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What is the impact of SEO on brand awareness and how to measure it?

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2025 7:10 am
by shammis606
SEO and brand awareness can go hand in hand. While search engine optimization is primarily used to generate organic traffic, this strategy also strengthens branding and increases brand awareness. Here you will discover how to use SEO to gain recognition and how to measure its effectiveness.

What is the purpose of an SEO strategy ? For many professionals, the answer is simple: generating organic traffic. After all, positioning the site among the first results on Google means guaranteeing clicks from the teacher database majority of users, who almost never go beyond the first search results.

But have you ever stopped to think that SEO and brand awareness also go hand in hand ? The first page of Google provides visibility, authority and engagement opportunities for the brand, thus increasing its recognition in the market. And, depending on the company's objectives, this can be worth much more than clicks.

Below, you'll gain a better understanding of the relationship between SEO and brand awareness, how optimization contributes to increasing brand awareness, and how to apply this to your strategies. Take a look at the following points:

What is the relationship between SEO and Brand awareness?
What are the benefits of using SEO to increase brand awareness?
How to create an SEO strategy focused on brand awareness?
How to measure brand awareness gained through SEO?
What is the relationship between SEO and Brand awareness?
In Spanish, brand awareness can be defined as brand awareness . A company that wants to increase this important factor primarily wants to be recognized and remembered by the public.

But it is not only worth getting the audience to know the name of the company, they must also be able to recognize its values, its personality, its niche and its products. This generates recognition, but also memory and differentiation. In this way, the brand conquers a unique space in people's minds .

Increasing brand awareness is one of the most sought-after marketing objectives for companies. After all, who doesn't want to be present in the minds of consumers and create a greater connection with them?

Therefore, some marketing strategies are used to consolidate branding actions and impact the largest number of people in the target audience. Among these, SEO is one of the most powerful possibilities, but curiously it is not always considered when companies design campaigns to increase brand awareness.

SEO involves optimizing websites and web pages, as well as their publications, in order to improve their positioning in search engine results.

This means achieving high visibility positions on the Internet, with content that helps people and shows them what the brand knows and has to offer.

In this way, brands can strengthen their branding and gain notoriety with a strategy that does not require investment in media. Good idea, right?

Rock Content, for example, consolidated its image in the market with a solid SEO strategy. Conquering the top positions in terms related to Digital Marketing and Content Marketing contributed greatly to expanding the brand's reach and making it a reference in these sectors.

In addition, people who find us on Google know our content, understand the quality of what we deliver, and understand the values ​​of our brand. In this way, branding is consolidated in people's minds .


On the other hand, brand awareness also contributes to SEO . As the brand becomes more well-known and remembered, it also becomes a relevant topic on the Internet and is searched for more on Google. And the search engine gives a lot of importance to this.

Google's algorithm is interested in knowing which brands are best known by the public. After all, it wants to provide reliable answers to users and the tendency is for more established companies to offer higher quality content.

In the case of Rock Content, the growth of our Spanish blog and the authority built as a reference in Digital Marketing and Content Marketing has allowed us to be taken into account in Google SERPs on a regular basis, since the algorithms already know that there is a large audience interested in what we think, know and master.

But brand awareness also strengthens SEO strategy in another way. Most well-known brands on the market tend to attract more clicks in search results . And a good organic CTR is a positive signal for Google’s algorithm, which favors the page in the listings.

Ultimately, users also tend to think that big brands offer more trustworthy content. Did you know, for example, that 70% of consumers look to well-known retailers to decide which links to click on when searching for products online?

reason for the research click

Source: Search Engine Land

Therefore, SEO and brand awareness can help each other . Reaching the top positions on Google gives the brand more notoriety in the market, while increasing brand awareness helps strengthen its name in Google's algorithm.

What are the benefits of using SEO to increase brand awareness?
Various marketing strategies can be used to increase brand awareness. SEO is often overlooked, while other strategies such as social media, paid advertising, branded content, and event sponsorship take priority.

However, many of these strategies end up becoming too costly or laborious, especially for small businesses. So, SEO can enter the plans as a more economical and efficient solution .

Now, let us understand what are the benefits of search engine optimization to increase brand awareness:

It is an organic strategy
SEO is an organic strategy. This means that you do not (and cannot) pay Google to place your site in the top results. Gaining visibility and clicks is free.

However, we are not saying that SEO doesn't cost anything, okay? The strategy requires time, professionals and tools to work well. Still, the profitability of SEO to increase brand awareness tends to be very advantageous compared to other strategies, both digital and offline marketing.

