How Well Known Is Your Brand?

 

SEO is a very broad marketing strategy with hundreds of elements that go into enabling you to rank within Google. Some of these elements do play larger roles in helping you to obtain high rankings, all of which have to be executed if you want to rank on page one of Google.

To get the most out of SEO you must measure the results of all of the major factors, meaning data is crucial to your success. However, you aren’t able to easily measure all of the important factors and this means they usually get forgotten.

A common forgotten SEO metric is brand signals, and it reflects your businesses credibility and authority. Brand signals isn’t technical, it is just how people perceive your brand.

So, how do you measure what the audience thinks of your brand? 

1) Direct Traffic

Direct traffic will help you see how your brand is growing and it is easy to monitor via Google Analytics.  

The more people who search for you directly the stronger your brand is. Direct traffic will consist of people typing in your URL directly, or searching for your brand name within Google search. The volume of direct traffic your website receives should enable you to measure the brand signal.

If the volume is low, you should work towards improving your brand awareness.

2) Search Via Google

Simply enter your brand name into Google. If you are position one, that’s a good sign. If not, then your brand isn’t strong enough.

As a local business, you will also want to be able to type in “Estate Agents in [your area]” and see your business within one of the three local business listings.

These searches will give you an idea of your brands strength.

3) Find Out Who’s Talking About You

This will take a little bit more effort but it will give you an insight into how often your brand is mentioned online.

Look at the volume and growth of your followers on social media. Then look into how many people are talking about you through these social channels.

If you aren’t active on social media then this number is likely to be very low, however for those of you who actively using social media to increase brand awareness it will be a great insight to see how your efforts are paying off and if you need to change your social tactics.

4) Customer Reviews

Online reviews are great, especially when found on reputable platforms like Google, Facebook or Feefo.  The quantity of reviews your business has can have a huge impact on your brand equity.

For local businesses, reviews on sites like Google My Business should be top priority. You should be encouraging all happy customers to leave reviews because a couple of negative reviews or even no reviews have the potential to kill traffic to your website.

It is crucial that you monitor all review websites and ensure you reply to all reviews (especially negative ones) if required.

 

Although brand signals aren’t easily measurable like other elements of SEO, they are still a crucial part to your overall success. Don’t neglect your brand!