Ever wonder why some pages are on the top of google searches? If you are a marketer or a business owner, your number-one audience will only find you on search results. And the only way to make this happen is accurate and well-targeted SEO.
Understanding SEO in Marketing
SEO or search engine optimization is the way to improve your website’s rank on an online search. The trick is to use the content as a medium to enhance the visibility of your website or page.
Bruno Estrella, growth manager at Webflow, considers SEO to be one of the main drivers of overall business performance and brand reputation on the web.
This practice depends on the keywords that users type into the search bar. This means, if you are a brand that sells shoes, you should appear on the front page of all shoe-purchase related searches.
Good SEO entails designing your website content, design, usability, and structure to meet the demands of the search engine.
Benefits of SEO
- Cheaper than Ads
There are two elementary ways in which you can improve your website reach on search results. One is SEO; the other is SEM. SEM or search engine marketing is the link visibility you get from paying the search engine.
Also called ‘pay-per-clicks,’ since you are expected to pay the search engine for each click they bring to your highlighted website. While they are beneficial, they are not a match for SEO.
The most fundamental flaw is that SEM depends on keyword bidding. And more than one brand could wish to hold the phrases. This competition raises your base-cost of PPC.
With SEO, you also pay lower for digital ads since you rank higher in a user-search. Additionally, website traffic leads to more traffic, so doing the right kind of SEO can be a much cheaper alternative.
Organic traffic is much less likely to put your website at a maintenance risk since you will only be working with genuine buyers.
2. Build Quality Traffic
The basis of SEO is improving your inbound marketing. This means that rather than searching for users or potential consumers — you allow the users to come looking for you. The use of perfect SEO will enforce this rule.
For example, you can use traditional outbound marketing methods — like cold calling, ads, or content marketing. All of this has no accurate hit-rate because the user may or may not like your products or sales pitch.
However, when someone is searching online for a particular service or product, they are already right in the middle of your content marketing funnel.
If you invest in any of those channels, a user may also later look for you online. In this case, SEO will add quality to your leads and help push them to the final few steps and make a purchase.
3. Better Brand Name
What are the odds that you look at page-five of a Google-search when looking for a product or service? Close to none! That is because, as a user, we tend to trust the brands that are right upfront.
This prime placement only comes from better SEO. Even if you are a new player, users assume they are yet to hear about you.
Even a growth expert like Bruno Estrella would tell you that creating brand awareness is the first way to push your brand to more users. A user is more inclined to pick your brand when they see it more often. They also trust brands that grab eyeballs more often.
4. Get Ahead Of Your Competitors
Better brand awareness also implies that you remain ahead of the completion. There is sufficient research to prove that 61% of marketers put brand-building as their number-one reason for better SEO.
This rat-race means all brands in your segment will also aim for the same results as you. In this race of better SEO, being on top will literally keep you on the top of the page.
Another example of this is the ranking from mobile-friendly pages. As of 2015, if your website is mobile-optimized, then Google gives you a better rank on search results. This rule pushes brands and page-owners to ensure the best user-experience.
5. Content-Driven Approach
Unlike maybe another form of marketing, this one is a pure content-driven method. This means the better your quality of content, the better your SEO. This would ensure that all the brands online are on the same level.
Your content also adds value to your users, and there are no unfair advantages between pages. This parameter also helps you keep relevant and up-to-date at all times.
6.Accurate Data Pool
Lastly, the end-goal of running a website is to collect and redirect ads based on your users’ information and behaviors. When your website is not SEO optimized, this will lead to bad-quality leads.
Bad-quality lends only means the people coming to your website might not be that of the ideal demographic. In such a case, all this data collection is redundant.
Having user data will help your website and benefit your brand, product development, and much more.
You Should Know This About SEO.
We must also take the time to address some of the common misconceptions of SEO. Firstly, SEO is not just about fixing and adding keywords. The process covers the wholesome revamp of your website on all fronts.
SEO today is as much about design, layout, usability, and planning as it is about content. You should also know that this is not an overnight process. This means SEO can take up to six to eight months of planning and execution to bear results.
Additionally, trends and factors of SEO are not definite. Over the last decade of the digital marketing wave, the factors that define a good website have changed with the times. And with the help of an expert, you can stay ahead of this curve.
Final Thoughts,
Lastly, yes, all of this might seem simple on paper, but the right notes take time to match. What might work for one website might not work for you. Take the time to study your market, audit your website and seek help from an expert if needed.