This is especially important for small businesses, which have a hard time competing with big brands. With SEO, you can design strategies that focus on niches and less popular keywords, which will help your site rank higher on Google.

seo guide
Increase brand reach
Brand awareness aims to ensure that the brand is recognized by more people in its target audience. Therefore, this objective is also related to reach. And SEO has great power to increase this indicator.

Search engines are widely used on the Internet. In the United States, each user performs more than 3 searches per day , on average. According to Google, it processes more than 2 billion queries per year. And, if brands appear in the results of these searches, in the most viewed positions, the reach is impressive!

In addition, the reach will be qualified, as you will connect with people who are interested in terms, trends, concepts and elements associated with the expertise and commercial proposition of your brand.

Demonstrate authority in the market
Those who are in the top positions on Google have the recognition of the public and the search engine. If the page is in this position, it is because it offers the best response and the best user experience.

As a result, the user who sees the first results understands that these sites are reliable references. This perception is essential for brand awareness, as it gives authority to the brand and strengthens its image in the mind of the consumer.

Disseminate content that strengthens the brand
A page only wins the top spot in search results when it offers valuable content to users. This is what builds and sustains its authority in the market.

These are pieces of content that show how the brand can help people. And they are not just about sales, products and services, but they also offer solutions to the buyer persona's doubts, pains and needs.

This educational and informative nature of Content Marketing , one of the pillars of SEO, strengthens branding and brand trust. And when you reach the top of Google, you gain the means to reach more people.

Improve the website experience
In addition to offering relevant content, a page must also create a valuable browsing experience to gain authority on Google. Therefore, it has to comply with the best User Experience principles , such as being easy to use and accessible on all platforms and languages.

Taking this into account, SEO also helps to provide a valuable experience within the site . The user feels comfortable, guided and welcomed thanks to this strategy. In addition to contributing to conversion, this is also important for brand awareness, as it associates positive perceptions and feelings with the brand.

How to create an SEO strategy focused on brand awareness?
Overall, a well-designed SEO strategy will be able to boost your brand awareness. So, the main tip here is to follow good search engine optimization practices .

With relevant content, you will attract readers and show that your brand is an authority. With On-Page SEO, you will strengthen the pages for your niche keywords and offer an optimal experience on your website. With Off-Page SEO, you will show Google that other sites recommend your content and that the brand is a reference.

Beyond this basic and general criterion, below we will address some tips for developing an SEO strategy focused on brand awareness . These are aligned with the following idea: the brand is a priority, but traffic, conversions and potential customers will not be left behind, okay?

Check them out!

Create valuable content for the buyer persona
This is a basic tip, but it can't be left out of a text about SEO and brand awareness. If you want to strengthen brand awareness with SEO, you need to create content that people want to read and that is useful .

Therefore, content should focus on the buyer persona . Understanding the characteristics, intentions, doubts and needs of the potential buyer or user, in order to create relevant publications, is a priority.

This way, you will be able to build ties with your audience, showing that the brand is there for them and wants to help solve problems along the way.

Use your experience to create unique content
Strengthening branding involves creating differentials that make the brand stand out and conquer a unique space in people's minds. And, in SEO, how can you be original?

One of the main ways to do this is to create differentiated content, which no other site can boast of. And you know what is something that only you have? Your experience! So, use it when producing materials: tell stories , give examples, present customer cases, talk about your learnings, reflect on the company's failures and successes. All of this will help!

With authenticity, you can engage consumers around your brand and differentiate your content from the thousands of publications already on the Internet.

Provides the best user experience
User experience on the site is crucial for both Google positioning and brand perception, and is therefore essential for strengthening brand awareness.

A brand that offers good website usability gains consumer engagement and trust. If the user can easily achieve what he wants , without obstacles or difficulties, he develops a good perception. Several factors contribute to this, such as:

Loading speed
Responsiveness or adaptability
Site Security
Links and Buttons Functionality
Bring brand personality to the website
Throughout the visitor's experience on your website, they should be able to assimilate your brand's personality in every detail. This is essential to creating a connection between the company and the consumer.

So, be careful with the design . Align the website layout with your visual identity to convey the values ​​you want to associate with it. The colors, the images, the combination of elements, all of this helps to convey the personality of the brand.

In addition to the visual language, pay attention to the textual language . The brand's tone of voice must be present in the website's content. If the personality is irreverent, the texts should follow this line, for example. Thus, unconsciously, the user builds the brand image in his mind.

