O Google He always gave preferential treatment to brands.
They achieve better rankings with fewer links. They are "penalized" for improper conduct, only to resurface a few weeks later.
Small brands, on the other hand? They don't have the same luck.
They never get the benefit of the doubt. They need to get twice as many clicks and links. And they never resurface after a penalty.
And this is only accelerating.
So much so that there's practically nothing else you should focus on in 2018 besides building a solid and professional brand. Big brands will be featured in the SERPs (Google search results). And small businesses will be left in the dust (sorry to say).
Here's why. Building a brand is the best SEO strategy for 2018.:
SERPs are changing drastically.
Google is known for updates. Thousands of times a year.
But it's not just algorithm updates we should pay attention to. The cause and effect of layout adjustments also alter user behavior.
For example, the "Featured snippets" that became known in Brazil as "Posições Zero" (Zero Positions):
The result above is from an article on our blog that was chosen by Google to be a... “Featured snippet” even before the official result from Facebook itself.
The Moz tool found that this type of result increased from 5.5% to 16% in appearances in just two years. But they recently saw a drop of 10% in the excerpts presented over four days.
So what happened?
Featured snippets have received a strong boost in visibility, especially for beginners. Search terms like "Bread," which once yielded snippets, now provide much more complete and diverse information.
Moz also found a 30% increase in knowledge panels for SERPs without a featured snippet in the first place.
So what's going on?
Google is trying to answer your query with content from other people, without requiring them to click to access the source of the information.
Where searches for "travel" would have gone through posts or blog definitions based on travel on branded websites, Google now pulls data and information directly into SERPs (search engine results pages).
And most of this content comes from large brands and definition-based sources, such as Wikipedia.
This means that the pool of useful content is limited to a few major players.
People don't need to click on an organic listing to get more information. And currently, only one brand is being displayed on a given knowledge panel.
Spoiler Alert: It's probably not you.
Fewer and fewer people are clicking on current search engine listings now. We're currently in a 60/40 split.
Only 60% of Google searches result in a click. That's 40% generating zero clicks. And people smarter than me expect to reach 50% soon.
And for smaller fish trying to swim past the reef, that's bad news.
Google's implementation of Knowledge Graph It's about resolving user problems without requiring them to click. And most of the brands ranked in the knowledge panels are the most important.
This means less traffic to your website, fewer clicks, and most importantly: less organized sales.
Brand recognition in 2018 will be critical to obtaining clicks.
Do me a quick favor:
Run a basic test on Google now. Do an anonymous, long-tail search for an industry keyword and analyze the results.
What do you see? What appears instantly?
Specific brands.
See the example of the result presented with the phrase search: buy cheap sneakers online
Brand recognition is a powerful thing. Powerful enough to jump to the top ranking of Google publications. Powerful enough to drive a more expensive sale.
For example, a Nielsen study found that global consumers are much more likely to buy new products from brands that are familiar.
70% of consumers prefer to buy new products from a familiar brand they remember, rather than switching to a new one.
Based on the results presented above, which pair of sneakers would you buy?
Trust is one of the most important factors in making a purchase decision. And it's no different when it comes to organic search results.
You'll click on what you know and trust. And it all boils down to: brand/branding.
SERP CTR is starting to surpass rankings.
Being at the top of search rankings today doesn't mean as much as it used to.
The historical SERP click-through rate graphs are starting to lie. You know, the ones that say that “"Being first on Google guarantees 301% more clicks"” for a non-branded search.
If nobody knows who you are, you're not generating more than 30% of organic clicks. The content might be amazing. But you're not known. So, nobody is giving you a chance. Unfortunately.
SERP click-through rate is becoming more important than traditional rankings.
And indeed, this result will likely have a major impact on the rankings.
While links and content are the two main direct ranking factors, SERP click-through rate is growing as an indirect factor.
No clicks on the first position? That's a signal to Google that your content isn't appealing.
Gaining more clicks can, in fact, result in an increase in rankings.
And WordStream's own data simply backed it up, finding that the more your pages outperform the expected organic CTR for a query, the more likely they are to appear higher in organic listings.
But when you don't have the luxury of brand awareness, people don't see your content until they click. So they don't really know how amazing it is.
And unfortunately, they probably never will because: The vast majority are clicking because of brand recognition, not the strength of the content..
It's the same with digital advertising and purchasing behavior. Brand-aware users are twice as likely to buy from you.
Creating A/B tests or changing a button color won't necessarily lead to better results. Large-scale changes are needed.
Branding is the only way to do it and is the most viable SEO strategy on the market today.
The focus on branding This will help boost top click-through rates on your website in organic SERPs, which correlates with higher conversion rates.
A fantastic and inexpensive way to put this into practice is by using Marketing in Social Media to increase your brand exposure.
O Facebook It has the cheapest CPM (Cost Per Thousand) of any advertising platform ever created.
You can start with R$ at $2.50 per day, reaching up to 4,000 new users with brand awareness ads.
That's around 120,000 new faces seeing your brand every month for just R$ 75.
There is no cheaper way to develop brand awareness than with Social Media Ads.
Use them to drive traffic to your latest content and build brand reputation in the process.
Branding is an investment in your company's future.
Of course, the effects won't be instantaneous.
But when your organic traffic is declining, and brands are starting to dominate your space, you'll wish you had invested in it sooner.
Conclusion
Google has offered preferential treatment to major brands for years.
And this preferential treatment only increases with each small but important update.
It's a vicious trap where the rich keep getting away with it, and the poor keep drowning.
Branding is our only hope of better executing our SEO strategy in 2018.
The vast majority of consumers cite brand recognition as a driver of sales.
And that means those typical organic click graphs are a load of rubbish.
Brand building generates more clicks and sales than positioning.
As Google's SERP shifts to favor large brands, it's time for smaller brands to invest their SEO budget and strategy in building a memorable brand.
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Want to build a professional brand, make your business stand out, and increase your sales in 2018? Contact us today!
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