucial role in targeting users to a specific location, is a great way of demographic targeting and increases branded traffic to your website. In local SEO, when your website appears for the organic search, the users believe that the product or services are in sync with the marketing trends and the business is providing them the same. So, if you build your brand name, you can drive huge branded search traffic to your website and you can consider preparing a brand keyword list in this regard. Once the user associates with your brand, you can take the necessary steps to retain the user in the long run.
Local SEO focuses on targeting users that are specific to a particular location, so you need to work on audience segmentation so that you get to show products or services as per their interests. You can consider conducting an SEO website audit and then performing website optimization that leads to increasing branded search traffic and improving conversion rate. Some points that you need to focus on local SEO strategy in SEO marketing to increase branded search traffic are listed below.
a. Optimizing alt tags and filenames for your brand images.
b. Optimize your local business like local posts, services list, etc.
c. Focus on building a mobile-friendly website.
d. Adding local schema to your website.
8. Add a pop-up to your website - Another point you need to focus on in branded search traffic is to include a pop-up on your website. When the users click on your website for the organic search results, you need to keep the user's interest engaged on the webpage. When the user is engaged to your website, there are high chances that the user would end up taking the intended action. You need to consider adding a pop-up in your SEO marketing strategy to avoid getting bored and ease the user's navigation.
With the increasing number of websites ranking higher in the SERPs is not only the thing that you need to focus on in strategic marketing. As you focus on adding a pop-up in content marketing, email marketing, etc., in the same way, while building branded search traffic, pop-ups help answer the users' doubts in very less time. The pop-up should be installed in a way so that the user easily finds it easy to access. As in PPC advertising, you work on ad scheduling to show ads to the users' timing; similarly, in Google SEO or Bing SEO, you can leverage artificial intelligence and schedule pop-ups that appear at a particular time. Keywords from the brand keywords list can also be used in the pop-up. You can consider offering discounts or offers, asking the users what they are actually looking for, etc. Some points that you can consider in preparing branded search traffic is listed below.
a. Use of voice searches.
b. Improve the page loading speed so that visitors see not only the pop-up tab but also the website content.
c. Ask for ratings & reviews.
Conclusion
Branding comes with many benefits and one of them is that the users can directly search for products or services by adding the brand name. It also acts as social proof of how popular your brand name is. With multiple results shown in the organic search for the keywords or search terms entered, the brand name helps the users from getting lost in the void. So, you should focus on preparing your brand keyword list to get in touch with the relevant audience.
As more and more users are searching online business, they do not focus much on increasing branded search traffic, while the ones that perform this step have better chances of increasing the conversion rate. E-commerce websites focus on updating their website content with the e-commerce trends to lure visitors to their website. So, whichever business your website deals in, you must focus on building branded search traffic to see an increased number of users on your website. If you find implementing multiple changes in a go seems a complex process, you can get in touch with a digital marketing company with expertise in SEO analytics, SEO copywriting, guest posting, video SEO, small business SEO, local SEO, etc. and get more qualified leads to your website which will ultimately help you achieve your target goals.
References
• How to optimize for branded organic search traffic
• How to influence branded searches and search volumes to earn big rewards