Why brand is the one constant in SEO (and how you can leverage it)

SEO in 2025 looks nothing like it did when I started in the industry. Search engines have evolved from text-matching algorithms into sophisticated AI platforms that are capable of understanding user intent, context, and quality.

Meanwhile, Google continues to prioritise its own interests in an increasingly unpredictable search landscape. The rollout of AI Overviews has fundamentally changed how users interact with search results, increasing the likelihood of zero-click searches. 

Similarly, SERP layout shifts are making it harder to win traffic using conventional SEO tactics. For example, shopping grids can now take up as much as half of all organic real estate on page one, turning shopping experiences into something closer to Amazon than a traditional results page.

But amid the algorithm shifts, SERP upheavals and AI developments, there’s one success factor that remains constant: brand.

Below, I explore why focusing on branding is more important in SEO now than it has ever been and share how you can strengthen your brand to protect your online presence.

What do I mean by brand?

Before I go into why brand matters for SEO, it’s important to be clear about what I mean. Brand isn’t just a visual identity, such as your logo, your fonts, or your colour palette. Those are all important elements but they are the expressions of a brand, not the brand itself.

What I’m really talking about is perception. 

Brand is the sum of all the signals that tell people (and now search engines) that you are credible, relevant and authentic. It’s someone seeing your name in search results or in their social media feed and instinctively trusting it. Or the reason why they seek out your product or business directly in the first place.

Leon Summers, art director at Warbox and a master in creating and developing brand identities, describe it as:

“Your brand is one of the most important things your business has going for it. It gives your business an identity, helps people remember you, and makes it easier for customers to choose you. It also backs up your marketing and can give your team something to feel proud of. At the end of the day, your brand is really just how people feel when they interact with your business – at every step. It’s built through being consistent, clear, and leaving a strong impression over time. Design and messaging help for sure, but it’s the overall experience that really defines your brand.”

That lasting impression and overall experience now plays a growing role in your performance in search.

Why brand is becoming more important for SEO

Google is placing increasing emphasis on trust and expertise when evaluating content. At the same time, the search landscape is shifting with the rise of AI-powered chatbots and dynamic SERPs. 

In this context brand perception has become one of the clearest and most defensible signals you can invest in.

The traditional SEO pillars of content, links and technical performance still matter. But their fundamental purpose should be to build your brand, not to satisfy an algorithm.

There are a few key reasons why brand should be a core part of your SEO strategy moving forwards: 

1. Brand plays an increasing role in Google’s quality assessment

Industry commentary and recent updates suggest that brand perception now plays a direct role in how Google evaluates quality.

Analysis of Google’s 2024 Helpful Content Updates showed that the sites most negatively impacted had one thing in common: low brand authority. In this context, brand authority refers to how well-known, trusted, and cited a brand is across the web, measured as a score out of 100. 

When comparing brand authority (BA) alongside domain authority (DA), they found that sites with a high DA:BA ratio were hit hardest in the update. 

In other words focusing on one tactic (e.g. links) alone, without the brand authority to back it up, won’t move the needle in the right direction. You need to generate “demand for your brand” as well.

I’m not saying links aren’t important, they are still an important ranking factor and likely always will be. They are, however, most effective when they are relevant and enhance your brand awareness for your intended audience. 

Digital PR can be one effective way to achieve this – earning high-quality links, brand mentions and engagement, which together send the right kinds of signals to people and search engines.

When link building aligns with meaningful media coverage that positions your brand as an authority, case studies show a strong correlation between these efforts and increased organic traffic:

2. Brand visibility powers AI-generated search results

In AI-powered search results like those from ChatGPT or Perplexity, the case for brand authority becomes even stronger. Early studies suggest a clear preference for recognised brands and established entities.

That’s because large language models (LLMs) don’t rank content the way Google’s traditional algorithm does. Instead they aggregate, summarise, and attribute information based on entity recognition and perceived authority across the web.

That means being consistently cited, referenced, and talked about, even without a backlink, is becoming increasingly valuable. Mentions in trusted publications, forums, review platforms, and social signals can help establish you as a source worth including in AI-generated responses.

This marks a major shift in how authority is earned. It’s not just about who links to you, it’s about who’s talking about you and how often. In a world where search is powered by LLMs, visibility without a link is no longer a missed opportunity – it’s a strong brand signal.

As search evolves, the brands that focus on credibility and real expertise will stay present in the conversation. Those that ignore it will gradually disappear from view.

3. It will protect you in a changing search landscape

Users are more likely to click on search results or sources from sites they recognise. They’re also more inclined to trust the information, stay longer, and return in the future. And if your brand is strong, they may begin their search journey with you directly, bypassing the SERP altogether.

