As we become increasingly digitally focused, businesses are constantly evolving and exploring different ways to attract their target audience. While there are countless techniques, from social media campaigns to paid ads. SEO (search engine optimisation) remains the backbone of every marketing strategy in any business.
Did you know that over 53% of website traffic comes from organic search? This statistic highlights just how important optimising your SEO is, and this blog will outline why you should start investing in SEO for your business growth.
Understanding what SEO is
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a key marketing tool used to enhance online visibility and drive traffic to websites. When a search query is entered into search engines like Google, their algorithms work to determine which web pages are most relevant to the query.
There’s no simple code to crack SEO. Marketing efforts involve crafting targeted keywords, using meta tags, and building backlinks to improve SEO rankings. At the heart of every marketer’s strategy is providing quality content, good, compelling content attracts organic traffic, which ultimately drives sales. After all, the goal for every marketer is to generate leads that turn into sales.
Why it matters? According to EICOM, 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine and 75% of people will never scroll past the first page of Google.
Benefits of SEO
Cost-Effective – Unlike PPC, SEO is generally free. Search engines are constantly scanning your website, ensuring they match search queries with the most relevant content.
Boosts Brand Visibility and Credibility – Users are more likely to trust your brand if your website ranks highly on a search engine. The higher your ranking, the stronger your competitive edge, especially when your website appears on the first page for a specific search query.
Improves User Engagement Rates – By targeting the right keywords you want to rank for, rather than focusing only on targeted marketing campaigns, you can attract more prospects organically.
Key SEO Strategies that will improve your SEO rankings
Keyword focus
Use tools like Ahrefs, to see what keywords your competitors are ranking high for, and try to identify what keywords your target audience will typically search.
Good quality content
Ensure that you are creating high-quality content, that’s engaging to your target audience. This will not only attract people to your site but will also keep them coming back.
Optimise website
Use alt text, meta tags, descriptions, and headers to make your website easy to navigate and user-friendly.
Build backlinks
Use backlinks on your site to link to trustworthy sources and also reach out to other websites with strong domain ratings to have them include backlinks to your website.
Common SEO mistakes to avoid
Keyword stuffing
Search engines can easily detect keyword placements that are unnatural and it’s easy to get penalised if they think you’re trying to manipulate the rankings. Keyword stuffing also makes content harder to read and less engaging for your audience. To avoid this, spend time in keyword research and focus on using more long-tail keywords, which are often more effective and natural to include.
Poor mobile usability
A common mistake made is failing to optimise websites for mobile devices. As most users browse on their mobiles, it’s important that your content is easily accessible and has no functionality issues. To avoid this, make the necessary adjustments and focus on making your website mobile-friendly.
Missed backlinking opportunities
Frequently linking internal content within your blogs signals to search engines that you have valuable pages on your website, which can organically boost your ranking. Make sure to include backlinks to both internal and external pages wherever relevant to your content.
SEO plays a crucial role in marketing as it helps businesses create brand visibility and attract their target audience organically. When used correctly, SEO can lead to more website traffic, better engagement and ideally higher lead conversions. While SEO isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach and often involves a process of trial and error, once you’ve got the hang of it and established a solid SEO optimisation process, the results will speak for themselves.