Branded searches matter too

When companies invest in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), their main focus is on unbranded terms. For example, if you’re a roofer you might be trying to rank for things like “roof replacement”, “roofing in Marietta” and other terms like that. This is a fantastic approach, but it often overshadows the value of focusing on your branded searches.

Branded searches are when people search for your name specifically. Rather than searching for a generic marketing firm by using things like “website design companies” or “marketing firms in Marietta”, one might search directly for “GreenMellen”. This is gold, and should not be ignored. The goal of every business should be to be the answer for a problem. If someone finds us via “website design companies”, that’s great; if they find us via “GreenMellen” because they’ve heard we’re the solution for their problem, that’s 10x better.

The good thing about branded search results is that you should do fairly well without much effort. If you have a unique business name, your website should come up first without much effort (unless you mistaken left the magic checkbox checked, or you got too cute with your name).

However, there are some things you can do to help further:

Google Business Profile

Make sure to claim your Google Business Profile listing, as well as related listings at Yelp and other industry-specific sites.

Schema

Adding structured markup / schema to your site can help a bit, and often will get Google to show a little more info about your business when someone searches for your name.

Claim and be active elsewhere

Adding more sites that you control to the top of your Google results is a great way to strengthen your branded search results. Here is a good example using personal results, but the same applies to your business. The more results that you can control, the better.

I’m certainly not advocating that you stop worrying about unbranded SEO, as that can be a great source of traffic for your site. Over time, though, you should get increasing amounts of branded search traffic as your company becomes more well-known and respected, so keep an eye on those results and make sure you’re looking as sharp as you can.