How Search Engine Optimisation Helps Your Brand Name Searches

There has been a lot of recent discussion between large retail companies and SEO companies recently about the lack of success that a search engine optimisation strategy has due to the majority of sales from an e-commerce store coming from brand name searches and not keyword searches.

The truth is that most people will purchase typing in brand name searches yet they are returning visitors and have found the website from the typing a keyword in the first place.

Search engine optimisation techniques have become a crucial part of any online store to generate more traffic which in turn will convert into a sale. SEO has become the lifeline for many businesses worldwide and it is fundamentally the most important online marketing method that can also provide a direct return on investment unlike other methods.

One important factor about SEO is that ranking prominently on the front page of the search engine for several phrases over time will increase brand name searches. How so? The first time a person finds your website they will most likely find it by searching a keyword, the following time the user will come to your website will most likely be from typing in your brand name, most people will not remember your URL and will instead type in your business name in the search engine to find you.

How to prove that this genuinely does occur? The answer is simple, Google Analytics, i have provided screen shots below of a real life example of how brand name searches have increased due to SEO.

The best way to identify this is by segmenting the search traffic by visitor type, new versus returning visitor.

As you can see below this client (who ranks in the top 2 for all keywords) have achieved a 101% increase in returning visitors for there own brand searches in comparison to last month. This is the clearest indication that SEO is one of the major factors as to why brand name searches have been improved. With E-commerce stores the online sales come from returning visitors as only a minority will purchase a product on the first visit to a website, the use will compare prices and products and then return to the website most likely typing the brand name to make the purchase.