Have You Optimized For Your Brand Name?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Here’s an interesting take on brand names. It seems that more and more searchers are searching for brand names by name in the search engines instead of just typing them into their browsers. A few years ago it was actually the reverse. I think I know why.

In 2001, most of the people searching for specific brands online had been online for quite a few years. There were relatively few newcomers to the Internet. The people who were searching for information knew a great deal about how to find it. If they knew where they wanted to go then they just typed it into their browser as time saving measure.

Today, however, there are a lot more new Internet users. Every day more and more people are using the Internet to find information – everything from real estate to jobs. Of course, they’ve heard of the top websites (Facebook, YouTube, Craigslist) even if they’ve never been to them. Chances are, they know someone who uses those websites on a regular basis. Many of these people know how to conduct a basic search, but they probably don’t know how to style a website address properly (yes, they are complete newbies). It’s easier for them to type “Craigslist” into a search box than it is try and figure out how to get the http:// correct followed by the correct spelling of the website address and the dot com.

That’s what I believe, any way. More new and less tech savvy Internet users is the cause of this. And what that means for marketers is you’ve got to really make sure your brand name is optimized and that’s probably more true for local brands because people in your area may be looking for you.