Building brand awareness: the role of branded keywords
Hi! I’m Erica Eller, a content marketer for sustainable businesses. If you’re new to my site, be sure to check out my content marketing services.
Branded keywords are the search queries people use to look for your website. If they’re searching for your brand name in Google, they either want more information, or they’re ready to buy your products or services.
People typing your brand name into a search have already passed the “brand awareness” stage. They know your brand, so there’s no good reason to target these keywords on any of your web pages other than your homepage.
What is a branded keyword?
A branded keyword is a searched word or phrase, also known as a search query, that has your brand name in it. It’s as simple as that. Examples for my site include “Erica Eller,” “Erica Eller writer,” or “Erica Eller content marketing services.”
Successful brands use other branding strategies outside their website (PR, social media, paid ads) to generate a lot of search queries for their brand name. Successful brands tend to rank first for their own branded keywords. Newer brands often have few search queries directly targeting their brand name.
Should you use branded keywords in your blog?
Branded keywords are not good keywords to target on your own business blog. Here’s why:
If people are searching for your brand name, they’ve already heard of your brand. They probably want to find your homepage, not your blog, by searching for your brand. Moreover, your blog posts shouldn’t compete with your homepage for your brand name. It’s counterintuitive.
Typing your brand name into blog posts that rank for non-branded topics is also pointless, because your brand name should already be visible everywhere on your site.
This is why you should use your own blog to target relevant non-branded keywords. This attracts likeminded visitors on other relevant topics.
However, you should still claim your branded keywords in Google Adwords, research their search volume, or generally track their progress. Branded keywords give you great insight into your brand health and overall level of brand awareness. If you’re not getting a lot of direct searches for your brand, you might lack a clear brand identity.
Generating interest and awareness about a brand name results in a higher number of branded keyword searches. But this kind of branding should happen on every digital marketing channel, except your own blog. The content on your own site should be engaging and sharable, though. This brings more traffic to your site through other channels.
Tips on marketing to promote branded keywords
It’s important to try to get more people mentioning your brand online. One of my clients successfully built up their brand name recognition on Tiktok, where their Gen Z target audience hangs out. Now their brand name results in 30,000 total monthly searches. Pretty good for a small, newer brand—right?
Brands are great conversation topics and people talk about them all of the time.
Some ways people mention brands
Think of the last time you heard the name of a brand mentioned. It was probably cited as the first, the worst, the most unique, the most funny, ridiculous, clever, etc. in its field. In order to express these mention-worthy attributes, people may do the following:
Blogging Reviews: “BRAND’s products are good for survival in the Arctic, because xyz”
Reddit Gossip: “I heard that BRAND’s managers give employees therapy for free”
Social Sharing of Content: “Check out this this Tiktok by BRAND”
Social Sharing of Products: “I’m wearing BRAND’s net zero t-shirt”
Press: “BRAND’s latest patent will revolutionize eco-friendly cement”
Webinars/Speaking Events: “BRAND’s CEO will give a talk on how they transformed their supply chain to ensure fair labor standards”
These examples show how important publicity is for your brand. Publicity involves turning your brand into a conversation topic, by doing newsworthy things. Becoming a talked-about subject feels like an inverted means of marketing compared to most actions that explain and contextualize. For this kind of branding, you need to get your brand in the hands of the right brand allies.
Brand allies who mention and display brands
You can consider the people who mention your brand to be “allies” in generating buzz. They help increase the number of search queries for your branded keywords. Here are some examples of who can help.
Influencers
Event or conference organizers
Journalists
Publications or blogs
Talk show hosts
Podcast hosts
Employees
Brand ambassadors
Customers willing to write reviews
Customers displaying your products publicly (on social media, for instance)
Social media followers
Almost anyone can become a brand ally if they’re given a good reason to do so. That’s why it’s always important to clearly communicate your purpose and help others understand your unique selling proposition.
So, what are you doing that makes others talk about your brand?
As you undergo this process of becoming the subject of conversation, here are some ways to ensure that people attribute your actions to your brands.
Best practices for improving brand name recognition
These best practices make your brand front and center anytime you do something mention-worthy.
Add your brand logo to all your graphics and media.
Use social media and create sharable content to generate brand awareness: Youtube, Pinterest, Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook pages and Facebook groups are all great places to do this.
Ask for mentions where appropriate, but try to build a community that automatically mentions you without the ask.
Use press releases and press outreach to publicize announcements.
Actively engage in online conversations in groups, forums, etc.
Mention other brand-compatible influencers, and they’ll probably mention you in return.
Track and monitor brand mentions of your company through social search tools.
Make waves and the branded searches will follow.
Contact me for help on your SEO blog, which is my specialization (and contact a PR pro for getting more brand mentions!!)