Search Engine Optimization for the Brain

Search engine optimization (SEO) companies specialize in getting a brand’s website found on Google and other online search engines. But what is your company doing about optimizing your brand for the mental search engine?

We learn from a Google search that the most relevant answers to consumer inquiries rise to the top (or at least that’s the idea). This concept of relevancy applies to offline marketing strategies as well. But without a computer, the brand needs to be found first in the consumer’s mind rather than a computer screen.

When searching online and off, are consumers really looking for uniqueness? To optimize a brand for the brain, we must shift our thinking away from some traditional brand strategy approaches that focus on product uniqueness, and think more in terms of consumer relevancy. If we look at the leading brands in any category, we find that these products or services aren’t that unique at all. Instead, they are the most relevant to the most customers.

When optimizing for this mental search, traditional brand strategists must also think like an SEO company. To better understand this process, we can utilize how Google rewards web content relevancy, and work to build similar tactics offline. The more a website makes sense to the inquiry, the more likely it will be among the top results. The same is true in mental search. Think of buying a mattress, for example, and people in the Northwest think of Sleep Country USA first, because they can instantly recall the “Why buy a mattress anywhere else?” jingle.

We can also gain insight into consumer relevancy by observing how people search for a product online. What we learn can translate into the overall brand strategy. Typically, consumers start with a broad based search (mattresses) and then begin to refine (mattresses on sale in Seattle). We ask the questions: What are the most common search words they will use? How can we optimize our web site that will make it the most relevant for the most likely inquiries? What can we do to be in the top position or above the fold? What can we do to be found first?

Now we need to do the same thing with the brain. Substitute ‘website’ with ‘brand’, and instead of Google, imagine a customer with a need trying to recall a specific company. When a customer begins their mental search, we want their internal results to return your brand first.

Because human search engines don’t deliver results the same way a computer does, we need to better help consumers recall what will become their own top results. To ensure your brand becomes the first their brains return, we must clearly and unmistakably link your brand identity with their “search” parameters. In short, we need the brand and the need it fulfills to be very easy to remember. When this is achieved, the brand quickly becomes the most relevant in the mind.

When we think of the brand strategy process as search engine optimization for the brain, we can work towards creating the most relevant brand to the most people. The brand will be found first, even when there’s no computer around.