As every smart business owner will tell you, SEO is an indispensable tool in your marketing arsenal. This is especially true if you want your corporate brand to have a strong online presence and let’s face it- who doesn’t?
What is SEO?
SEO is an acronym that stands for Search Engine Optimisation which helps increase your website’s visibility on major search engines like Google by appealing to its algorithms. It’s important to note here that as technology continues to change, these algorithms are also constantly being updated, which means that you need to have an advanced SEO strategy and a good team to implement it.
In fact, Google has admitted to making hundreds of changes to their algorithms each year, based on hundreds of ranking signals that it receives. That’s why it’s so important for brands that use SEO to keep a close eye on these developments in order to maintain visibility, brand awareness, as well as to increase their leads and sales.
The Importance of SEO for your Business
If you’re still not quite sure what all the hype is about when it comes to SEO for business, check out the following facts on the impact of SEO:
- A whopping 66% of B2B customers will read an online blog post before they make the decision to purchase a product or service.
- 71% of online shoppers start by searching on Google when they want to find a certain product or service
- 81% of online and offline shoppers do some research online before they purchase something
- 97% of all customers search for product information online before they purchase a local product
What these figures show us is that SEO has a HUGE impact on business performance because it can help businesses drive leads and sales just by increasing visibility. Since most consumers start their search for products and services online, it only makes sense that businesses that take SEO seriously would be the ones to thrive, while companies who fail to recognise the importance of SEO stand to lose out on up to 80% of the market share, effectively leaving money on the table.
Obviously, a business that ignores proper SEO cannot expect to compete on the competitive local or global market, because SEO is a crucial aspect of the overall digital marketing industry.
If you need some help incorporating SEO into your marketing strategy, then you’ll appreciate the four tips we have prepared for you below:
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Market Analysis
As with any marketing strategy, your first step should be to perform a market analysis. This involves doing a website audit in which you look into the content, use of keywords, and the code behind your website. Ideally, you want all these aspects to be geared towards achieving great SEO so that you can maintain and increase your company’s online presence and visibility.
After that, you have to then look at the websites of your competitors who are currently crushing it with their awesome SEO. Look at what they’re doing right and find ways to integrate their tactics into your own marketing plan.
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Keyword Research and Planning
Next, find out which keywords are most relevant to your customers, as in; what are the keywords that people will typically use in order to find your business? For instance, if you’re a fashion boutique in Melbourne, people will most likely type in keywords like “fashion boutique in Melbourne” or “clothing in Melbourne” when they’re searching for a business like yours on Google. You can then use the keywords and phrases that you’ve identified to create optimised content that will be visible in search engines.
Afterwards, keep track of your rankings as they continue to improve, as it will once you start implementing these keywords and phrases.
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Content Planning and Optimisation
Now, create a content plan based on all the information that you’ve put together so far from the previous steps. For instance, you can start using high-priority keywords and leverage them in order to create curated content that’s aimed at a broader target audience.
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Testing and Ongoing Implementation
Incorporating SEO into your marketing strategy requires ongoing commitment, because like we mentioned above, the rules are always changing thanks to Google’s ever-changing algorithms. Therefore, it’s very important for business owners to keep an eye on these changes and tweak their strategies accordingly.
Of course, each business is going to require a different SEO strategy because not all businesses are the same. Each company has different needs, a unique target market and a completely different brand identity to uphold.
That’s why each business owner will have to take a different approach when optimising their website, but the most important thing is to monitor your progress and fine-tune it so that you’re able to achieve your business goals. At the end of the day, getting SEO right happens through a trial and error process, one which you’ll eventually get right.
Conclusion
It’s a competitive market out there. If your company wants to compete on a local or global scale and achieve maximum visibility, brand awareness and sales, then SEO must be an integral part of your marketing strategy.
