Brand vs Search ROUND 1

This is going to be an ongoing debate and saga between brand vs search.

I have noticed more and more a great divide and saga developing between search engine marketers and brand managers. Each person has a valid concern and a worthy challenge although sometimes their suggestions conflict.

Search engine marketers objectives
1. Get to the top of the major search engines
2. Drive as much traffic as possible from the search engines
3. Modify the company website to be as search engine visible as possible.

Brand Managers objectives
1. Build and promote the brand.
2. Mantain the integrity of the brand
3. Use the brand awareness in peoples minds to influence purchasing decisions at time of purchase.
4. Modify the company website to promote the brand and stay within the brand message.

Conflict 1. Homepage Title and content

A search engine marketer wants to populate the title and homepage of a company website with keywords that they are targetting to improve page relevance. A brand manager wants all the copy on the homepage to be within the brand guidelines and promote the brand personality.

The conflict occurs in that the copy that a search marketer would use is not going to read aswell as if it wasnt search engine marketed. That a particular word or keyword appears over and over doesnt do your page much good. On the other hand if there is no search marketing of the homepage copy the site will not rank aswell in the engines and the brand will not be promoted as much.