How Much Should You Use Your Brand Name on Your Site?
In order to do this, you’ll likely end up using your brand name many times throughout your pages. This is good for both branding and SEO purposes.
When your customers type your company’s name or a specific product that you sell into a search engine like Google, they expect to see your site as the first result. This makes it easy for them to find you, and can also increase your number of repeat customers.
That being said, you don’t need to use your company’s name in every paragraph just to earn the top spot. You need to strike a balance between identifying your company and skipping over your brand name entirely.
So how much should you use your brand name on your site?
Call 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist about SEO plans from WebFX, or keep reading to learn more about a few key places you should include your brand name on your site, and how to avoid going overboard.
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Domain name
One of the most important places for your brand name is your website’s domain name. This makes it easy for returning customers to type your name into their browsers and come directly to your site without using search engines to find it.
The ideal domain for any company is their name, with “.com” as the top-level domain. If your company was able to secure this when you first launched your site, you’re in good shape.
The second-best options are other top-level domains, like “.net” and “.org.”
A few years ago, when SEO was still developing, many businesses purchased keyword-filled domain names instead of their brand names. And although this strategy worked at the time, it’s now considered best practice for companies to use their brand names.
Title tags
Title tags are the page titles that users see in search engines, and it’s absolutely necessary for SEO purposes to have a unique title for each page.
Each page’s title should reflect its content and give users an idea of what to expect when they visit it. In addition to that, we recommend that you also include your brand name if possible.
In many cases, site owners use a pipe (|) or dash to separate their company’s name from the rest of the title. If you had a page about your services, for example, you could make the title, “Our Services | Company Name.” Of course, you’d want to make the title more descriptive than just “services,” but the exact description depends on your business.
It’s also worth noting that if your brand is particularly well-known, you may want to put it at the beginning of your title than the end. Companies like Nike, for example, know that their customers search for their products using their brand name, and will be more likely to click if they see it immediately.
Headings
Headings are used to organize the content on your pages. Each page has one H1 tag (the main heading), and you can break pages down further with H2s, H3s, etc.
Headings help readers scan to find the content they want and help search engines understand your content.
This means that the headings should only include your company name where relevant, which will most likely be limited to company-specific pages. For example, if you ran an ecommerce company, it would make sense to include your company’s name in the headings on a page about company culture.
That being said, if you manufacture and sell branded products, including your company name in header tags on product pages is also a good idea.
Copy
Body copy makes up the bulk of your pages and should be written in a way that is informative and useful to your visitors. This means that, much like the headings of your page, your copy should only include your brand name where relevant.
On pages about your company’s history or values, you’ll naturally use your brand name quite a few times – and that’s perfectly fine. But in blog posts, article pages, and other informative content, using your brand name repeatedly can come across as keyword stuffing.
Want to improve your company’s SEO?
Whether your main focus is on branding or on improving your online visibility with SEO, it’s important to strike the right balance with how much you use your company’s brand name on your site. At WebFX, our talented team of Internet marketers has years of experience creating successful online campaigns that do just that.
If you’re interested in improving your company’s website or launching a new SEO strategy, we’d love to help. Contact us today to speak with a strategist about your company’s goals!