SEOs have long complained that Google favors big brands.
It’s possible Google favored big brands because it was the “easy” route; if you decide any content created by a brand name is great (despite whether it is actually great), you can rank it and call it a day rather than having to parse through thousands of pages from “no-name” sites and worry which should claim the top spot. The odds are that when a respectable name is behind the content, it’s probably half-decent.
This (alleged) oversimplified approach harmed many undeserving sites along the way. But there’s an important marketing lesson to be learned here.
Google’s not the only one favoring recognizable brand names. People do too.
All things being equal, someone is more likely to click on a search result by a brand they’ve heard of than by a brand they haven’t. Yet we as marketers haven’t invested enough time and resources into caring about this fact.
Now, in the age of AI Overviews where clicks are few and far between, brand has never mattered more.
What Brand Authority Really Means
I named my consultancy Brand Authority Club for a reason: I could see its untapped potential in marketing.
But what does “brand authority” mean, exactly?
My definition of brand authority is “demonstrated and perceived expertise by your target audience about your specific, differentiated offering and beyond.”
“Demonstrated and perceived” is about putting the content out there and confirming it’s being consumed in the way you’d hoped. The point here is it’s not enough to just publish — you have to effectively distribute and assess if the content is well received.
“Your target audience” reminds us not all views, traffic, and clicks are created equal. We care about our specific audience, and we should be speaking to them first and foremost.
“Your specific, differentiated offering” indicates that any amount of marketing won’t solve having bad product-market fit or a service that isn’t up to par. You have to have a solid foundation in brand positioning and messaging to achieve brand authority.
And “beyond”? Well, if you can provide value outside of your core offering, all the better. People will trust you more for it.
Brand Authority as a North Star
The concept of brand authority harkens back to core marketing principles that can help us navigate one of the most complex landscapes marketing has ever seen.
And right now, we need to go back to the fundamentals.
Volatile Changes in Search and Social
There were 13 confirmed Google algorithm updates in 2024, and those are just the ones we know about.
Perhaps the biggest shakeup was the introduction of AI Overviews, which dealt a significant blow to many sites’ organic traffic numbers. I’ve been in this industry for 12+ years, and I’ve never seen so many sites struggling with declining traffic despite continued SEO investment. It’s a common refrain and a justified concern.
But it’s not the only issue.
Many social channels have been strapped into a rollercoaster of changes, from the TikTok ban saga to users leaving X and Meta in response to the political climate.
All of the best laid SEO and social plans of last year might have been obliterated, and if they haven’t, it’s possible they still will at no fault of the marketers pulled into this mess.
Strong Brands Withstand Changes
Marketers talk about the importance of “owned” content (like websites and email newsletters, for example) and its place in a marketing mix.
That’s because of the tumultuousness I described above. We’ve all gotta have something that we have more control over.
By prioritizing brand authority, you’re prioritizing earning trust and affinity for your company. No matter how you achieve this, the benefits extend across channels. It is the ultimate “owned” result.
The other major benefit is that a north star like brand authority can be a target for the entire marketing department. It’s one thing other than revenue that can unite different specialists toward one common goal.
And no matter what anyone tells you, not all marketing efforts can be perfectly mapped toward revenue, even if they do impact the bottom line. We are way past the age of being able to calculate the ROI of every single decision.
We need to let that go and embrace a more ambiguous but stronger marketing purpose.
Surprise: It’s building brand authority.
How to Improve Brand Authority
Brand authority is the sum of nearly every part of marketing, advertising, product, sales and several other critical departments.
As marketers, we have control over a particular segment of influence, but it’s a powerful one. Being responsible for overall brand messaging means we’re responsible for the public’s view.
Thankfully, we have many levers we can pull to enhance brand authority. Let’s take a look at some of the most powerful.
Re-Examine Brand Differentiation and Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Brand differentiation and ICP are marketing basics for a reason: Everything marketing tactic’s success relies on these elements being strong. If you’re trying to establish credibility, you need to understand specifically what your brand is uniquely equipped to be an expert in.
Let’s look at a quick example.
In the simplest terms, Slack and Microsoft Teams are competitors. I’ve had many client calls in which we discuss the merits of one and hate on the other. (Take a wild guess.)
Their respective SEO titles reveal differentiation right off the bat.
If you know nothing about either product, you can already glean how they’re different from these descriptions.
Slack is striving to be the new, innovative, AI-focused option, while Teams is likely trying to be the no-frills, straightforward communications solution.
These decisions are often based on and/or intricately tied to the ICP, or the type of person a brand is ideally trying to help with their product or service. Perhaps Slack is targeting startup cultures while Microsoft is targeting Fortune 500s. Understanding your audience will inform which direction to lean into.
So, whether you have brand positioning or not, revisit it. See if it’s still accurate; what has changed over the years? Is the ICP still the same; what new challenges do they face? How has the competitive landscape shifted? How can you uniquely speak to your audience now?
Audit Content for Topical Authority
Content’s DNA is brand positioning, so it’s important to create content that matches your brand objectives.
All content, whether it’s a YouTube channel or a long-form-focused blog, broadcasts the brands’ priorities. Google uses the content to help determine your topical specialties, and users use the information to determine how they feel about the brand (subconsciously or not).
