SEO is part science however not an exact science, it is more like a set of guidelines and strategies. This becomes apparent when trying to incorporate both SEO and brand messaging into a strategy. It is a delicate process and can be challenging, however there are some best practices to follow. On the one side, SEO strategy focuses on the placement of keywords and phrases. On the other side, brand messaging can be effective in helping you stand out in search results and be a signal of trust to searchers. Incorporating both keywords and branding needs to be strategically thought out on where its important to focus on keywords and when to include brand messaging in your meta tags.
In general, keywords and growing the keyword ranking base of the website should remain the primary focus of any first SEO Campaign. Identifying popular and new areas of online conversation around your industry, and creating a good user experience. Having said that, the following recommendation can be used to satisfy both sides of the equation. Part of this is that we need to write title tags (what shows in search engines) that attract clicks and I believe that a good brand is important to include in the message. The brand can be incorporated on several pages title tags including the home page of the website especially so that people searching your brand name can easily find your home page. Also on the home page you should have your main category top keyword and brand messaging can creatively be included throughout the meta data of your site where it makes sense.
Over time, the focus of your website may shift. At first, no-one knows the name of your company, but perhaps they are searching for your products or services. In other words, you want to target keywords and phrases that focus around your offering rather than your company. 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 are likely to find your website anyways. This is due mostly to anchor text and back-links. Therefore, optimizing for the company name is rather insignificant in most cases. SEO can be used to sort out how your brand name appears on search engines also.
