How brand positioning affects your SEO approach (with examples)
Did you know your SEO strategy should change depending on your brand positioning?
Your brand’s personality, values, and the audience you’re speaking to should shape every aspect of your SEO approach.
From the keywords you target to how you structure your website and content, aligning your strategy with your brand positioning is essential for meaningful results.
You didn’t?
Well, let's take a closer look at two brands in the sexual wellness space: Vush and Normal.
By analysing their SEO approach, we can see how brand positioning influences everything from keyword targeting to website layout—and how brands can still leverage SEO to increase sales, regardless of their positioning.
The brands
Vush - Bold and experienced
Vush’s positioning is clear: it appeals to individuals already comfortable with sexual wellness products.
Their SEO approach focuses on specific products and clear, direct messaging aimed at confident buyers who know what they want.
Brand positioning: Bold, confident, and empowerment-driven for individuals who are experienced and ready to purchase.
SEO approach: Highly product-focused, with clear category pages targeting specific products. Direct and transactional, aiming to convert users already in a purchasing mindset.
This is evident in their title tag and meta description.
Vush’s bold, fun, and empowering tone is evident in its title and meta descriptions, positioning the brand as a trendy leader in sexual wellness and self-care.
By focusing on keywords like "sexual wellness" and specific toy names, the brand caters to experienced users seeking targeted options.
Normal - Empowering & educational
On the other hand, Normal is targeting a more educational-focused, newbie audience.
The brand’s SEO strategy reflects this with a significant focus on guiding users through their sexual wellness journey, making them feel comfortable and informed before purchasing.
Brand positioning: Inclusive, approachable, and educational for beginners or individuals exploring sexual wellness for the first time.
SEO approach: Focused on educational content, such as blog posts, courses, and guides that help users understand their sexuality and find the best products for them.
Here’s the title tag and meta description.
Normal’s straightforward and approachable tone shines through in its title and meta descriptions, focusing on inclusivity and destigmatising sexual wellness.
The inclusion of keywords like “sex toys” and “sexual wellness” highlights an SEO effort to align with user intent, though a stronger call-to-action could better drive engagement.
Website layout
Vush
Vush’s positioning as a bold, fun, and empowering brand for more experienced users is reflected in its extensive product categorisation.
The large number of categories and keyword-rich names aim to cater to a knowledgeable audience looking for specific products.
This approach works well for experienced users who are likely familiar with the products and seek a more detailed shopping experience.
However, the dropdown menu could potentially overwhelm new or less experienced users, causing decision paralysis.
The commercially focused menu reinforces the brand’s positioning, prioritising product discovery and driving sales, but it may not be as user-friendly for those unfamiliar with the offerings.
Normal
Normal’s positioning as an inclusive, educational brand for beginners is reflected in its smaller product range and user-focused category names.
While the menu prioritises user experience and education, it's worth noting that the lack of SEO optimisation in the category structure could limit search visibility.
The product-finder quiz and brand-building links emphasise Normal’s focus on guiding and educating new users, aligning with their overall brand strategy.
Category page - Shop all
Vush
Vush’s positioning as a bold and empowering brand for experienced users is reflected in its "Shop All" page.
Targeting the keyword “adult toys,” the page is optimised with a keyword-rich title tag, meta description, and header.
A “shop by brand” filter is suited to their knowledgable audience
The infinite scroll feature aligns with the preferences of Vush’s audience—experienced users who are comfortable browsing through extensive options without feeling overwhelmed.
The detailed product filters, allowing selection by price, brand, and product type, further cater to this audience by providing a seamless way to narrow down choices.
Instead of the typical category copy at the top of the page, they’ve chosen to go with FAQs. However, there seems to be a design fault as the FAQs don’t match the category and are the same across every category.
If I were them, I would be fixing that ASAP and ensuring every category had its own unique FAQs.
They also have blog posts at the end of the page. It feels a little like an afterthought; again, it’s the same for every category page.
It would make more sense for the blog posts to be changed to align with the corresponding category.
Normal
Normal’s "Shop All" page reflects its positioning as an inclusive and educational brand catering to newcomers to sexual wellness.
The readily clickable filters align with the assumption that Normal’s audience may need extra guidance to find the right product.
These filters are intuitive and thoughtful, featuring options like “use for” (e.g., couples, solo sex) and “use on” (specific body parts), helping users navigate based on their needs or preferences - super clever!
The choice of pagination further supports this approach, breaking products into manageable sections and reducing the risk of overwhelming users with too many options.
While the page could benefit from improved keyword targeting (the title and header are missing a target keyword while the meta description is entirely missing) to enhance discoverability, the current structure effectively supports its user-first positioning.
Blog
Vush
Vush’s blog reflects its bold and product-focused positioning, catering to experienced users already comfortable with sexual wellness.
However, the lack of categories on the main blog page makes navigation less intuitive, especially for users looking for specific topics.
This approach aligns with the brand’s commercially driven SEO strategy, prioritising product discovery over content exploration.
While individual authors are credited, the absence of author pages misses an opportunity to build authority and trust with readers and with search engines.
Internally, Vush maximises product promotion through abundant links to products and related blogs, but the lack of external links limits the content’s credibility and overall SEO potential.
The unoptimised title tag and meta description for the main blog page are unusual oversights for a brand that prioritises SEO.
It might indicate that while content is a part of their strategy, it’s not as important to their SEO strategy as their commercial pages.
Normal
Normal’s blog embodies its approachable, educational brand positioning, catering to newcomers exploring sexual wellness.
Categories at the top of the main blog page simplify navigation, ensuring users can easily find content that suits their requirements.
The introductory copy invites users to explore guides or suggest new topics and clearly reflects the brand’s inclusive and community-focused ethos.
With 44% of ranking keywords tied to blog pages, Normal’s content is a pivotal part of its strategy.
And given the chances of people searching for information about this topic online, it makes sense for them to focus on providing content that positions them as the leader and could lead to conversions.
Their use of external links within the blog boosts credibility and authority, reinforcing the educational value.
To further enhance this, Normal should hire guest writers to write blogs and create author pages for them, which will further strengthen E-E-A-T.
Compared to Vush, product links are not consistently included, which could limit opportunities to convert readers into customers.
However, I think this is a good strategic move - their products aren’t the solution to every question, so why try and push them?
The SEO-optimised title tag and meta description for the main blog page highlight Normal’s attention to organic visibility for content, showcasing how the brand balances its educational goals with SEO best practices.
If they could do this with their commercial pages, they would have a fantastically balanced brand-building SEO strategy.
Aligning SEO approach with brand positioning
Vush and Normal highlight how brand positioning is crucial in shaping SEO strategies.
Vush's brand positioning has led to an SEO strategy focused on detailed product discovery and empowering experienced users, prioritising search visibility and commercial results.
Normal's SEO strategy focuses on building user relationships through educational content and positioning itself as an authority in sexual wellness.
By prioritising trust and inclusivity, their approach fosters long-term customer loyalty, which, over time, can naturally lead to increased sales.
While both brands operate in the same industry, their distinct approaches necessitate different SEO tactics.
That’s why it’s so important to work with an SEO agency like Sunday Best, which specialises in brand-building SEO, tailoring strategies that align with your unique brand positioning and audience.
We create SEO strategies that align with your brand so you get better results in the long term.
So, if you're ready to refine your approach and evolve your SEO strategy, reach out today to get started!
