BLOG | Search Engine Optimization Brand Mentions: How Important Are They in SEO?

We live in an age where almost everyone is obsessed with social networks like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. Many of us are constantly hanging around in these platforms, looking for updates on influencers or even just our friends. In light of this, it’s important to have a full grasp of the term ‘social proof.’ This principle, when integrated the right way in an SEO strategy, can lead to immense improvement of the said strategy.

You heard it right – social proof can be a critical element in your SEO practice.

But what does this strategy entail?

Basically, what you need to do is increase brand mentions online to help you soar up the rankings. Take time to learn about how brand mentions work, the effective techniques behind it, and the benefits it can bring your website.

Scaling Search Engine Rankings

One of Proweaver’s main objectives is to help our client sites’ scale the search engine rankings. You can choose the paid path, like social media or online advertising, to draw traffic to your digital doorstep, but when it all boils down to it, organic search results are the things that hold power to your success.

There are various SEO practices to help you reign over search results. But as you may have experienced throughout the years, however, in your efforts to constantly align with Google’s algorithm shifts, the road to SEO mastery can be a bit of a ‘hit and miss’ venture. Yet, that’s just the way it is, and it’s something that we have to get used to in today’s digital marketing sphere. For gigantic enterprises like Google, algorithms are equivalent to the crown jewels, and they will guard it with everything they’ve got. Realistically speaking, you can only expect detailed analyses from experts, public updates, and suggestions from released patents.

Crafting and maintaining an effective and high-quality content strategy is basically the center focus of digital marketing and search engine optimization as a whole. However, it’s also important to note that as crucial as content strategies are, they are not the sole foundation for high web rankings. What remains a pivotal part of current SEO methods is the generation of quality inbound links.

There’s now a constant buzzing in the digital marketing world as marketers now focus on analyzing a patent that seemingly appears innocent but may actually provide the key to unlocking the criteria by which Google measures brand authority. Proweaver is an established provider of unmatched and comprehensive custom web design that also puts emphasis on brand mentions and citations as a central element in our SEO service package.

Why Old School Link Building Has, Almost but Not Quite, Become a Thing of the Past

Conventional link building is something that many marketers have grown accustomed to. Since a digital marketer’s main objective is to measure the number of do-follow links generated while avoiding no-follow links, it’s perfectly understandable why old-school link building is most comfortable to them. Back then, these professionals thought that all they had to do was create as many links as they possibly could. In their understanding, the more links they produced, the higher the chances to achieve a high web ranking.

Never to be underestimated, black hat practitioners, took advantage of a chink in the system, effectively manipulating it to their advantage. Thanks to Google, however, these schemers are slowly being put in their place. Search algorithms underwent several substantial changes that were fortified with updates, making it nearly impossible for black hat plotters to penetrate and capitalize on the system.

Today, the magic behind old school link building has ceased to become a factor in the rankings game. Insisting on these practices can get you tagged as a black hat conspirator and placed in a position to negatively impact your brand authority. If your main purpose is to generate links, then not even the go-to conventional link-building tactic, guest posting, would be able to save you.

Time and time again, our experts at Proweaver have emphasized on how guest blogging should be about generating new audiences and establishing yourself as a skilled and knowledgeable individual who regularly interacts with his target community. In essence, this is what SEO is.

Brand Mentions

There has been a major shift in terms of how brand mentions influence search engine ranking. The change has been quite considerable, especially since they have altered the definition of key terms, such as hyperlink, which as formerly called Express link, and factored in new ones, like the implied link. They use the term “implied” because it doesn’t actually lead a reader back to a source site. Rather, it only mentions a company name, product, brand, or website.

According to Proweaver, effective custom web design is when online citations and brand mentions are properly consolidated in a website’s content. If a site cites the brand, it could be talking about its services or products and how relevant they are to the content. You can even integrate brand mentions into a comment that seamlessly connects with the content. For as long as you mention the site or brand name, you are already establishing an online citation or brand mention.

The Importance of Brand Mentions and Citations

Google could be putting great importance on online citations or brand mentions for countless reasons. Dwelling on these reasons are pointless; instead, focus on the main point. Anything that Google considers vital should also be vital to your SEO. Here are some of the very possible ways brand mentions could take your website design and development, and consequently, your business, to the next level of success.

1. It offers an effective means of measuring brand authority.

   Traditional link building no longer plays a role in establishing brand authority thanks to Google. Having branded old-school link building as less important than it previously was, Google is now using a much more effective alternative for determining brand authority in the form of brand mentions and online citations.

2. It leverages social signals for search engine optimization.

   There’s arguably no better way to leverage on social signals for SEO than through brand mentions. Since the links generated by social media are classified as no-follow, they would, in no way, affect your web ranking. There is a big “but” in there somewhere. It’s found in the changes in social network generated citations, such as shares, tweets, posts, and comments.

3. It provides fortification against black-hat invaders.

   Traditional link building is extremely vulnerable to manipulation as evidenced by years and years of system exploitations. A link would sometimes lead the audience back to a site unrelated to the source. Now, manipulating brand mentions is nearly impossible to do. The art behind brand mentions is that there should be a seamless connection between them and the context.

4. There’s no questioning its importance to local search engine optimization.

   Small and medium-sized businesses
   targeting customers within a specific locale are reliant on local SEO. As mentioned earlier, citations are crucial elements in local SEO practices, especially when it comes to the typical contact details like phone number, address, name, and email. It is cogent to think that major search engines, like Google, would factor this in for the bigger picture.

Striking the Right Balance

You would think that conventional links are a thing of the past. But that’s not quite the message we’re trying to send. Old-school links do, in fact, still have value, although now in a different capacity.

In light of this, Proweaver recommends that SEO strategies be a balanced mix of link building and brand mentions.

Here’s what you need to keep in mind:

• Go about your link building strategy in the most natural and ethical ways. In business and your personal life, you should go for the highest moral standards.
• You might be tagged as spammy if you get a higher ratio of express links to brand mentions. Make sure to avoid this as much as possible as it would negatively impact your brand authority. You can attain the right balance by working with SEO experts well-versed in brand mentions and online citations.
• Guest blogging that mainly focuses on generating links no longer helps. Whenever you do guest postings, make sure it’s for brand mentions. It has proven to lead to many great things, particularly in our modern digital landscape.
• There are a plethora of avenues for you to generate brand mentions. There are comments, shareable content, guest blogging, and social media. Work with those who can help you generate brand mentions and citations in every available platform.
• You cannot accomplish any digital marketing goal without integrating the most important element – the needs of your target audiences. Everything you do should have your targeted community’s needs and goals in mind. Making this your constant focus can ensure success for your business almost every single time.

Summing Up the Significance of Brand Mentions

Humongous internet empires like Google are all about serving their users in the best possible way. This means providing useful information and resources to help them get everything they want and need. There are those, however, who are going to want so much more than the system allows.

With brand mentions and citations coming into play, determining web rankings has changed. Collaborate with specialists at Proweaver who can help you make the most out of them.

How has incorporating brand mentions and online citations in your SEO strategy improved your business as a whole? Do you have experience with brand mentions that didn’t give you the results you wanted? What is your advice for other businesses who are just starting out with SEO for their company? Please feel free to share your insights and experiences in the comment section.