Guest Post
The business of today is mostly a digital enterprise with Internet-based communication and online marketing channels in multiple formats far more popular than conventional retailing formats. Marketers have primarily taken to digital marketing because of its various benefits. Some of these benefits include enhanced reach, cost-effectiveness, result measurability, specific targeting of potential customers, and personalization, among others. According to Huffpost.com, quoting a retailer survey, 82% of customers conduct research online, while a third of them say it is the website that generates traffic for the stores. However, for potential customers to find out more about your business and your products and services, a high0degree of online visibility is essential. The aforementioned is exactly where or SEO plays a vital part.
Methods of Implementing SEO
While there are many different tactics for implementing SEO to improve your page rank on Google or other search engines so that your website URL is more visible to your target audience, these individual methods are classified into two main categories:
On-page optimization: On-page SEO refers to all the actions that are taken from within the website so that it ranks better in search results. Typically, on-page optimization involves refining the content and improving the HTML coding of the page.
Off-page optimization: This includes all the actions that can be taken from outside the website to improve its page rank in search. Typically, conventional methods include website advertising and promotion, and building links with sites that have high authority.
Top Advantages of Implementing SEO in Digital Marketing
Increase in traffic volume: The main intention of performing SEO is to ensure superior page rankings for the target keywords in Google search so that more users click on the URL and visit the website creating more opportunities for conversions. The added benefit of SEO is that the traffic being generated arises from the use of the target keywords, which means that the users are interested in that you have to offer and form your target audience. This means that the organic traffic generated by the SEO is deemed to be high-quality, and since they are more engaged, the chances of conversion are much higher. SEO is the all-important factor that ensures the translation of customer interest in enduring engagement and conversion. Due to the sheer dominance of Google, SEO is generally assumed to be for Google only; however, the users who use the other search engines like Yahoo, Bing, etc. can also be a valuable target audience.
Cost-effectiveness: when compared to the traditional methods of marketing and sales, SEO is far more cost-effective. This is because; marketers can specifically target their audiences with the right kind of content. Since the target audience is defined, your marketing campaign is likely to be more successful.
ROI: One of the most significant advantages of SEO is that it is straightforward to track and measure results. This means that you find out how effective your digital marketing camping is at any point in time so that you can decide what tweaks should be made. Using advanced analytics, you can track all aspects of the campaign as well as your SEO efforts so that you know what kind of returns you are getting from your investment.
Brand visibility: Search engine optimization ensures that the website is featured more prominently in the search engine results. This means that there will be a more significant number of users clicking on the URL and visiting the website. Consequently, the brand and the business both will be more visible online, which, with time, will help to build brand equity and lead to associated reputation, credibility, and trust. Without an SEO strategy in place, it is far too easy for the brand to get lost in the clutter of the online world.
Everyone with even a smattering of SEO knowledge knows how important it is to get the top rank in Google for the target keywords. If the Number 1 rank is elusive, you need to be very high on Page 1 for you to get any return out of your SEO investment. According to studies, the first three ranks grab close to 40% of the traffic while nobody clicks on about 30% of the results that appear on the first two pages. What this essentially means is that if you are not already ranking on Page 1, you need to go all out to get there. The time is opportune because even now, many users cannot find what they want after firing a query on a search engine, according to a top web designer in Miami, Florida.
Enduring benefits: It may not be possible for SEO to bring about a dramatic change in website traffic, number of conversions, and brand equity in a short time frame as may be possible with paid advertising and publicity efforts. However, the advantage of performing search engine optimization is that the results are extremely enduring. Once you have performed the basic change to the site architecture, coding, and other essential on-page optimization, you can maintain the SEO without too much investment in either cost or time and continue to reap its benefits over a long period. Unlike the drop in traffic and conversions that you will invariably witness when the paid advertising is discontinued or slowed down, the organic traffic generated by SEO is far more consistent and not subject to a steep decline. Thus, as is proven, SEO guarantees long-term gains.
Superior user-experience: SEO makes it easier for search engines to discover your content, understand its context, and index it for allocating a page rank. It also makes the website far more user-friendly by making changes to the site architecture and rearranging the links so that users can find and access the information without any hassle. Natural fallout of performing SEO on your website is the enhancement of the user experience. The site becomes far more user-friendly as a result of the various on-page SEO adjustments and structural changes that help the user to navigate between various pages of the site. The page loading time is also optimized so that they load very quickly and users are not encouraged to abandon the site. One of the most critical tasks performed by SEO is making websites mobile-friendly, which ensures that the site loads quickly on mobile devices of various types and sizes, the content can be easily read, and navigation is easy and intuitive, all features that are vital for users typically on the go or multitasking. An example of building a robust user experience can be seen by how Google is transforming itself from being a search engine to an answer engine by displaying relevant information directly on the results page so that users can choose to visit the website or satisfy themselves with the displayed information. User experience gets a boost because they no longer have to click as many times to access the information they require.
Trust, credibility, and authority: SEO, when conducted for some time, results in the brand earning the trust of the target audience. The business emerges as a credible entity that has solutions for customers that deliver to their promise and the website gains traction not only in traffic and conversions but also in the all-important matter of authority. Website authority factors in many elements such as the backlink profiles of high quality, positive visitor behavior, optimized content, and on-page elements, as well as machine learning and AI signals. However, it must be understood that while authority counts as one of the most important optimizations that the brand can achieve, it is not something that will happen overnight. Trust and credibility take effort, patience, and above all, a deep commitment to the brand as well as the customer backed by a product or service that is of high quality and is valuable.
The buying cycle: Perhaps among the most significant benefits of the Internet from the perspective of the customers is that they can conduct in-depth research on the product attributes and performance as well as user satisfaction levels. Smart marketers can use SEO strategically to communicate with their target audiences regarding upcoming product releases, sales, and deals, as well as the value addition done by your products and services that are of importance to customer needs. SEO, when properly implemented, can have a positive impact on the buying cycle. Brands must make their presence visible in places that will encourage valuable connections to be made. Local SEO is a great example of brands to attract visitor traffic with high potential for conversions.
Conclusion
Given the importance of SEO, it is easy to understand that digital marketing companies would have found it very difficult indeed to operate efficiently in a competitive market without optimizing their websites for search engines. The use of SEO makes it possible for even smaller businesses to compete with big brands because, in a digital world, the rules are entirely different. The good thing about SEO is that you can increase its scope and investment as your business expands; there is no need to invest a significant amount in the initial stages and then wait for it to pay off.