Last week, we explored a few what it means to infuse your brand voice into your SEO and shared five suggestions on how to get started. This week, we will explore five additional suggestions that can make a difference in your efforts.
1. Use a Punchy Headline to Hold Interest
David Ogilvy confirms, “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
Even when your content is interesting and informative, many people may not read further if its opening sentences are boring and irrelevant. It’s ideal to creatively weave a keyword variation into your headline so that the readers are reassured that they’ll find their answers. At the same time, let your brand voice shine in the headline to foster familiarity and instantly connect with your audience.
You can use the AIDA method for writing an appealing headline that grabs your audience’s attention and invokes interest in them to read further. AIDA stands for attention, interest, desire, and action.
For instance, a headline such as “You can boost traffic to your website easily” isn’t as appealing as “Creative and innovative ideas to unlock your site’s potential of attracting organic traffic.”
Let’s dissect the second headline. The words ‘attract organic traffic’ will grab the readers’ attention, and ‘creative and innovative ideas’ will develop the interest to know more. The reader desires to find ways to boost traffic, and it translates into the action, i.e., scrolling down and reading the content.
For instance, if your brand voice is witty and playful, but your blog’s headline comes off severe and stiff, it can annoy your readers. The Curvy Fashionista knows how to play with the headlines. The brand is all about celebrating people of all shapes and sizes, and it’s visible in their headlines. Check out the short and sweet headline of their blog Selflove-The Ultimate Affirmation for the Curvy Woman.
If the headline can successfully hold the readers’ interest, they will read more of the content. The time they spend on your page will signal Google that your content is helpful, and Google will improve your ranking.
2. Add On-Point H2’s and H3’s
Both H2s and H3s play a crucial role in SEO rankings. Google depends on the words in your content to gauge its relevance and gives more weightage to the keywords in headings than the paragraphs. H2s carry more weightage compared to H3s, H4s, and so on.
Apart from Google, your headings also play a crucial role in helping your readers decide whether they want to read the details under them or not. Headers improve your content’s readability and make the content scannable. And, by infusing your brand voice into them, you can increase the chances of getting your content read as well.
For example, this blog from Home City discusses states with no income tax and adds H2s having keyword variations such as “Should I move to a state with no income tax” and “What are the most tax-friendly states.”
Using keyword variations in H2s and H3s signals the readers that your content covers the topic in-depth. It also allows them to read the sections that interest them the most. Using your brand voice maintains familiarity and keeps your readers involved in what you’ve got to say.
3. Use On-Brand Images
Research proves that 90% of the information passed onto the brain is in the form of visuals. Since only 55% of the website visitors spend less than 15 seconds on a webpage, it’s crucial to make it enjoyable.
Brain Rules claim that if your content has text instead of images, the reader might remember only 10% of the information three days later.
However, if you include the images, they may retain 65% of the information. So, it makes sense to use the power of imagery to boost SEO by adding your brand identity to them.
On-brand imagery plays a vital role in building brand affinity. Make sure to use purposeful images with text explanations to explain complex ideas in simple ways. Incorporate your brand’s identity, logo, and colors into the images. Make sure the text reflects your brand voice and writing style.
Images enhance the user experience by making the content appealing and enjoyable. Correct image placement increases the dwell time, and text and alt text improve relevance.
Check out Rebirth Garments to see their creative on-brand imagery tactics that speak to their target audience. They aren’t just addressing the concerns of the plus size women; they also understand the pain point of people with different sexual orientations.
4. Add On-Brand Text Callouts
You can create stylized boxes known as callouts to include featured content. These boxes aim to highlight important points or provide additional (and interesting) information that may be less relevant to the main topic. You can creatively customize these callouts by including buttons with titles, texts, and colors.
Some businesses prefer to add callouts instead of static images because they add personality to a brand. You can also use them to emphasize your USP or highlight offers and explanations that can entice your customers.
To make your text callout knit smoothly with your content, use branded colors only. Keep the voice and tone similar to the rest of the copy. Callouts break the monotony of the content and promise an increase in engagement ratio.
5. Preserve Brand Voice on Social Media
Consistency across different social media channels is crucial for both SEO and branding. When you’re interacting with your customers on social media, you’re expanding your reach. Your unique brand voice plays a crucial role in tying your SEO efforts with your social media success.
Here are a few tips on how you can preserve your brand voice across all platforms:
- Stay true to your writing style and let your personality shine.
- Use power words to entice your audience.
- Write as if you’re talking to your followers.
- Avoid using jargon words as they may bore or confuse your audience.
- Come off authentic by avoiding clickbaity tactics.
- Don’t talk about yourself all the time. Talk about things that interest your readers.
Even if you use social media marketing tools, make sure your posts never deviate from your brand voice. When you make genuine efforts to engage your followers and fulfill your brand promise, social media can drive a lot of traffic to your website. If these visitors find your content helpful, they will share your content, and you will earn more links naturally, which is a crucial off-page SEO factor.
Case Study: A Strong Brand Voice Example
Namaste as F*** is an unapologetic brand making a safe and authentic space for everyone, irrespective of shape, size, ethnicity, or color. The brand uses a carefree and witty voice with a bold undertone to empower its target audience against self or society-imposed limitations.
The brand takes a firm stand against problems faced by women all over the world, especially in the yoga community. They fight against toxic positivity by writing on interesting topics that are relevant to their target audience.
Namaste as F*** has a sassy style and a fearless personality!
They adopt a fearless writing style that makes them stand out and relate to their target audience. Because the brand stands for something and takes an unpopular opinion, they have die-hard fans all over the world. They are breaking stereotypes and addressing the toxicity people experience in their lives, including the mirage of perfectionism.
Now, let’s inspect the brand’s Title Tag and meta description. The title tag is on-point, focusing on the keyword “yoga apparel and retreats,” related to their core business activity. And, check out how their brand voice shines in their meta description. It aims to attract people who want to try yoga but haven’t taken the plunge yet due to self-limiting beliefs.
The only issue with the meta description is that it’s longer than the allotted characters, and that’s why Google has truncated it. Therefore, the message is incomplete and may not attract as many people as possible.
Here’s the headline from one of their blogs, 5 Signs of an Energy Vampire.
Look at how they’ve used their brand voice to connect with their target audience. You can feel the frustration and helplessness in the opening sentences. The words are successful in tugging at the heart and emotions of the people who have experienced toxic relationships and energy vampires.
However, they haven’t utilized the H2 and H3s in their favor, and the image lacks optimization.
The images are spot-on and tie nicely with their brand identity, whether on their homepage or the About section. However, they could have used some more pictures and optimized them better. Their blog entries are short and on-point, but perhaps a little too short. Adding a couple of sassy callouts in their blog entries could take their content to the next level.
But overall, the brand has a strong voice, and it reflects their core mission of empowering people in their skin without the fear of being judged. Namaste as F*** is doing a great job with their branding, and are a great example of a strong brand voice (although their SEO could be improved).
In today’s online world, branding and SEO go hand in hand to get your business to the success it deserves. While search engine optimization expands your reach and improves your chances of ranking, branding makes sure you find the right audience. Your brand voice makes you memorable, and as more people seek you out, Google considers it a vote of your authority. It ranks you higher and increases your search visibility.
The original version of this article was first published on V3Broadsuite.
- 10 Ways to Infuse Your Brand Voice into Your SEO Efforts, Part 2 - February 4, 2021
- 10 Ways to Infuse Your Brand Voice into Your SEO Efforts, Part 1 - January 28, 2021
