Build A Brand – The Futureproof Process for SEO Success

Recently I’ve been seeing Google making a boat load of changes to their on-page layouts. Whilst not as extreme as algorithm changes, these can have a huge effect on your blog search engine efforts. For example, recently Google implemented larger branded links, which can dominate the Google listings above the fold.

Google will always seem to rank good brands highly, at least for the forseeable future, so the one way you can maintain rankings through all of Google’s changes is via building a brand.

Personally, having a brand search like the one above is a great thing, as it shows Google trusts you and your content. But how do you actually get that sort of look? Here’s a few tips.

1. Make Sure Your Brand Matches Your Domain Name

There is massive weighting towards exact match domains for branded links. Most people should be able to rank their site fairly quickly for any phrases associated with your domain name. As such, make sure your brand name is your domain name, or as close as possible to your brand name.

What happens if your brand is keyword rich, where domain names are hard or easy to get? Well I use a tool called My Brand New Brand to quickly check prefixes and suffixes of domain names, and register those that interest me.

2. Make Sure That Some Of Your Link Building is Brand Related

Opinion

varies on how many links (or rather, what percentage of links you should build links for your brand). If your site is the sort of site that can attract links, then I wouldn’t worry too much about building extra links surrounding your brand. People will normally link to your site with your brand name or domain name. However, if you cannot secure a branded domain name, then make sure at least a few of your links are associated with your brand.

3. Make Sure Most Of Your Social Media Mentions are Brand Related

Google have begun (or at least seen to have begun) viewing social signals as brand bonuses. For example, it can be seen that tweets have an effect on suggested searches (don’t believe me? Repeat a tweet on a daily basis for a low search term and it’ll become a suggested search). At the very least you should create a twitter profile and link it to your domain. At the very least you’ll get a “no-follow” link from an authoritative domain, which is worth something.

The Beauty of Being A Brand For SEO

If you are viewed as a brand in the eyes of Google, you’re in luck! Brands can get away with so much in the eyes of Google. Why? Well, if you’re – say – BMW, and you don’t rank highly for “BMW Cars”, then it doesn’t make you look bad. It makes Google look bad. As such, very little is penalised (until a proveribial s**tstorm occurrs like the JC Penney SEO Controversy, where Google has to manually act). Furthermore, brands are rewarded with things such as extra site links. As such, focus your SEO strategy on not building rankings, but by building brands. Your long term success depends on it.