The Surround Sound Strategy: How to Amplify Your Brand and Rank Higher on SERPs

In the hyper-competitive world of search engine optimization (SEO), ranking your own website in the top spots on Google for target keywords is no longer enough to win. With the vast majority of online experiences beginning with a search engine and the average query returning millions of results, your brand needs to be present in as many relevant places as possible to capture audience attention and traffic.

Enter the surround sound content strategy – an approach focused on maximizing your brand‘s visibility across all the top-ranking sites and pages for your priority keywords. By securing mentions, links, and coverage from trusted, authoritative third-party sources, you can significantly amplify your reach and influence in the SEO landscape.

Surround sound has emerged as a go-to tactic for savvy content marketers because it‘s incredibly effective. A 2020 study by Terakeet found that brands with a strong surround sound presence achieved on average:

• 300% higher organic search traffic
• 150% more keywords ranked in the top 100 on Google
• 30% faster growth in organic search visibility year-over-year

Another key benefit of surround sound is its ability to drive off-site signals that support your on-page SEO efforts. Links and mentions from high-authority websites pass significant link equity to your domain, which search engines view as a strong vote of confidence in your brand‘s credibility and relevance.

But achieving surround sound success requires more than just spamming out generic guest post pitches or link requests. You need a strategic, targeted approach built on real relationships and a deep understanding of your audience and industry landscape.

The 6-Step Process for Executing a Surround Sound Strategy

Through our work helping hundreds of businesses improve their search presence at HubSpot, we‘ve developed a proven playbook for planning and executing an impactful surround sound content program. Here‘s the step-by-step process:

1. Identify Your Target Keywords and Pages

The first step is to zero in on the highest-value keyword opportunities for your brand. These should be terms with:

• High relevance to your core offerings
• Substantial search volume (at least 500-1,000 searches/month)
• Reasonable keyword difficulty (≤ 60 on a 100-point scale)
• A SERP featuring several "surround sound-able" sites (more on this later)

To find keyword ideas, use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush and Google Keyword Planner. Look for modifiers like "best", "top", "alternatives" and "vs" to surface keywords with comparison or commercial investigation intent.

For example, if you sell marketing automation software, relevant terms might include:

• best marketing automation software
• top marketing automation platforms
• marketo vs pardot
• hubspot alternatives

Aim to build a master list of 50-100 priority keywords to target in your program.

2. Assess Your Current Visibility

Next, you need to establish baseline metrics for how well your brand is represented in the search results for your target keywords.

Run a manual audit by Googling each of your keywords and analyzing the top 10-20 ranking pages. Keep a tally of how many pages mention your brand, as well as the total number of results analyzed.

From there, you can calculate key performance indicators (KPIs) like:

• Share of Voice (SOV): Percent of pages that mention your brand (e.g. 3 mentions / 20 pages = 15% SOV)
• Mention Frequency: Average mentions per page (e.g. 5 mentions / 20 pages = 0.25 mentions per page)
• Visibility Score: Blended metric factoring in your rank position, the rank position of pages mentioning you, and the total search volume

To streamline this process, you can use automated SERP analysis tools like Mention Miner or build your own using the DataForSEO API.

Here‘s an example of an initial visibility audit for a sample keyword set:

Keyword	Search Volume	Your Rank	Mentions	SOV
marketing automation tools	1,000	8	2	10%
best crm software	2,500	–	1	5%
alternatives to salesforce	800	12	0	0%
top email marketing platforms	1,200	5	3	15%

3. Identify Surround Sound Opportunities

With your baseline visibility data in hand, it‘s time to scope out the best opportunities to improve your score. Look for:

• Keywords where you have low SOV but several "surround sound-able" pages ranking on page 1
• Pages ranking above you that don‘t yet mention your brand
• Sites that rank for multiple target keywords (bigger partnership potential)

To judge surround sound potential, consider criteria like:

• Site Type: Is it a blog, review site, news outlet, or something else? Blogs and niche review sites tend to be most receptive to partnerships.
• Domain Authority: How credible and established is the site? Prioritize opportunities to be mentioned on high-authority domains.
• Brand Mentions: Does the page already mention your competitors? If so, there may be a relevant opportunity to have your brand included as well.
• Content Freshness: How recently was the page published or updated? Newer and frequently-updated content provides the best surround sound potential.

Based on this analysis, build a shortlist of the top 10-20 partnership opportunities to focus on first.

