SEO and Brand Mentions: A New Day in Search Engine Marketing

If there has been one major goal in search engine marketing (SEM) within the past few years, it would be brand recognition. Today's consumer wants to identify with brands they deal with and so brand recognition has been a major focus of literally every successful search engine marketing campaign. This has been a major departure from marketing to Boomers because that generation was all about deals and value for dollar. Millennials and Gen Z, however, want something more from the brands they deal with.

The younger generations are all about sustainability and conservation. Therefore, the focus has changed in SEM, with much more emphasis being placed on brands and what brands are doing to promote the common good. In response to this need among consumers, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has instituted a new algorithm that is quite different from anything that has gone before. It’s called “Brand Mentions” and the concept is amazing when it comes to SEO, Search Engine Optimization.

A Break from Tradition

According to Boris Dzhingarov, CEO of ESBO Ltd, “Brand Mentions is a concept totally unique in that there is no need for backlinks which has been the foundation of any marketing strategy up until now.” What he is referring to is the fact that Brand Mentions work whenever a brand is mentioned within copy on the web. There doesn’t need to be a backlink to the site because the crawlers will find names and begin ranking based on the visibility and number of times a brand is mentioned. It’s a break from tradition because there is no laborious backlinking to undertake. Simply mention the name of the brand and Google will do the rest!

SEO, Brand Mentions, and Building Rank

The CEO of ESBO ltd goes on to explain that Brand Mentions build upon SEO silently in the background. Every time a brand is mentioned on another site, Google scores it accordingly and this strategy builds rank in the SERPs, Search Engine Results Pages.

“It has always been our goal to use SEO effectively with the intent of moving our clients to page one of the SERPs and as close to the top as possible,” Boris Dzhingarov continues, explaining that the average person searching for a product or service will typically only click through to the first few entries on page one of the SERPs.

It is a rare consumer who will browse through to the second or third pages of results. As Brand Mentions help to build rank alongside the more traditional SEO strategies, you will find that your site will get a higher ranking due to a combination of Brand Mentions and SEO. Both improve rankings and when working together, the results are beyond what most marketers could have hoped for in the past.

Another Look at SEO

For as long as anyone can remember, the foundation of a successful SEO strategy was link building. These were nestled within content so that every time a person clicked through to the site, Google gave it a score, a plus one, if you will. That helped to build rank and over time, a site could climb all the way to the first place on page one of the SERPs. That was the goal, and it was the job of SEO experts to get it to the top. Brand Mentions, however, are not links but they work in the same way.

It is, for all intents and purposes, a link that is not a link! Every time your brand gets mentioned, especially on social media and within blogs, you gain a point/mention/link. It’s what Google refers to as an ‘implied link.’ So, when is a link not a link? You got it! When it’s a Brand Mention, and this is especially going to come into play when your brand becomes a buzzword.

Get the Town Talking!

“This is why we find influencers who will promote your products, your brand, just by mentioning you,” ESBO CEO Boris Dzhingarov says. “There is no longer a need to build a link back to your website or product pages because just the fact that an influencer is talking about you online works as a link. Google sees it as an implied link, and you get the credit.”

He goes on to say that this in no way implies that SEO is dead. On the contrary, those links and backlinks are needed as well. He wants us to understand that the reason Brand Mentions build rank is that they work in the same way as a link, thus an “implied link.” In other words, Brand Mentions work like a link but are not a link. So, when is a link not a link? When it’s a Brand Mention, of course!

The Bottom Line

It’s still the early days of Brand Mentions and there are still marketing pros out there who haven’t yet mastered the concept. It can be a bit confusing because of the fact that a Brand Mention isn’t really a link but works like a link, and so how do you employ the two together? The bottom line is to remember, and use, all the other rank-building strategies, too, with Brand Mentions being, perhaps, one of the easiest to master.

It really only takes high authority sites talking about your brand and you will see how quickly your own personal Brand Mentions snowball gains momentum as it barrels its way down the mountain, collecting buzz as it goes. Every time a high authority site mentions your brand it will get picked up by the crawlers, but maybe even more importantly, other high authority sites will want to mention your brand as well. It’s a matter of trust and if you earn that trust from one influencer, their audience will trust you as well.

Yes, it’s totally confusing but as long as you remember that no links are necessary as long as you are getting talked about, Brand Mentions have done their job for you.

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