Find link building partners that match your values
Link building is much more than just an opportunity to earn backlinks. For brand awareness, it is an opportunity to show a new audience how useful and relevant your brand can be. So, use this strategy to increase brand awareness, with valuable content for the audience.

But choose your guest posting and co-marketing partners wisely, okay? Look for trusted, popular, quality, and authoritative sites that will convey relevance to your pages. Pay attention to potential partners’ personality, values, and brand purpose, too .

When making link building partnerships, remember that your image will be associated with the partner's brand. Therefore, it is necessary to find partners in line with your values, in order to strengthen your company, rather than damage its reputation.

Optimize for no-click search
When the focus of your SEO strategy is on brand awareness, clicks and traffic are not the central element. The important thing is to strengthen your brand, right?

So keep in mind that Google's results page is increasingly bringing ready-made answers, which often eliminate clicks and traffic to websites. Google wants to reduce the steps for the user, so it has been investing in elements such as the knowledge graph and featured snippets .

Google's strategy seems to be working: according to Moz , around 40% of searches do not result in clicks. Good for the user, but for websites, is this good?

When focusing on brand awareness, think about how your goal is to make a good first impression and get your brand recognized. So, the important thing is to have your name in the SERP, with the answer the user wants, without worrying about whether they will click or not .

So, optimize your site for zero-click searches. First, create SERP snippets that add value to your content. Title, URL, and description are the main elements to optimize, delivering the concrete answer the user wants, to have a chance of reaching featured snippets.

Additionally, optimize searches with local intent . In these types of queries, Google brings a summary of Google My Business , which often does not generate clicks to the site.

But your business will be there, among the top local results, with contact information, photos, reviews and all the registration options, which will increase brand awareness.

Customer reviews, in particular, weigh heavily on brand perception and Google local search rankings. Because of this, encourage customers to leave reviews and engage with comments on Google My Business. The more positive reviews you receive, the more points you'll earn in local SEO.

How to measure brand awareness gained through SEO?
Measuring brand awareness is a challenge. Data-obsessed professionals may feel uncomfortable with the difficulty of determining brand awareness, which is far more subjective than measurable.

But there are some indicators that can help you understand if the brand and its attributes are gaining people's attention .

Another challenge in realizing increased brand awareness is identifying how much SEO contributed to this. After all, brands likely have other marketing strategies in place, which also contribute to branding. So, the ideal is to monitor, from the moment you make optimizations, the impact they will bring.

To do this, you can use the following resources:

Brand Searches
Branded searches are queries that involve your brand name, i.e. they use keywords related to your brand, known as branded keywords .

They can be used in Google search to get more specific information about your brand, such as address, products and prices, or simply as a shortcut to get to your website.

Regardless of the intent of the queries , they show that your brand is on people's minds and sparking interest .

In Google Analytics , you can keep an eye on the list of keywords that are driving traffic and identify the growth of those searches. Depending on the relevance of your brand, Google Trends can also capture the growth of queries involving your brand.

Direct traffic
Direct traffic refers to visitors who arrive at your site by typing the URL directly into the browser bar or through a saved bookmark. Like branded searches, this indicator shows that users are actively aware of and remember your brand.

Google Analytics traffic reports also provide this information. Keep an eye on the growth of this metric.

Brand mentions
Brand mentions on the web and social media, with or without a link, show that your brand is present in people's conversations . They help raise awareness and get your name out there.

You can monitor mentions on the web through Google Alerts and receive notifications whenever your brand is mentioned. On social media, you can use monitoring tools to identify the number of mentions and the sentiments associated with them (positive, neutral or negative).

Share of mind and share of voice
Share of mind and share of voice are indicators of market share: the first, about brand recall and the second, about market visibility. They show the strength of your brand, relative to the competition, in people's minds and conversations , respectively.

Share of mind is usually based on market research conducted by specialized companies. Share of voice on social media, on the other hand, can be measured using mention monitoring tools, as we explained above.

Brand perceptions
Measuring brand awareness also involves knowing what values ​​and attributes people associate with the brand .

However, this is a more subjective perception, which is difficult to capture with cold data. Therefore, it requires more in-depth research, with questionnaires or interviews, to identify people's perceptions of the brand.

To achieve this, you can use survey forms such as Google Forms or Typeform. Another interesting tool is HotJar , which allows you to embed forms and capture visitor feedback directly on your website.

Great! Now you know the power of SEO for brand awareness. If you thought search engine optimization was only about organic traffic, now you know it also contributes a lot to branding.