Branded keywords

[priceseo]

I'm trying to understand this concept a little further.

Say if I create a branded keyword, "dc widgets"

I then start to add keywords such as "maker" "toy" and apply the branded keyword to it.

Does this mean that they then become "maker dc widgets" and "toy dc widgets" ?

What purpose does branded keywords offer?

[MoosaHemani]

Well branded keywords in SEOmoz have simple meaning... for instance you are receiving traffic from tons of different key phrases from organic, paid and other channels... in organic you are receiving traffic from different keywords some includes your company name and others will be the niche related information keywords...

Branded keywords are the keywords that contain your brand name so that you can get to know that how much traffic is coming on your website with your brand name and how much is coming from other organic key phrases...

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Howdy,

If your branded rule is "dc widgets", then yes - the phrases "maker dc widgets" and "toy dc widgets" will both be considered branded keywords.

Branded keywords are important for many different reasons. As opposed to non-branded traffic, branded keywords are an indication of true business visibility. If folks are searching specifically for your business, this is a good indication of health as opposed to random keyword searches.

Here's an excerpt from a post we published when SEOmoz introduced branded rules into the web app:

Keywords related to your brand tend to show up at the end of the conversion funnel, when visitors are already aware and interested. They’re more specific and unique, often based on company and domain names, key products, and variations/misspellings of those names and products. They aren’t subject to the fluctuations caused by search algorithms in the same way that non-branded keywords are. This makes them useful as indicators of long-term strength and popularity. For that reason, most sites should see a decent portion of traffic coming from brand-related keywords.

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/introducing-branded-keyword-rules-and-metrics

For better or worse, Google loves brands. The more branded traffic you receive  the easier it is to succeed in other areas... typically.