What does that mean, SEO a business name? Adding keywords. Although keywords in your company name are a ranking factor, you can rank without them. So if you’re happy with that answer, feel free to leave. Or, stick around for nuance and a detailed explanation.
If you’re decrepit like me, you’ll recall the simpler, low-tech age of telephone directories. In those olden days, contractors named themselves A1 Plumbing or A1 Electrical because it meant they’d be the first listing. That’s the pre-Internet equivalent of bagging the top spot on Google. Businesses haven’t changed. They still want to be first, or at least, on the first page. (And just recently, I noticed a local competitor was called A1 SEO. How deliciously retro!)
How to SEO a business name.
1. Local SEO.
Local (geographical) SEO is optimising for location. For businesses relying on local, in-person trade, geographical SEO becomes a priority. Years ago, I co-owned a cake business. Rather unoriginally, we called it The Oxford Cake Company. As Oxford was where it was located, and cake was what we sold, it turned out to be quite a coup, organic traffic-wise. (At the time, I knew nothing about search engines, proof that I am painfully unimaginative.) The Oxford Cake Company is a perfect example of how to SEO a business name. Adding keywords is best practice, but it’s not always possible (more on that in just a bit).
And then there are the ‘near me’ guys… Yes, you can legally register your name as ‘[JOB TITLE] Near Me’. However, there’s a problem with that. ‘[JOB TITLE] Near Me’ sounds shit, and it says nothing about your business. There’s zero effort and zero personality. What it does say is you’re an A1 wannabe of days gone by. But if it’s working for you, and you don’t colour up every time someone asks for the name of your company, do it, you shameless gamer of the algorithm.
My business name is The Sarky Type, which reveals absolutely nothing about what my business does (it’s just a clue to the kind of personality you’re about to work with). Unless sarky types are what users are after, I won’t get found for SEO consulting in Oxfordshire.
Or will I?
When you include a location in a search term, it’s called a location modifier. Adding a location modifier pulls up businesses in a particular area. Obviously, there’s no location in The Sarky Type, but it doesn’t stop my business from landing in the local pack for the keyword phrase ‘Oxford SEO consultant’:
I can also be found for ‘freelance Oxford SEO consultant’:
So what’s going on? Google automatically displays results from your area. As long as you haven’t tinkered with the location settings, you’ll find local results when you google, with or without a location modifier:
👉🏻 >>Implicit search traffic: smash local SEO with Google Maps<<
If local trade is your meat and spuds, and you can easily do it, incorporating a location in your business name is a sound idea. But I show up in the results without adding my location, and that’s because I add it elsewhere:
- Site name
- Homepage snippet (meta title/description)
- Website footer
- Contact page
- About page
2. Adding industry keywords.
Newbie business owners can SEO a business name from the get-go. (And if they’re really sensible, they’ll make sure no one else is using it or has registered it before purchasing the domain.) But if you’ve been in business a while, and you’ve had your name since the dawn of time, you can’t change it. And why would you want to? That’s part of your brand identity coz it often means something. The good news: you don’t have to stuff industry terms into your trade name to make page one.
When I show up in the local pack, you won’t see my registered business name. My Google Business Profile lists my business name as ‘Freelance SEO Consultant’. You can try something similar if your name has nothing whatsoever to do with your job.
FYI: In the US, you can register for a ‘Doing Business As’ (DBA):
“A ‘Doing Business As’ name, also known as a trade, fictitious, or assumed name, allows individuals or businesses to operate under a name different from their legal, registered name. It is used for branding, marketing, or to operate multiple businesses under one entity, without requiring a new legal structure.” — Wolters Kluwer
Yeah, I’ve lost out on a key ranking factor by calling my business The Sarky Type. Maybe if I had my time again, I would’ve called it something more job description-worthy, but I think even I might struggle to be that prosaic.
The bottom line: My website is found for industry keywords with and without a location modifier. That’s not magic, luck, or even rocket science; it’s SEO. I began with the fundamentals: researched the best keywords for my niche and assigned them to relevant pages. I make sure everything is optimised for search. I consistently add/update content and tweak things as I go. That’s the only way to maintain your position on search engines. Do the work, and you’ll show up.
Does your website traffic suck?
Book a >>FREE website audit<<