When it comes to brand searches and direct traffic, they can really help your business and your rankings in Google. Direct traffic is already seen as a ranking factor on some level and a strong brand also helps, but Google has not specifically said brand searches help. They have said direct traffic helps.
https://www.semrush.com/ranking-factors/
https://ignitevisibility.com/services/seo/
But what is the main difference between branded traffic and direct traffic? Not much… If someone searches for your brand in Chrome, im most cases the website auto populates and they end up going directly to the website! Thus, direct traffic. Also, if you have a strong brand, that means you get more links and higher click through rates in Google, because people want to link to you and click on your results. A strong brand helps SEO. A correlation between your brand and search terms also helps SEO, especially with instant answers and Rank Brain now in the mix.
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