Branded Searches: What are they and Why do they Matter?

In the world of Google and search engine rankings, one of the highest forms of praise is when a user searches specifically for your business name or something they have previously seen on your site. It’s called a branded search. While there are ways to try to fake it, like search bots, Google crawlers or filters have gotten increasingly intelligent, so they seemingly oust those methods as fast as they pop up. Having people search specifically for your brand is not necessarily something you try to focus on with your SEO strategy, because your overall goal and analytics are focused on attracting more people who are generally searching for what you provide to your website or business; however, it is important to note the way branded searches impact your ranking.

Branded searches let search engines know that you are a real organization out in the world, providing some value to the community. It tells them that your business exists and that work is being done on its behalf. It says “people are engaging here and resonate with this product enough to singularly search for it.” It is essentially the digital evidence of “word of mouth” chatter. Because of this, branded searches are heavily weighted by search engines and can significantly improve your page or domain authority in the eyes of Google.

In this sense, increasing your general visibility and engaging in your community in real life is good for SEO. Branded searches are not weighed the same as QR code scans or direct traffic. There’s no way around it. The work still matters.