Incorporation of Company Branding and SEO

SEO is not a hard thing to understand. When trying to incorporate both SEO and branding into a strategy. This process is finicky, to say the least. On the one side, SEO deals with the placement of keywords and phrases. On the other side, branding deals with company loyalty and culture. Incorporating both sides dilutes the prominence of both. But eliminating one or the other may not meet all strategic and marketing goals.

Once again, it should be emphasized that SEO is a series of guidelines we have to consider. Having said that, the following recommendation can be used to satisfy both sides of the equation. In general, keywords and phrases (i.e. SEO) should remain the focus of any early-stage company, while the incorporation of company branding should appear later in the evolution. This is simply a general statement and should not be taken word for word.

The reasoning is pretty straightforward. At first, no-one knows the name of your company, but most likely they are searching for your products or services. You have to target keywords and phrases that focus on your products more than your company name. As you build loyalty and credibility, branding becomes more important. It’s at this point that you may want to incorporate corporate messaging to strengthen the relationship with customers and instill trust in your brand.

One final thought about branding: if a searcher types in the name of your company, they will find your website anyways. This is due mostly to anchor text and back-links. Therefore, optimizing the company name is rather insignificant in most cases.