Question

Topic: Branding

Search Rank & Branding - What Is The Connection?

Posted by Anonymous on 11/20/2008 at 9:06 AM ET 250 Points
We manage the website(s) for a major brand (we took the site over from another agency). The site was done in a manner that would preclude decent rankings (all Flash!!). The site gets around five thousand unique visits a month. The leader in their category gets close to 200,000 visits per month. That disparity would keep me up at nights if I were the CEO!

I need to reflect the value in some terms that they will understand. I have heard some discussions (not much) of the connection between ranking and branding. Any thoughts??

I was going to title the post ". . . is there a connection?", I'm certain there is a connection, where do I start in making my point???

Thanks!!

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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/20/2008 at 9:28 AM Member
    I think you start making your point with the search discrepancy and ask, "Who's NOT seeing you online?". Using Alexa.com, compare your site with your competitors (besides the leader) to show relative ranking. And of course, besides turning the site into something non-Flash, make sure the site has something remarkable content to engage your prospective customers.
  • Posted on 11/20/2008 at 9:34 AM Author
    I send alexa comparisons every month. I'm looking for something more compelling - not sure what ...........
  • Posted on 11/20/2008 at 10:02 AM Author
    The is an expectation by the consumer that when they search a term like airlines, they should see the top players in that field "United, American, etc.). Anyone not in the top of the search must not be a contender. Maybe it's an issue of credibility as well as branding. I may end up answering my own question .... do I get the points??
  • Posted by MarketGoGo on 11/20/2008 at 4:36 PM Member
    In short, I don't believe that Google and the others have a concept about your brand. I thing that two good examples might be Spirit Airlines and Comcast. In both cases a customer had a very bad experience with them and set up a blog about it. Before long that blog actually had a ranking nearly as high as (or perhaps even higher than) the company's own site.

    So - the importance of relevance in your copy, traffic to your site, and other factors cannot be over-emphasized. I'd call up an SEO expert to help you out both in making the case and in making things right.
  • Posted on 11/21/2008 at 11:24 AM Author
    I can get them the rankings (I'd call myself) they just don't see the value. I will continue my search, this excercise has helped though. Thanks!!!
  • Posted on 11/25/2008 at 9:15 AM Author
    perhaps it was the way I phrased the question, I will continue my search. The back and forth did help me clarify the issue a bit. Thanks everyone who took the time to post.
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