Usability Consultancy, Website Reviews, Website Optimisation

When I was helping a client decide on some top-traffic generating keywords the other day, he was worried that no matter how high we ranked for a particular set of phrases, he would be competing against some very established brands and wouldn't be able to tempt people to click to his site, no matter how high he ranked.

A very interesting view. And one which provoked quite a debate about how to compete against established brands.

If your website has the potential to compete against an established brand at the top of the Search Engine Results Pages, firstly, you've got to go for it, you've got to challenge for those top spots no matter how hard you think it may be to actually get 'clicks'. However, I wouldn't not deny that 'brand recognition' holds a lot of weight in the SERPs as it does in all areas of advertising and marketing.

Your Competition – Popular Brand

The first thing was that we should run with the keywords/phrases no matter what the competition, and see how we rank in a few weeks. Then start looking at how compelling each title is in the listings above ours and look at the percentage of click-throughs compared to other well ranked titles. It would be quite obvious whether the click-through rate was just slightly or a long way below the average.

Brand Recognition as Your Competition

It has to be said that competing against a 'household name' is difficult, but not impossible. Yes, people will click a recognised link even if it is in position 4 or 5 and ignore 1, 2 and 3 in favour of the recognised brand. But, as with every click from the SERPs, the page the user lands on must be completely relevant to the search and if it is not, the user has the option to hit the “back” button, and then try another link.

Brand Recognition Lack Relevance

What commonly happens is the same with a lot of massive websites, major shopping sites etc., the site ranks very well for a keyphrase, the title is very well written and does a great job of attracting clicks, but the link leads to a page that lacks relevance to the initial search. This is where you can compete.

Wait for Strike One

We all do it, don't we; go to Google, do a search, click a 'recognised link', end up on a page that is not relevant to what we were searching for, hit “back” and click another link in the results which, 9 times out of 10, is more relevant.

So that's why you should always take up the challenge of competing against well-known brands, extremely powerful competition. Wait for 'strike one'. Get high ranking for your phrase. Get up there with the household names at the top of Google. Let users click away at the recognised brand's websites and wait for them to strike-out and come back to the results where, this time, the have dismissed the known brands and give your link a chance. Make sure the pages the links lead to are totally relevant to the search phrase and you stand as much chance of making the sale as the recognised brands.

So yes, Compete Against The Recognised Brands

Like all elements of Search Engine Optimisation, it takes time and a lot of work doing competitor analysis and monitoring, calculating click-through rates etc., but well worth it in the end when you start competing against a name you use everyday.

What excitement it is to know you are up there, toe to toe with a heavyweight, knowing you have the ability and staying power to go the distance...

If it sounds like daunting task – call us today and let us make it happen for you.