4. Develop Your Pitch and Outreach Strategy

Landing brand mentions and links from third-party sites requires a thoughtful approach to outreach. Put yourself in the shoes of the bloggers, journalists and site owners you‘re contacting. They get pitched all the time – how will you break through the noise and provide real value?

A few principles to follow:

• Personalize: Reference their past work and explain why your brand is a relevant fit for their audience.
• Give Before You Ask: Share their content on social, leave a thoughtful comment, or send a useful resource before making an ask.
• Be Specific: Clarify exactly what you‘re looking for, whether it‘s a quote, link, product review, etc.
• Make It Easy to Say Yes: Write suggested copy, provide HTML-ready assets, and be flexible on timeline.

In terms of identifying the right point of contact, tools like Hunter, RocketReach and Clearbit Connect are useful for finding email addresses. But don‘t be afraid to reach out via social media or even send a physical letter for high-priority targets.

5. Track Your Results

As you execute your surround sound content program, keep close tabs on your visibility metrics to gauge performance and prove impact.

Some KPIs to track include:

• SOV Increase: How much has your overall share of voice increased since launching the program?
• Ranking Improvements: Have you moved up in rank for target keywords?
• Referral Traffic: How much traffic are your new brand mentions and links driving to your site?
• Leads and Revenue: Are surround sound efforts contributing to downstream business metrics?

To make reporting easy, set up automated dashboards using tools like Google Data Studio or Tableau to pull in data from your rank tracking tool, web analytics platform, and CRM.

6. Refine and Scale Your Program

Surround sound content is not a one-and-done tactic. Maintaining and growing your search visibility requires ongoing effort and optimization.

Based on your results, double down on the partnership and outreach tactics that are delivering the highest ROI. Invest in building long-term relationships with the sites that have the greatest audience overlap and authority.

To scale your efforts and engage partners more efficiently, consider creating reusable assets like:

• Co-marketing content templates (e.g. comparison posts, partner interviews, etc.)
• Self-service dashboards with your latest brand news and offers
• Referral and affiliate programs to reward partners for mentions and links

Over time, you can also expand your program to cover more keywords, products, and markets.

Real-World Surround Sound Content Examples

To illustrate the power of surround sound content in action, here are a few examples from top B2B brands:

HubSpot

Over the past two years, HubSpot has built a robust surround sound program to increase its visibility for competitive product keywords. Through partnerships with leading software review sites and niche blogs, the company has:

• Grown its SOV from 15% to 40% for marketing automation keywords
• Increased organic traffic to product pages by 150%
• Moved up an average of 3 positions in rank for target keywords

To accelerate its efforts, HubSpot built custom dashboards in Google Data Studio to give the SEO, content and PR teams a real-time view of surround sound performance and opportunities.

Source: The Surround Sound Series: Part 2

Shopify

As part of its enterprise SEO strategy, e-commerce giant Shopify has developed a targeted surround sound program to rank for high-intent keywords like "ecommerce website builder". By securing guest posts, product reviews and co-marketing partnerships with authoritative industry publications, Shopify has:

• Increased its off-site mentions by 300%
• Grown organic traffic from surround sound content by 275%
• Improved its page 1 keyword coverage by 60%

One tactic that‘s been especially effective is using data-driven reports and infographics as partner link bait. For example, Shopify‘s State of Commerce report featuring proprietary seller insights has earned links and mentions from over 65 unique domains.

Intercom

Customer messaging platform Intercom has used surround sound content to fuel its rapid growth in a crowded market. The company invests heavily in securing brand mentions, product comparisons and integrations pages across leading software and startup blogs.

Results include:

• 80% SOV for keywords like "customer support software" and "user onboarding tools"
• 2-3X faster growth in organic search traffic compared to top competitors
• 50% of new signups attributed to surround sound and off-site SEO efforts

To go beyond traditional guest posting and link building, Intercom has pursued innovative partnership opportunities like creating an interactive product recommendation tool with user onboarding platform Appcues.

Closing Thoughts

The battle for search engine visibility and audience attention has never been fiercer. To compete and win in 2024, B2B brands need a surround sound content strategy that extends their reach and influence far beyond their own websites. By building a network of brand mentions and endorsements across trusted third-party sources, you can become the rising tide that lifts all your search engine rankings.

The key to surround sound success is focusing on genuine partnerships rather than quick-hit link building tactics. Invest the time to understand the goals and audiences of the sites you want to be featured on, and design content that provides mutual value. Track your efforts diligently and let the data guide your strategy. With the right approach and a healthy dose of persistence, you can achieve the surround sound amplification that will take your organic growth to new heights.