Google (and any other search engine) always give a better and favored treatment for bigger brands. More prominent brands rank for competitive terms with fewer links. For base and long tail keywords, brands rank quickly in SERPs. Whereas, the smaller brands need more than twice the link of bigger brands to get ranked for similar terms in SERP.

Brand building and SEO work toward the same goal. Get better traffic, targeted traffic, improved conversion, profitable ROI. Like, every bigger brand small and mid-sized businesses too should focus on spreading the brand image with their users in mind.

Remember, an established brand usually stays in the forefront of a person’s mind even after the sale or service is over.

Google SERPs changes and updates just as frequently as each algorithm update. Most recently, SERPs consist of sitelinks, Local Pack, Knowledge Graph, Featured Snippets, People Also Ask, Images, Videos, Product Listings, and Reviews.

According to Google’s guidelines to their quality raters (real people who assess web pages and grade scores against the predefined set of perimeters) EAT principle is predominantly used. E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness.

While Google has not mentioned in their document about the brands against the EAT principle specifically, it is quite evidently important that brands fulfill all these standards by default.

According to Google, high-quality pages own the following characteristics:

• The content should be good enough to please the needs of a user for a page’s unique topic and purpose
• The website also holds enough secondary information, for example, “About us,” “Contact us”, etc.
• The website speaks about the supplementary content (SC) that improves the user’s experience of a web page
• The page is structured and designed in a way that users locate the content easily and quickly.
• The website is maintained and edited regularly

Here are some brand building tips to ensure your SEO strategy supports your efforts:

• Create fresh and unique content that addresses your users/audience pain points with blog posts, in-depth articles, videos, and podcasts.
• Add value to the existing content to make them linkable content assets
• Build authority via content
  • Create a blog section on your website and start adding your expert opinion
  • Be a contributor or guest blogger in niche forums/portals to have a share of voice to increase your brand image
  • Publish press releases about your brand and its activities
  • Acquire quality links via natural content-driven link building activities
  • Maintain a quality backlink profile
  • Optimize your content for your consumers by using targeted and long-tail keywords that THEY will resonate with organically. However, do not focus on keyword phrases for search engine crawlers
• Be active on social media channels
  • Repurpose your content across various social media channels
  • Make your employees your brand advocates in social channels
  • Cross-promote the content via social channels
  • Have influencers talk about your business for reputation management and increase social shares
• Leverage universal search (Images, Videos, etc)
• Have a consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) across the internet. These local SEO factors for crucial for ranking if you are running a location-specific business.
• If not backlinks, create brand identity via brand mentions from related websites
• Have your website search engine optimization compliant
  • Audit your website against technical SEO compliance and fix the errors. Make use of Google’s free Search Console to get quick error reports on your website.
  • Leverage SEO on-page optimization and incorporate the crucial SEO elements
  • Follow white-hat SEO best practices and adhere to Google’s guidelines to stay on the track.
  • Consistent use of on-page optimization and off-page SEO while building a brand
• Claim your Business on Google My Business to get visibility in Google Knowledge Panel.
  • Do not forget Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps
  • Data Aggregators helps you build your brand across the world wide web.
• Build your marketing strategy focusing the local publications. Google and Bing will reward your business with a boost in local and blended search rank when you get a mention/link from local publications.

As a business, you don’t just want people to identify you with jus t your logo. You should want your target audience and need them to find you and connect with you. Appearing for relevant search keyword phrases and search terms found by the target audience is the key to any brand image building strategy. SEO helps with both.

Share your thoughts on the comments. Are you looking for consultation on how to build your brand image, increase your online presence, and get visibility for your brand? Let’s connect!