How to Audit and Optimize Your Brand in Search

"Build a strong brand" and "create helpful content" are 2 of the most ambiguous and therefore unuseful SEO advice that gets tossed around very often imo.

Let's talk about brand and SEO a bit.... but in an actionable way!

Today I decided to share a few tips on how to audit your brand in search, and find some optimization opportunities. If you want to head straight for the tips, just scroll because I need to chat a bit first 😃

Branding for SEO & Site Quality Score

We now know that google calculates the "site quality score" based on 2 things

• Branded searches
• User interactions (think something similar to CTR)

For today, we're focusing on brand, and as per the Site quality score patent here's a simple explanation of the patent from chatgpt:

How site quality score is calculated

How a search engine (like Google) can figure out how good a website is, based on how people search and click on links.

1. First, the search engine counts how many different search questions (called queries) people type in that mention a specific website.
2. Second, it counts how many different search questions lead people to actually click on that website in the search results.
   • For example, if someone searches “best chocolate cake recipe” and then clicks on a link to a certain cooking website, that counts as a match.
3. Finally, the search engine uses both of those numbers to figure out a quality score for the website. This score helps the search engine decide if the site is helpful and should show up more in search results.

So there's a direct relation between your branded searches and your site quality score from a google standpoint.

One of the biggest mistakes I see SEOs doing, is ignoring branded keywords and traffic in their reporting, in creating their strategy and in their optimization tactics!

Now with the tips,,,

How to audit and optimize your brand in search

Here are few ways to audit and optimize for brand in search.

1# People Also Asked

Always check what people are asking about your brand, even if you're a small brand. I had a small ecommerce luxury fashion client, and people would google to ask about the brand before making the purchase.

💡💡💡Conclusion: You need to make sure that Google is pulling answer to those questions from your website. Sometimes, the answer is not on your website, and people end up on third party websites, learning about your brand there, where you have no control of your brand story. Get those questions answered on your website!

***Also note that, PAAs change in SERPs, so make sure to repeat this exercise on a quarterly basis.

2# AI Overviews

It seems like all we're hearing about AI Overviews is bad news for SEOs. It's taking away clicks, bla bla bla (that's a chat for another day, maybe next week?)

I like how Ben Goodey found value from getting cited in AI Overviews and it has to do with your brand!

Here's what Ben did, and how it increased the branded searches for this client:

1. Chose one of their keyword-optimized product landing pages (imagine "CRM for SaaS").

2. Optimized the page & supporting content.

3. Built a ton of really good backlinks to it. Being a BOFU page, it's worth it investment.

This resulted in 2 things:

• Traffic has jumped 13x (top 3 positions for ~20 high-intent keywords)
• Branded search jumped to ~40 per week (from almost nothing) WOW 🤩

What happened?

The website started getting cited more in AI Overviews, and that caused people to search more about the brand! So getting your website cited in AI Overviews is the short cost-effective way to get more branded searches!!!

I also just stumbled on this study:

"when our clients rank on Google's first page for bottom-of-funnel keywords, they get mentioned by AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity 77% of the time."

💡💡💡Conclusion: Optimized well-ranking bottom of funnel pages are your way to get cited in AI Overviews.

3# Branded Anchor Text

We LOVE backlinks in SEO, though they have lost a bit of their shine in the recent years and google also is way smarter in detecting spammy links.

Over and over when I have a chat with other SEOs about link-building, the main focus is always getting quality backlinks, with optimized anchor text to important pages.

What's wrong with that? Nothing really, but branded anchor text and brand mentions are equally important for your website. They can increase branded searches traffic and show google that you deserve a higher "quality score".

Conclusion: make sure that branded anchor text is part of your backlinks strategy, which hopefully is white hat and not spammy 😄

4# SEO and PPC go hand in hand

No, I'm not suggesting you run PPC campaigns, because we're SEOs not PPC managers. But I'm suggesting you collaborate with the PPC manager and see what's driving more branded searches for the website.

FYI, it's not PPC only, other ads like social media ads, can increase branded searches.

Conclusion: Google trends is your best friend here, plot graphs showing search interest in your brand name against PPC performance. Are we driving more branded searches? what campaigns drove more.

In Summary,

There are 2 ways to improve your website quality score, one of them is your branded searches. Google loves brand (duh).

For years, branded keywords were treated like the forgotten stepchild of SEO strategy.
But here’s the truth: if you're not optimizing for them, you're leaving quality score points (and traffic) on the table.

So let’s flip the script:

• Answer those burning brand-related questions directly on your site.
• It's totally worth it getting cited as a brand in AI Overviews, and one way to do that is building solid bottom of funnel pages.
• Build content and links that make people want to search your name.
• And yes, team up with the PPC crew now and then to spot what’s working.

Branded search = better visibility = stronger brand = higher trust = SEO that actually moves the needle.

Got thoughts or cool results from brand-focused SEO? Email me (if you have my email) or just DM me on LinkedIn—I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll catch you in the next newsletter! 💌

*Disclaimer: chatgpt helped me write the summary