The Difference Between Traditional Branding & Search Engine Branding

What's the difference between these two statements:

• Pre-owned cars
• Used Cars

They both say the same thing but the difference is that one of these statements will generate more traffic on the search engines, the other is the car dealer's way of glamourizing the fact that the car is used. (In case you're not sure, used cars is the statement most used in search engines)

For television, radio and direct mail purposes the glamourized "pre-owned" phrase is fine but if you want to gain top rankings and higher traffic from search engines it's important to start with asking "what are people looking for?"

In traditional branding, if you repeat a phrase often enough, people will remember it and sooner or later the phrase will be associated with the brand.

A local example is a commercial for a car dealer that constantly says, "We're out to be number 1 in the USA . . . you can't do better than that." Really it says nothing about the company's value proposition or why you should do business with them but the constant repetition on the radio is bound to imbed the message with the brand.

Search engine branding on the other hand really focuses on what people are looking for in the terminology most commonly used. Using the word "cheap" if it applies to your offer is more than acceptable because people look for "cheap" when searching for bargains but a "red hot" bargain is not going to hit the mark.

The K. I. S. S. adage holds true if you want to generate more qualified traffic to your website. Avoid the hype and write copy in terms that people use on a regular basis. You'll see the results in your web traffic, conversions and sales.

Need help with this topic? Contact me!