Can Having a Strong Brand Help Search Engine Placement?
SEM Rush Study-Direct Website Traffic Most Important Ranking FactorSource: SEM RushI was, at first, genuinely surprised and somewhat skeptical when "direct website traffic" was determined to be the primary ranking factor for Google. Direct traffic means a user heads straight to a site rather than ending up there via some other channel like a search engine. Direct Traffic is not a traditional metric that SEO Experts thought that Google would measure and use.After further thought on the subject, I totally get how this is true. A large amount of "direct website traffic" is a strong indicator that the domain in question is considered to be more of an authority in the vertical and search results in question. Direct traffic is a sign of brand affinity, and confidence in that brand. A consumer will bypass search engines, social media and even amazon.com to seek out a site directly. That indicates branding, strong market presence, and the sign of a leader in the marketplace and in search engine results.If this hypothesis is correct, then the future of SEO is increasingly more about brand building, conventional marketing activities, and good old fashioned word of mouth referral. This not only drives traffic, but traffic that is more likely to convert to a customer.Search engines have long worked to be a reflection of the market - a perfect market given what we all learned in Econ 1A - an infinite number of buyers and sellers on a level playing field. Successful branding and marketing seeks to make a company a more attractive option for consumers, and that should extend to search results as well.I hate to say it, but I think Google got this one right.