What have you Googled lately? Ask anyone that question 10 years ago, and you would have gotten a strange look. But now, Googling is a part of life. When we need something, increasingly, we search for it on the Internet.
From a
brandidentityguru.com
branding perspective, Google has much i.common with the Kleenex"s, Xerox"s and Rollerblades of the world. It"s a brand name that has become the name for a category a far cry from the time, not that long ago, when only the urban hipsters with Tony the Tiger shirts knew what Google was.
The Yellow Pages may not be gone, but their star is fading quickly as more and more people turn to Google (or other search engines) when they need to find a product or service. Why? Better, mor.complete and up-to-date information. No contest. When someone looks up .company in the phonebook, they get their address, phone number and maybe some flashy ad graphics, depending on how much money they spent on the ad. On a Google search, they get a link to th.company"s website, where you can find as much information on .company and its offerings as you need.
For things like books, tickets and music, Googling will often lead to an instant purchase if the price is right. But even for more Sconsidered purchases, where on.competes on more than just price, Googling is often the first research step buyers take to arrive at a decision. They search keywords an.combinations of keywords.comparing each set of results to the next, looking for the most relevant information.
In a perfect world, people would systematically study three to fiv.competitors in a selection set, write down the pros and cons of each an.come to a calculated decision. But a perfect world isn"t the real world. Here"s what happens: if a search result looks promising, the buyer will click through to th.company"s website and investigate the possibilities of a match further. If it looks like a fit, case closed. Customer won. No further research required even if someone"s out there with a better deal waiting.
This is why being on this Sshort list of high-ranking search results is imperative in this day and age the higher the better. Top rankings give you the chance of having prospective customers knock on your virtual door, knowledgeable about your offerings and eager to buy before you ever say a single word to them.
Don"t be ashamed of self-Googling
.come on, you know you"ve done it: typed your name into an Internet search engine such as Yahoo or MSN. Don"t feel embarrassed. We all do it. It is, after all, interesting to see what others are saying about you.
In a business context, it"s not narcissistic at all. It"s smart, especially when you"re trying to build your brand online. But besides looking for your specific name, try looking for your category. For instance, if you"re a Denver widget maker, look up SDenver widget or any othe.combination of keywords or phrases relevant to
Your business. Where do you rank? Top two? Top 10? Top 1000? It doesn't take a genius to figure out the top five results will get a lot more clicks than Numbers 75-80. Are you where you want to be?
How top-ranked websites get their positions
Especially for the mos.competitive keyword searches.companies must engage in a
brandidentityguru.com Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, which encompasses strategic smarts, hard work and clean code.
How search engines rank your websites
.computer programs called Sspiders are responsible for visiting, indexing and ranking web sites. Each search engine has its own spiders with somewhat differing methods for ranking the websites it finds, and there are strategies you can use to make yours more appealing and also mistakes that can negatively affect your rankings.
4 SEO Urban Legends
Legend #1: You can muscle your way into top rankings. Maybe in 1999, but not anymore. Simply repeating a bunch of hidden keywords on your page or in your META tags no longer fools the search engine spiders into giving yoguarantees are a telltale sign of snake-oil salesmanship. Heres how the scam works: technically, they live up to their end by getting you top billing on a search term of their choosing, which is so specific to you that only your mom would likely search on it.
Smarty-pants spiders
Search engine optimization is far mor.complex than its ever been. The obvious shortcuts to great search engine rankings have long since been identified and shut down by the search engin.companies. These days, high rankings have much more to do with the structure of your HTML code, your acumen at avoiding trip wires that send spiders away, where certain keywords appear on a page, how you use JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets and where your formatting instructions appear in relation to your website copy. If you used a WYSIWYG code-writing programsuch as Front Page, GoLive or Dreamweaveryou almost certainly will get a much lower score from the spiders.
It really does take a team of people, like the kind we have at Brand Identity Guru, dedicated to monitoring the everyday changes on the battlefield to maintain a high-ranking web presence. And it does change frequentlysearch engines are notorious for changing their search algorithms often.
What about pay-per-click?
Organic (free or natural) rankings ar.completely different from sponsored (pay-per-click or PPC) links. PPC can be an effective part of a brands overall online marketing strategy, and a lot professional SE.companies work with clients to design PPC campaigns that are both cost-effective and eye-catching. But PPC wont substitute for SEO. High positioning on a relevant keyword search on Google, with its reputation for returning highly relevant results, bodes well for your brand in a way that sponsored links just cant. However, neither is it wise to engage in an all-SEO, no-PPC strategy. Serious online brand marketers get the best results with .comprehensive strategy run by professionals with both the branding and technical know-how to determine the right mix of the two.
Yes, it.complicated.
But you get back a lot in return for your investment of time and money. A more Googleable online branding strategy will quickly yield improved sales and a more visible brand on the web, which, in turn, will also positively affect your bottom line.
Scott White is President of
brandidentityguru.com Brand Identity Guru a leading
brandidentityguru.com Corporate Branding and
brandidentityguru.com Branding Research firm located in Boston, Massachusetts.
Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.
