Choosing a branding agency usually starts with a search, a few recommendations and a long evening of clicking through websites. Every agency presents itself as strategic, creative and international; the differences only become visible when you look more closely at what an agency actually publishes and how it is connected. That is exactly where BrandingMaps comes in. The platform, part of the same SeoSchweiz.Net network as Branding Switzerland, turns the public web presence of agencies and brands into maps, profiles and comparisons that can be read at a glance.
This article explains in detail what BrandingMaps is, how its website analysis works, what the city directories and brand profiles contain, and how the platform complements the Swiss agency directory on Branding Switzerland.
What BrandingMaps is
BrandingMaps describes itself as "visual brand intelligence": a tool and a directory that make the digital presence of brands visible. At its core are two things. First, a free website analysis that anyone can run for any domain. Second, a growing directory of branding agencies in cities around the world, from Zurich, Bern, Basel and Lugano to Paris, London, Milan, Barcelona, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, São Paulo, Sydney and Tokyo. The interface is available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, and the agency directory for Tokyo additionally in Japanese.
The guiding principle is transparency. BrandingMaps only shows what it can actually detect on a public website. Where it finds nothing, it says so – it does not invent social profiles or connections.
The website analysis: a brand at a glance
On the BrandingMaps home page you enter a domain and start the analysis. Within seconds, the tool reads the publicly accessible homepage and assembles several layers of information:
- Title and description. The page title and meta description, i.e. how the website introduces itself to search engines, together with translations into the other platform languages.
- Network view. An interactive map with the analysed website at the centre and all detected external websites and social media profiles around it. Every node can be clicked.
- Social profiles and connected websites. A list of the platforms and domains the homepage links to – for example Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Behance or partner websites.
- Suggested outbound links. If important profiles are missing, BrandingMaps shows which ones would make sense. A click starts a search for them rather than presenting an invented link.
- Sitemaps and RSS feeds. Whether the website offers XML sitemaps and news or blog feeds – a good indicator of how actively it is maintained.
- DNS and domain data. DNS records and registration data are queried live via public services.
BrandingMaps is also clear about its limits: traffic, backlink and authority metrics come from specialised, mostly paid databases and are therefore not part of the free analysis. For a broader view of how to evaluate a brand's reach, see our guide on how to measure brand awareness.
Brand profiles
Every analysed website receives its own brand profile, for example the profile of the Zurich agency Heads. A profile brings together the description, the city and country, whether a blog or news section was found, and the network map as an image that can also be shared. Profiles are updated whenever a site is analysed again, and the date of the last analysis is always shown. For agencies, the profile is effectively a neutral, data-based business card next to their own website.
The agency directories by city
For each city, BrandingMaps lists selected branding, design and communication agencies with a public presence there – for instance the branding agencies in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Lugano. Each entry links to the official website, to the location on Google Maps and to the agency's brand network. An overview by country makes it easy to move from one market to the next, which is useful for companies that need partners in several countries.
The order of the agencies in a list is not a ranking. The directory is meant as a starting point for research, not as a verdict on quality.
Comparing agencies side by side
On every city page, up to three agencies can be selected and compared directly. The comparison places their network maps next to each other and summarises the key public signals in a table: website, description, number of social profiles, external connections, sitemaps, RSS feeds, PDF documents and website language. Each comparison triggers a fresh live analysis of the selected websites, so the data is current. This does not replace a personal briefing – but it shows quickly which agencies communicate actively, which ones are visible on which platforms and how they position themselves.
More ways to explore
- Brand Map Wall. A visual wall of all network maps in a city, for example the Zurich Brand Map Wall.
- Feeds. RSS feeds per city, such as the branding agency feed for Zurich, plus a directory of brand RSS feeds and feeds in many languages.
- Recent analyses. A live list of the most recently analysed websites.
- Directories and knowledge. A PDF directory, a social media brand directory, product and book comparisons on branding topics, branding questions and a brand and branding vocabulary.
How BrandingMaps and Branding Switzerland work together
The two platforms have different but complementary roles. Branding Switzerland focuses on Switzerland: agencies in all 26 cantonal capitals and in Winterthur, Biel/Bienne and Lugano, in seven languages, with background information on each city and the option to describe a project and receive proposals. BrandingMaps adds the international perspective and the data view: the website analysis, the network maps and the comparison of public signals.
A practical way to use both: start with the Swiss shortlist on Branding Switzerland – for example the branding agencies in Zurich – then check the shortlisted agencies on BrandingMaps to see how they present themselves online, and finally talk to two or three of them in person. Our FAQ on how to spot a good branding agency and the article on working with a branding agency help with that last step.
Why this matters for agencies
For agencies, BrandingMaps is also a mirror. The analysis shows how their own website looks from the outside: whether all relevant profiles are linked, whether there is a sitemap and a feed, whether the description is convincing. In an environment where AI assistants increasingly compile answers from public data (see AI and branding), a clear and consistent web presence becomes even more important. Swiss agencies that are not yet listed on Branding Switzerland can register their agency free of charge.
Key takeaways
- BrandingMaps makes the public web presence of brands and agencies visible as maps, profiles and comparisons.
- The free website analysis shows descriptions, social profiles, connected websites, sitemaps, feeds and domain data – and only what it actually detects.
- City directories in many countries and the comparison of up to three agencies support the search for a partner.
- Together with Branding Switzerland, it offers both the Swiss shortlist and the data-based view of each agency.