How to Use Brand SEO to Future-Proof Your Online Visibility

With digital ad spending projected to reach $701 billion in 2023, generic CTR dropping by 12% between position 1 and 2, the increase in no-click searches (+60%), and the constant rolling out of updates. It's more important than ever to build a sustainable online brand presence to algorithm-proof your traffic. This talk will explore how SEOs can contribute to Brand building and how it can help future-proof your online visibility.

Transcript

1. How to Use Brand SEO to Future-Proof Your Online Visibility Miracle Inameti-Archibong Head of Organic Search, John Lewis (Financial Services) @mira_inam
2. Why You Need to Start Caring About Brand SEO 2
3. Information Overload 3
4. 4 About 4,670,000,000 results
6. “30 to 50 billion web pages” The estimated number of pages in Googles index. Source: firstrateguide.com 6
7. The Goal Post Keeps Moving 7
8. Over 349 Google PageRank & Algorithm updates since 2020 (including rumoured updates). Source: Search Engine Roundtable 8
9. 4,367 No. of Google SERP launches in 2021. Source: Think with Google 9
10. 11,553 No. of Google live traffic experiment in 2021. Source: Think with Google 10
11. 65% of searches don't click on organic results on pages 1 or 2. Source: SEO Clarity CTR Study 11
12. The Future of Search 12
13. 13 Personalisation + Conversational
14. “ … a bit like chatting with a helpful person. Google on generative answers 14
15. “ ….there should be fewer instances of irrelevant results after your query. Google on generative answers 15
16. 16 Potential for bias.
17. 17 Potential for very narrow search journeys.
18. 18 My hypothesis Show me a list of dresses similar to the Zara brand but cheaper.
25. 25 SEO isn’t dead LLM needs data to power it. However…
26. 26 …Discoverability from the web will get even harder.
27. 27 Paid Advertising Will Get Even More Expensive
28. Advertising across all digital channels is expected to reach 65.1% of global ad spend by 2024. Source – Zenith Media 28
29. Why I Started thinking About Brand Search 29
30. I have worked with on several sites that have their SEO all figured out. 30
31. However, whenever there was an algorithm update … 31
32. So I did some research of the SERPs 32 I measured the share of brand association to product
33. 33 Car insurance
34. 34 Dresses
35. 35 Nappies
36. Correlation Brands with strong demand are more likely to retain position 1 36
37. 37 Brand visibility key – Make them come to you.
38. 38 Strong, positive brand demand is an indication of trust. Correlation
39. How To Create A BrandSEO Strategy 39
40. 40 The challenges of brand SEO ◉ Immeasurability ◉ Ownership (think more like marketers) ◉ Collaboration
41. The aim of Brand SEO is to make your brand more recognisable and trustworthy to consumers, leading to an increase in brand searches 41
42. Is your brand a recognised entity? 42 ◉ Cohesive brand identity ◉ Consistent and distinctive naming conventions
43. 43 Knowledge graph
44. 44 Local ◉ Reviews ◉ GMB ◉ Local citations & links ◉ Localised content ◉ Onpage local elements
45. 45 Schema ◉ Webpage ◉ Recipes ◉ Organization ◉ Review ◉ Local business ◉ Product ◉ FAQ ◉ AggregateRating ◉ Place ◉ Restaurant
46. 46 Brand reputation ◉ Review sites ◉ Social media ◉ Forums
47. “ What others say about your brand is more important than what you say about it. @Mira_inam 47
48. 48 Establish links between knowledge banks
49. Brand content strategy 49
50. 50 First dominate your brand SERP.
51. Not quite right 51
52. 52 Expedia
53. 53 Expedia TechBoomers Expedia
54. Doing it right 54
55. 55 Airbnb
56. 56 Collaboration ◉ Product ◉ Forums ◉ Customer service ◉ Reviews ◉ Competitor brand searches ◉ Socials
57. Find your brands’ personality? 57
58. 58 Positioning Identify your brands online identity.
60. 60 Adventure
62. 62 Serious Authoritative
63. 63 VS Premium & Usability Flexibility & customization
64. 64 VS Innovation & performance Retro styles and comfort
65. 65 VS Affordable coffee & donuts Premium coffee & pastries
66. 66 This is a content strategy driven by social identity theory and not keywords.
67. Social Identity Theory 67
68. “ … people seek to become members of groups that raise their self-esteem. Chaitanya Khotar 68
69. 69 Benefits of social identity theory ◉ Loyalty ◉ Promotion
70. 70 Brands that align with our self- concept create strong connections.
71. “ Your brand's online identity is your tribe's beacon. 71
72. 72 CRM PR Brand Product Top of the funnel content strategy Social SEO
73. 73 A strong brand SEO strategy builds EEAT
74. 74 Experience & Expertise ◉ Reputable authors ◉ Authors qualifications ◉ Collaborations with people who reflect the brand values
75. 75 Authority Establish links between knowledge banks ◉ Link building ◉ Citation ◉ Accreditations ◉ Awards
76. 76 Trust ◉ Reviews ◉ Forum ◉ Consistent Branding ◉ SSL Certificate ◉ About us page ◉ Website UX ◉ Social
77. 77 A brand SEO strategy give us some room to innovate and experiment.
78. Lush cuts Google Ad spend by ‘millions’ as part of its big tech revolution. 78
79. Over, 4,861,140 global brand searches. 79 Lush brand visibility
80. 80 Case Study – Confused.com Car insurance market share from Jan – October 2022
81. 81 Car insurance organic clicks from Jan – October 2022
82. 82 Car insurance organic clicks from Jan – July 2023
83. 83 Case Study – Confused.com Car insurance market share from Jan – July 2023
84. 84 Confused car insurance brand search 62,350
85. 85 If we all pursue the same keyword, we will all be competing in a crowded space. Make them come to you
86. Thank you Miracle Inameti-Archibong Head of Organic Search, John Lewis (Financial Services) @mira_inam miracleinametiarchibong.com