Chipotle's SEO and Social Media Success: Bigger Than Their Burritos

Chipotle's success in search engine optimization (SEO) has risen over the past five years or so. As seen above, the company's organic search results rose from about 20,000 to over 1,000,000 in a span of five years and has continue to grow since then. Competitors may ask themselves what caused this dramatic increase and the answer is easy. Chipotle has a strong and specific mission, "Food with Integrity", meaning that they find the best ingredients possible, with respect for not only the environment of the farmers but the animals as well. This mission has created awareness about the company since their establishment began in 1993. With the buzz of the company increasing with their unique digital marketing techniques, presence on social media, and positive customer reviews it is only logical that they company's organic search results would grow. Let's take a deeper look into how exactly the company ranks in SEO.

The SEO of Chipotle: Natural vs. Paid

The search engine results for a company are highly important when it comes to digital marketing. For starters, paid search is "based on an advertising model where firms seeking to rank high in specific search categories will bid on certain terms or 'keywords' in hopes of a lucrative ad ranking" (Roberts). On the other hand, natural or organic search are the free aspects of ad ranking in search. The difference can be seen in the image provided below to better understand the two concepts.

 

When you Google "Chipotle Mexican Grill" your receive a whopping 4,510,000 search results, both organic and paid. However, the organic results are most likely more relevant to what you were searching for than their paid ads. Featured on the side for paid search results are those informing viewers that jobs are available and that the company is hiring. In my opinion, when consumers search for a company, they are most likely searching for locations, information, or reviews on the company. These results are successfully displayed in the company's organic search results.

When looking at the natural search results for Chipotle Mexican Grill, you are first given the company's website. After you can see your nearest locations, latest company news, Yelp reviews, and are also given links to the company's social media sites. While these are all great results for a food company to have on the first page of results, improvements can be made to increase the total optimization of these results.

 To improve their SEO, the company should consider the factor that most people Google only "Chipotle" not "Chipotle Mexican Grill" when searching for the company and consider this when choosing keywords. Next, paid search results should align better with their natural search results to form a more organized results page. If jobs available are not in the search results organically, in my opinion, they should not show up in the paid ads section. Lastly, maybe the company could find a way to possibly have their social media site links organized together instead of spread throughout the page.

All in all, considering the good and bad, Chipotle has done a successful job in having relevant and meaningful search results available online.

The Social Media Personality of Chipotle: Your Friend 

 

Another online success of the company is their presence on social media. Chipotle uses both Twitter and Facebook as an effective tool to reach out to customers, interact with them, and acquire new consumers. The company has also used their social media to develop a brand personality. Their tweets and posts are informative while being extremely creative and witty. When reading their messages, it feels as though you are communicating with a real person, not just a computer. The social media aspect of Chipotle is used to mostly engage with followers to promote any contests occurring, events, or deals going on. When searching for the company on Google you are given links to access their social media sites along with visiting their website. As you can see below, Chipotle was one of the most mentioned brands online in the year of 2014. I personally believe their creative and personal approach to social media is a reason why.

Keywords are the Key to Success

When aiming to increase search results, keywords are very important in your ranking. For Chipotle, a company who serves Mexican burritos, salads, bowls, quesadillas, and tacos, one would assume those would be effective keywords. However, there is more to company's keywords than the products offered. For example,  a company would need to include every variation of their name, perhaps their website, and even possible locations. Also, with the name Chipotle being unique and highly known it would be best for the company to stick to just the company name and a few variations as shown below such as Chipotle locations and Chipotle nutrition. Simple keywords work for the company. For example, when one searches "Chipotle" in Google, you are given locations, news, job offerings, reviews, the company website, and social media links all on one page.

 

 As one can see, Chipotle is a successful company in optimizing search, making the most out of social media, and using effective keywords. Next time you need a good laugh check out their Twitter or Facebook. 

Google Search "Chipotle": Google Search. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2015

Chipotle Website: Whole or Nothing. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2015.

Chipotle Twitter: (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2015.

Chipotle Facebook: Facebook logo. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2015.

finding the very best ingredients, raised with respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers - See more at: http://www.findandconvert.com/2014/01/chipotle-cause-marketing-works#sthash.6ngGdoYb.dpuf

finding the very best ingredients, raised with respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers - See more at: http://www.findandconvert.com/2014/01/chipotle-cause-marketing-works#sthash.6ngGdoYb.dpuf

finding the very best ingredients, raised with respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers - See more at: http://www.findandconvert.com/2014/01/chipotle-cause-marketing-works#sthash.6ngGdoYb.dpuf

finding the very best ingredients, raised with respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers - See more at: http://www.findandconvert.com/2014/01/chipotle-cause-marketing-works#sthash.6ngGdoYb.dpuf

finding the very best ingredients, raised with respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers - See more at: http://www.findandconvert.com/2014/01/chipotle-cause-marketing-works#sthash.6ngGdoYb.dpuf

finding the very best ingredients, raised with respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers - See more at: http://www.findandconvert.com/2014/01/chipotle-cause-marketing-works#sthash.6ngGdoYb.dpuf

finding the very best ingredients, raised with respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers - See more at: http://www.findandconvert.com/2014/01/chipotle-cause-marketing-works#sthash.6ngGdoYb.dpuf