Neuromarketing & Branding in the Search Results

Reading Kathy Sierra this week brought me back to the concept of neuromarketing, the fascinating theory that branding can actually create a more positive response than a product itself.

...If people preferred the taste of Pepsi, the drink should have dominated the market. It didn't. So in the summer of 2003, Montague gave himself a 'Pepsi Challenge' of a different sort: to figure out why people would buy a product they didn't particularly like...

...Montague had his subjects take the Pepsi Challenge while he watched their neural activity with a functional MRI machine, which tracks blood flow to different regions of the brain. Without knowing what they were drinking, about half of them said they preferred Pepsi. But once Montague told them which samples were Coke, three-fourths said that drink tasted better, and their brain activity changed too. Coke "lit up" the medial prefrontal cortex -- a part of the brain that controls higher thinking. Montague's hunch was that the brain was recalling images and ideas from commercials, and the brand was overriding the actual quality of the product. For years, in the face of failed brands and laughably bad ad campaigns, marketers had argued that they could influence consumers' choices. Now, there appeared to be solid neurological proof.

In our world of search marketing, this theory has equal application in the SERPs. As a search engine user scans through the results, they select the link they believe most likely to answer their query. Enquiro's golden triangle research suggests that every user is looking, at the least, through the top 3 search results, and the majority scan no fewer than the first five results. Our job as marketers is to "brand" our website to searchers in such a way that we can be #5 (or #10) and get more clicks than our competitors.

As an example, when I perform searches about search marketing related topics, I will scroll through results until I see a post from Stuntdubl, SEOBook, SearchEngineLand, SERoundtable or the like - the same is true for many folks in other fields; they know the brands they like and they want to find a familiar, reliable, trustworthy source. To help achieve this phenomenon, I've created a short list of steps to take to build this kind of branding into your search audience.

Steps to Successfully Branding Searchers

1. Build a Strong Brand Name
   I wrote about this last week, so I won't re-hash it. The value in the name is that it can be easily recognized and segmented from other brands. Names like Amazon, Wikipedia, and the BBC all do an excellent job of this.
   
2. Place your Brand Prominently in Title Tags
   It doesn't always need to be first in the title tag, but it certainly helps. Wikipedia and the New York Times have their brand after the content, while the BBC and Amazon put their brand name first. IMDB, in my opinion, shoots themselves in the foot by not using this branding system in their title tags. They're already an authority, and I believe they could increase their search traffic 15-30% simply by putting their brand in the title of each page.
3. Deliver a Consistent Experience
   When searchers come to your site for information about a topic, they should receive the same page structure and format each time. This consistency improves user experience and usability and will entice users to return by making them comfortable with the format your site provides.
4. Create Content that Successfully Answers Queries
   None of the tips above or below will help if you can't deliver on this most important part of the equation. The content you offer, whether it be informational, sales-oriented or entertaining has to correspond with the needs of the searcher. Excel in this piece, and your branded search traffic and search loyalty will skyrocket.
5. Build a Large Repository of Information
   A small site can leverage branding, but it's big sites who'll see the most benefit. You need to be visible for thousands of searches related to a particular topic before you can truly feel the value of the branding effect. As searchers see your brand again and again in the SERPs, you also get the benefit of being perceived as an expert in the field - one of the terrific side effects.

Any other pieces of advice for those seeking to increase searcher loyalty? Any stories you'd like to share wherein your site or those of your clients have achieved these goals?