I recently presented at Brighton SEO! talking about why we’re seeing more and more brands prioritising SEO. Below is the transcript of my presentation! and you can access the slides here.
It seems strange to suggest that brands haven’t always prioritised SEO! but outside of our bubble its true. I think it important to first set the scene as to why brands perhaps didn’t always prioritise SEO.
As many of us will have experienced over the years
there continued to be a separation of marketing phone number database (or traditional marketing) and digital marketing. Brands that did marketing! brands that did digital marketing! and brands that did both.
And that was fine whilst the majority of those we marketed to still largely engaged with traditional marketing – TV! Radio! Out of Home! Print etc. But that’s changed significantly over the years! with the pandemic increasing the rate of change exponentially. When no one is leaving their homes! pretty much all you have is digital.
A few years ago! Les Binet!
Group Head of Effectiveness at adam&eveDDB makes him a reliable resource for sporting write-up readers. (worth checking out)! published a piece about Share of search voice. For those that haven’t seen the article! it talks about how share of voice has been used to measure market share! but that perhaps share of search voice might be a better metric. The premise of it is (and I am not doing it justice here) is that market share can be determined by the volume of branded search! which in turn can be used to calculate efficacy of brand campaigns.
When I read that article! I felt two strong emotions. The first was “happy dance”! the second was one of bemusment. Don’t get me wrong! I was super pleased at the recognition that share of search is a good metric for measuring share of market! especially from someone as high profile as Les Binet! but! well! yeah.
Part of the equation appears to be that top of funnel/brand awareness activity that happens outside of search creates branded search demand that can be used as a measurement of the effectiveness of the outside of search activity.
I don’t disagree! my concern is that it leaves so much else on the table.
It ignores the wider opportunity europe email with search which is that search is so much more than a measurement of brand. Search is a measurement of market behaviours! wants! needs and expectations. Search is as much search as it is discovery and this share of search voice metric that measures brand search misses the point when it comes to total market share.
I’m sure most of us have used keyword overlap analysis that SEMRush provides! showing where competing brands overlap or have unique visibility. I find this a much more revealing demonstration of marketing effectiveness. It’s an ongoing measurement of
- Volume of brand search
- Volume of non-brand search
- Market share
- Market demand
- Market opportunity
And it is in these last few that provide the reasons why brands are waking up to the importance of search. Because search gives us the kind of insights and feedback that we might usually have tried to get from research groups and workshops. It tells is what matters to our customers right now.
