Search engine optimization (SEO)
SEO IS A MUST-HAVE MARKETING TACTIC FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS
THEIR WEBSITE TO BE FOUND ON SEARCH ENGINES LIKE GOOGLE.
SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization”. Simply put, it’s the process of improving your website to increase its visibility in relevant searches. The better your visibility in search results, the more likely you are to attract attention and attract existing and potential customers to your business.
Search engines like Google and Bing use bots to crawl pages on the web, going from one site to another, collecting information about those pages and putting them into an index. Then, algorithms parse the index to determine the order in which pages should appear in the search results for a given query.
Search algorithms are designed to display relevant and authoritative pages on a given topic to the satisfaction of the searcher. Optimising your website and content with these factors in mind can help your pages rank higher in search results.
Unlike paid search ads, you cannot pay search engines to get better rankings in organic searches.
Although SEO requires a lot of time and effort, it is clearly something that pays off exponentially over time. You can see some of the benefits of using this strategy here:
1. SEO is the Biggest Source of Website Traffic
SEO is one of the best inbound marketing tactics. When users search for something related to your business or category, they know what they want, and they’re actively searching for information. They are potential leads. SEO helps target specific groups and bring quality traffic to your website without being intrusive or annoying, like TV ads or telemarketing. SEO is highly customer-centric and can help you target a specific section of people online.
Google is the world’s most popular search engine, handling approximately 63,000 searches per second every day! Read more in our article “Search share of search engine by country“. That means anyone with a desktop or smartphone and an internet connection visits the site to find answers to their search queries at least once a day.
The first organic search result on a Google SERP (search engine results page) receives 32% of clicks, while the top three organic search results get 75% of all traffic. With SEO, you can effectively reach out to those who are looking for what you are offering.. Several studies have found that SEO is responsible for bringing in 53% of website traffic.
2. SEO Improves the User Experience (UX) on the Website.
Everyone wants to achieve the best positions in the organic rankings and maximum visibility, yet, few realise that a great user experience (UX) is fundamental to getting there.
Google has already learned how to interpret a user experience, favourable or unfavourable, and a positive user experience has become a must for the success of a website. Customers know what they want, and if they can’t find it, there’s a problem. And this affects performance.
A clear example of building a robust user experience is how Google has increasingly become a responsive engine, offering users the information they want directly in the SERPs.
The intention is to offer users the information they are looking for in fewer clicks quickly and easily. Quality SEO incorporates a positive user experience, leveraging it to work in the brand’s favour.
Google is constantly monitoring user behaviour, including time spent on a page or site, bounce rate etc. to decide if they had a good experience when visiting a site. That is one of the factors Google takes into account for its rankings and one of the most important in SEO. And even if you succeed in being placed at the top of the search results for a brief time, but then fail to impress users who come to your site, your search rankings will suffer over time and no longer appear in a prominent position.
3. SEO does not have paid advertising
Low costs are one of SEO’s main benefits. There are 2 forms of online marketing: paid (SEA) and unpaid (SEO). Although most digital marketers strongly bet or strongly recommend one form of online marketing over another, we believe that a good combination of paid and unpaid marketing methods (SEO and SEA) is the key to success. Although paid marketing accounts for around 15% of a website’s traffic, it is not always the best course of action for small businesses that are just starting out and have budget constraints to take on the cost of ads. On the contrary, SEO needs only a one-time investment in human resources and can produce long-term results.
4. SEO Increases Brand Awareness
Search engine optimisation (SEO) ensures that your product is found easily by search engine websites (Google, Bing, Yahoo…) through regular and organic searches. Once you succeed in staying at the top of the rankings, Internet users will see more of you.
That leads to a higher probability for your link to be clicked, which leads users to your site. One of the benefits of SEO for your business is leveraging your brand awareness even further.
The more relevant SERPs your business appears at the top of the page, the more attention you can attract, thus increasing awareness about your brand and your products or services. SEO helps you create an ongoing online buzz around your brand, which in turn helps promote brand recall. With SEO, you can stand out by giving your brand a strong voice, which will help you to connect with your target audience.
5. SEO Builds Trust and Credibility
Ranking first, second or third can give your customers the idea that your brand is one of the top brands in the market, showing that it is popular and that many users have also searched for it.
6. SEO Provides Great Insights
We’ve gathered valuable insights through SEO – things like the times of the year, month or day when customers are most active, the regions where most traffic comes from, the language they use when searching for information online, etc. While you can use Google Keyword Planner, or other similar tools, to learn about the most relevant keywords to your business, Google Analytics will tell you a lot about user browsing behaviour, their interests, etc. That will help you not only plan your SEO strategy but also correct it if you identify new trends in user behaviour.
Conclusion
There are countless ways to improve the brand awareness and brand equity of a brand. The digital world has provided us with a plethora of options to explore to achieve business goals.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is one of the strategies that will help you succeed and combat the competition. SEO refers to the ability of a website to get quantitative and qualitative visits through organic search engine results. Take up the challenge and use SEO to your advantage!
Search engine optimisation is constant, which requires a continuous effort to optimise our content. Google itself is constantly improving its algorithm, which means that its ranking criteria are also changing.
Link37 is a specialist in SEO and is constantly learning about the new changes in the digital world. We help companies boost their business. SEO is fundamental for any line of business, but it is also time-consuming and requires continuous effort.
Don’t have time and need to dedicate to other areas of your business? We help you!
LAST UPDATE ON MARCH 2024