When I’ve worked with clients, I’ve manually tagged their content by topic and customer journey stage. This gives me an accurate 1,000-foot view of where the brand’s priorities have been and what they’re projecting to the public.
Is your content projecting what you want to project? Moz Pro has a cool view called Domain Keyword Topics; it shows the most common topics a brand is associated with based on its ranking keywords.
For example, this is Slack’s. If I saw this, I’d be wondering why custom emoji integration is the No. 1 topic. I don’t hate it — it’s extremely rare to see loyalty-stage content so dominant — but it would give me pause to see it in the top spot.
Take inventory of your current content and the topic clusters that are represented. How many pages are allocated to each topic, do they match your brand positioning, and how are they performing? This type of audit can lead to very effective revisions.
As far as new content goes, what can you talk about specifically related to your differentiation? How can you extend that out more tangentially to benefit people even if it’s not tired to your core brand offering?
Participate in Your Industry’s Ecosystem
People tend to trust brands more often when they see them mentioned organically.
That’s not to say paid efforts don’t work; they’re great for awareness in particular. For example, I didn’t know about Quince until I heard dozens of podcast ads about them — but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to shop there. I checked Reddit to see what people had to say about their clothes before I actually made a purchase.
The goal is to become part of the conversation in your industry. There are many ways to do this, but here are a few examples.
Pitch Industry Podcasts and Conferences
Simply getting chosen to be a podcast guest or conference speaker demonstrates authority; a third-party deemed you qualified.
And then you get to talk to an audience that’s highly relevant to what you offer in a non-salesy way. These are almost always great opportunities.
Create Newsworthy or Buzzworthy Content
Earning organic mentions by creating engaging content also establishes authority. If you’re just starting out, internal data is often a gold mine for interesting, new insights, but regardless of how you get the data, research reports tend to do well for a reason — they are usually relevant and helpful.
They also show the brand’s commitment to better understanding the industry, which is always an authority signal.
Launch Cobranded Initiatives With Brand “Friends”
The concept of brand friends is that there are other companies that share similar objectives and values as yours but aren’t direct competitors. Think Slack and Trello (workplace productivity) or Boxed water and Bee’s Wrap (reducing plastic waste). Collaborating emphasizes the commitment to the brand’s mission and expands visibility.
If the other brands you partner with are authoritative, working with them counts as them essentially vouching for you. Their audience now instantly has more trust in your brand than they did before.
Present Your Best Second Impression
Someone may have first heard about your brand through a podcast or social media post, but their second impression — your website — is where they often go to confirm their first impression is accurate.
It’s critical to continue your authoritative story across your website. Everything from the design, UX, navigation, and content makes a statement about the company (whether true or not). If the site appears outdated, then the offering will too. If there’s little content, it may appear the brand doesn’t have much to say. Every choice impacts perception.
Ways to Measure Brand Authority
The main pushback I and other marketers receive when they propose focusing on brand authority is that it’s difficult to quantify.
And it’s true. It is.
That doesn’t make it any less important. And it’s not impossible to quantify.
Here are some indicators to track brand-authority-based efforts.
Moz Brand Authority Metric
When I heard Moz released a brand authority metric, I became the eyes emoji. 👀
It’s similar to Domain Authority in that it’s a score from 1-100 and is non-linear. Meaning, it’s harder to go from a score of 80-90 than it is to go from 30-40.
It takes more into consideration than simply the brand’s name in keyword data; it also factors in related terms. They give the example of how “Macbook Pro,” while not having the word “Apple” in it, is still referring to the Apple brand.
This is a great place to start to get an idea of where your brand currently sits among competitors.
Brand Searches
While the Moz Brand Authority Metric gives you a great overview of your brand across search, it’s good to dive into how search volumes have changed for these specific terms, especially if there are certain products or services you’ve been promoting more than others.
For example, in Ahrefs you can sort through organic keywords by filtering to branded queries only.
When you start investing in brand authority, branded search volume tends to increase after several months. However, it depends on how many people you’ve reached through your efforts.
Backlink and Organic Mention Acquisition
You’ll know you’ve started effectively reaching people when your number of referring domains and organic mentions begins to climb.
Keep track of which links you earned from pitching and which came naturally. Both are important, but the latter points to the success of a long-term brand authority effort. It means people are trusting you. It means people are remembering you.
Lead Acquisition/Sales Data
Brand authority doesn’t just affect awareness; it helps people make the decision to actually convert. Track any pages you made changes to, particularly bottom-of-the-funnel pages that have new authority signals.
Keep your sales team in the loop about the changes you’re making and initiatives you’re launching. Ask prospects what made them decide to go with your company, as the answers can reveal pivotal information about what’s working and help you get consistent buy-in.
Your New KPI: Brand Authority
The mix of which efforts and metrics you use when focusing on brand authority will depend on the type of company and industry you’re in.
But if your goal is to make it through whatever is thrown at us, incorporate brand authority into your department goals as soon as possible. At the very minimum, it should be an objective in your objective-key results (OKR) framework, if you use it.
Start telling the story internally to facilitate cross-departmental collaboration and serve as a hard-reset reminder of what everyone is working so hard to accomplish.
And, perhaps best of all, improving brand authority will make every other part of your job easier.
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