5min
Even if you know that search engine optimisation, or SEO for short, is an important and necessary digital marketing tool today, Perhaps you do not understand what SEO is all about.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a marketing technique that has been used by hundreds of thousands of websites over the years, and with excellent reason. A good SEO campaign will ensure your business comes up at number one in Google and allows you to be found by potential customers, almost as if on demand.
An SEO strategy improves a website's ranking in search engines by applying various techniques to its design and content. The strategy is essential to inbound marketing.
The objective of SEO is to ensure that the website appears at the top of the search results to increase traffic and conversion rates. Throughout this article, we'll explain what SEO is, why it's important, and what SEO practices you can incorporate in your inbound marketing strategy that can help you increase your brand's visibility.
What is SEO?
SEO is the process of ranking higher on organic search results when someone searches a keyword in your industry which increases the quantity and quality of traffic to your website. A designation as a company with high-quality content in the eyes of search engines has positive impacts that help you grow online, giving you more opportunities to convert qualified prospects into paying customers. An effective SEO strategy can help distinguish you as a trustworthy brand and help users have a better experience when using your brand and website. Similar to how doing SEO for SEO's sake may negatively impact your bottom line if it means unnatural methods, having an engaging social media presence can also be beneficial to those who use it effectively - the key is engaging!
Although Many search engines exist around the world, Google is the most popular in most places. Hence, when we mention SEO, we are generally referring to positioning a website within the Google search results.
Using SEO techniques is a good way of creating long-term, qualified traffic as part of an inbound strategy. You can use a variety of strategies to contact users after they reach your website and encourage them to become prospective customers or clients.
Why SEO is beneficial for brands?
- Having clear high-quality content on your website is a lot like having a great window display for your business. The more actively it's being read and shared, the more likely people are to come to see what you're offering in person. For example, if you manage to position your website first for a keyword with 100,000 searches per month and can claim 20% of all clicks, that would mean an additional 20,000 monthly visits.
- SEO is an effective way to attract website visitors. It is an important part of online marketing strategy and can also help build your brand. It can rank you in search engines and attract more organic customers by adding value and content to your website. It is also an effective tool for capturing leads. As people search for a product or service you offer, the search engine may display your website links. Then, people can click on your products and services, find out more about them, and turn into leads and then into customers.
- Optimising your website for search engines takes time and effort, but it's a great way to position your website well in the long term. You'll gain more natural traffic without having to spend big bucks on PPC campaigns or sketchy freelancers who might just be out to steal your precious traffic.
- Web positioning - or search engine optimisation - is not just about getting higher placement in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Much like being able to bake a delicious cake, many components come into play when executing this task correctly. Positive results can be seen for both your website as well as your brand in general by applying SEO techniques properly.
- As expected, the higher up your website appears on a search engine result list, the more people will visit it. Thus, if your website is perceived as trustworthy and a better source of information than other similar websites, you can make assumptions regarding how easily you will be able to convert customers visiting your site.
The types of SEO
Search engine optimisation can take a lot of different forms. There are the types that might include on-page optimisation efforts, like changing up your site's content around specific factors related to a search. There are also off-page techniques that tend to include working with social platforms and third-party sites to get more publicity and find relevant traffic. With regards to the ethics involved in search engine optimisation, there is some grey area as revenue can be made regardless of which techniques a given marketer decide to use.
On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO
- On-page SEO involves optimising aspects of a website, such as the content, titles, descriptions, loading times, etc. On-page SEO helps search engines determine whether a particular webpage is relevant to what they are searching for. Additionally, the content that appears in Google's search results can attract users (such as titles and descriptions, rich snippets, lists, etc.). On-page SEO also improves the user experience by optimising the website's structure and content.
- Off-page SEO focus on activities like link building, social media followings, mentionings, and other activities that bring authority to a site and receive a higher level of trust from search engines. It also helps direct traffic to a site, as inbound links are of high value.
A combination of on-page and off-page SEO is a good approach. By optimising and creating great content, you can attract links and mentions. Additionally, by placing the keywords where they are supposed to be, you can optimise them to be a better search result for your users.
The Basics of Search Engine Optimisation
SEO can be a tricky business, especially given the frequency at which Google updates its algorithms and the common use of black hat techniques. Therefore, it is important for digital marketers to constantly stay informed about what’s going on with SEO trends. In addition to understanding how keywords are ranked, digital marketers also need to master their knowledge of link-building techniques. There are some basic ways to improve your web positioning. Here are some of them:
Keyword Selection
It’s hard to know exactly how long it’ll take for your business to take off or how much you should expect it will grow/decrease. That aside, as an entrepreneur you want to do as much as possible so when it comes to these development prospects – a good keyword study is a great way to get a clear picture of what the best(est) keywords can help your website become more visible and popular. Keywords are very helpful in website positioning, depending on their relevance and use throughout your website. For example, if you sell ethically made clothes, you'll want to use keywords that people would search for as they are looking for cute clothing ("cute shirts," "cute skirts," etc.), but you'll also want to include more specific keywords related specifically when it comes down to the fact that you have a social enterprise (ethical small business, ethical fashion brand, etc.).
Optimising your website
If your website has a slow loading time or is not mobile-friendly it will hurt your business. Keeping this in mind, it’s essential to maintain an optimal level of technical support with quick response times to create websites that are well-positioned on search engine results pages.
Make sure you use friendly URLs
An important factor in determining a website's positioning is the URLs or hyperlinks between the different pages. The best way to make them is to keep them simple and include the keywords you want to position.
Produce high-quality content
The search engines like user-friendly pages. If you regularly update your high-quality, well-organised content, your SEO will improve.
Descriptions, titles, and headings
Every article and page on a website must include a descriptive title. Every section should have a heading, along with being divided into sections. Additionally, search engines display the descriptions of the pages within their results, so optimising them is equally important.
Link Building
Link building refers to techniques for generating inbound links that are of high quality from other websites. When you build links to your website or blog, Google sees this as an indication of the popularity of your content. By building links to your site, you increase the amount of exposure to your website and your site's ability to rank well in Google searches. Ensure that your links come from highly optimised, trusted websites. Consider details like the text of the link and the type of relationship established with your page (follow or no follow).
Lastly,
Making sure that your website ranks on top of search engine result pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords is crucial in gaining more traffic & sales. If you want to develop your SEO strategy and position yourself better in search engines, feel free to contact us!