Behavioural signals like click-through rate, engagement, branded search volume and engagement on social media feed directly into how search engines interpret relevance and value. But they’re also becoming essential as SERP real estate continues to shrink.

AI overviews, shopping grids, carousels, and Google-owned properties now dominate the top of many results pages. In ecommerce especially, organic listings are being pushed further down, or off the page entirely.

How to appear in these shopping grids is a topic for another guide entirely, but the broader point stands: Google is rolling out more features that favour well known brands and entities, making it harder to compete through standard SEO tactics alone.

That’s why brand doesn’t just protect your visibility in search, it also helps you diversify beyond it. 

You’ll have more control over your traffic, and you’ll reduce your reliance on Google if you also have an engaged audience on social media, Youtube, email marketing, or other owned channels.

The bottom line: Be the brand that can’t be ignored

Algorithms will change, SERPs will evolve and traffic sources will come and go. But a trusted, recognisable brand cuts through all of it. 

Your aim should be to build a brand that users and search engines (or LLMs) can’t ignore.

How to improve and measure brand for SEO 

If brand is becoming the backbone of SEO success, how can you strengthen it in a way that drives measurable results?

Below are some steps you can take to strengthen your brand for SEO, along with practical ways to measure the impact of each: 

Focus on your users first

Prioritise real users over search engines. Make your website clear, fast, intuitive and genuinely helpful. Understand your audience’s needs and deliver content and experiences that solve their problems quickly and confidently. 

As SEO expert Mark Williams Cook put it in this post, “there is absolutely no ‘SEO change’ you should do on your site that will make the user experience worse. None. No exceptions.” 

How can you measure this?

Track engagement metrics such as bounce rate, time on page, event completions and return visits. Use on-site surveys or feedback tools to learn how users experience your content. 

Tip: Conversion rate optimisation services can help you measure the impact of UX changes and how they affect the user journey on your site.

Build links and mentions through PR and digital PR

Don’t chase low-quality backlinks. Instead, invest in PR and digital PR campaigns that earn attention from trusted media, creators, and niche publications. Positive brand mentions (with and without links) help build authority in the eyes of both users and search engines.

How can you measure this? 

Track referring domains, coverage volume, and unlinked mentions using tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Google Alerts. Focus on relevance and authority over sheer quantity.

Diversify your traffic sources

Don’t rely solely on Google. Build an audience through social media, email marketing, YouTube, podcasts, or community platforms. These channels make your brand more visible, reduce dependency on one algorithm, and often drive branded search back into your SEO funnel.

How can you measure this? 

Monitor traffic by channel in GA4. Track growth in direct visits and social referrals, and measure branded search demand over time. Social media platforms also have their own engagement metrics worth tracking.

Tip: Develop a clear social media strategy that aligns with your brand and consider working with influencers who will get your name in front of your target audience in a natural way. 

Create content that resonates with your audience 

Focus on creating content that your audience actually wants to read, remember, and share. This goes beyond optimising for keywords. Content should be useful, interesting, original, and aligned with real questions, pain points, or aspirations.

How can you measure this? 

Look at page-level engagement, social shares, backlinks, and user comments. Use surveys or feedback tools to understand what content is resonating with your audience.

Strengthen E-E-A-T across your site

Expertise, experience, authority and trust (E-E-A-T) are becoming central to how Google and AI models evaluate content. Make sure your site clearly demonstrates why your brand is credible, who is behind your content, and why they are qualified to speak on the topic.

In its comprehensive Search Quality Rater Guidelines, Google refers to “E-E-A-T” 121 times and gives specific examples of what search raters should look for when determining the trustworthiness of a page or website: 

How can you measure this? 

Use a checklist to assess your E-E-A-T elements (e.g. bios, citations, credentials, contact information). Track performance of content written by named experts and monitor rankings for queries in sensitive or competitive spaces.

Keep doing the fundamentals of SEO

Brand should sit on top of solid SEO foundations, not replace them. 

Continue to invest in SEO, improving areas such as technical performance, keyword targeting, internal linking, and site architecture. These activities still matter, and they help support every brand-building effort you make.

For more actionable tips to improve your brand’s authority, I recommend checking out this Whiteboard Friday video from Chima Mmeje at Moz. 

In summary

Building a strong brand is no longer just a marketing goal, it’s an SEO imperative. While algorithms will keep evolving, the brands that users know, trust, and actively seek out will always have the edge.

Focus on creating real value, showing clear expertise, and building visibility in the places that matter. Because in a world where SEO is increasingly shaped by user behaviour and AI interpretation, brand is the one constant you can build on.