People trust Google to answer their search queries with valuable and relevant content.
Effective search marketing allows your business to benefit from that trust and establish a positive brand impression with your target audiences.
Appearing at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) helps you to generate both awareness and credibility for your brand, which in turn leads to greater web traffic and conversions.
The first result on Google earns over 40% of all clicks and nearly 90% of all searchers look at only the first page of Google.
This article demonstrates how SEO and PPC advertising help business build an authoritative brand.
PPC and SEO Improve Brand Recognition in the Short and Long-Term
Search marketing is an effective way to familiarize your audience with your brand, particularly paid search.
People click on what they know: Brand familiarity is the second-most common reason people click on search ads, behind when ads directly answer a search.
Relevant paid ads are an opportunity to create brand awareness. When people see your company atop the SERPs, they may associate the topic they search with your company.
This is particularly valuable for new companies or companies going through a rebrand, since investing in PPC advertising allows you to earn top rankings immediately.
Over time, this visibility can become brand recognition, a benefit that extends to organic search results. According to Search Engine Land, 70% of people say they look for a known retailer when deciding which search results to click on.
Brand recognition helps your brand stay top-of-mind with consumers as they navigate the buyer’s journey.
The greater your presence on search results pages, the greater your brand recognition, which improves your chances of earning clicks and future purchases.
Strong Search Rankings Improves Brand Engagement
Search marketing is effective because it reaches people before they act.
People search according to their purchasing intent, or their likelihood to purchase a product in that moment. For example, paid search ads get 65% of all clicks from people who are looking to make an immediate purchase, according to Wordstream.
People’s intent represent “micro-moments,” or decision points that align with their intention to:
- Go somewhere
- Buy something
- Do something
- Learn something
People express their intent through keywords – for example, “seo” illustrates lower intent to hire an SEO company than the phrase, “cost of seo company.”
To engage people according their intent, align your SEO strategy to the keywords your target audiences use.
Being visible on Google at micro-moments allows you to generate brand awareness and conversions, especially on mobile. Half of millennials have purchased from a previously unknown brand after performing a mobile search.
To earn meaningful brand engagement, invest in search marketing to earn people’s attention at the critical moments of their purchasing decisions.
SEO Improves Your Overall Brand Experience
User experience (UX) is an indirect but important ranking factor.
Specifically, some technical SEO services improve your on-site experience and brand image.
For example, using headers and sub-headers make your site content navigable and user-friendly.
Numerous ranking factors for SEO and site UX overlap, such as:
- Usability: Your site is easy to navigate, which helps users and acts as a ranking factor.
- Relevance: Content is useful, high-quality, and targeted to your audience..
- Readability: Content is easy to read, using on-page elements to aid with content consumption and site crawling.
- Credibility: Your brand appears as authoritative and trustworthy to readers, both in content and backlink quality.
If your website is easy to use and navigate, you’ can better attract and retain your audience. If people perceive your brand as engaging and relevant, your brand image steadily improves.
For paid search, craft your ad copy to offer immediate value to your audience. According to Search Engine Land, 75% of people click on search ads because they make it easier to find the information they’re looking for.
Follow SEO best practices to design a rewarding website experience that drives optimal traffic, conversions, and organic rankings.
Search Marketing Can Help Build Your Business’ Brands
Search engines are pivotal to connecting consumers with the goods and services they seek.
A strong search presence improves brand recognition and reaches audiences in their most actionable moments.
You can accelerate and augment the results of organic SEO with paid search. PPC ads help businesses to instantly improve their brand awareness, drive quality web traffic, and secure conversions.
Grayson Kemper is a Senior Content Writer for Clutch, a B2B research, ratings, and reviews platform in Washington, D.C. His research focuses on SEO companies and emerging technologies.