Knowing what works and what doesn’t when it comes to marketing your business is the key to growing your clientele and operating smoothly. Certain marketing channels work better than others for different types of businesses. The last thing that any business owner wants to do is to waste money on a marketing strategy that doesn’t have a good return on their investment.
So, when it comes to Search Engine Optimization, how do you know if utilizing this marketing technique for your business is worth it? There is always a risk when it comes to any business decision, but luckily SEO doesn’t pose a large one.f
It’s safe to say that almost any business with a website needs and will benefit from SEO. SEO has a variety of perks and can drive a high amount of traffic to your site, increasing your likelihood of gaining new clients.
Many businesses of all types favor search engine optimization, and for good reason. We’ll break down why this marketing tactic is so well used and well-loved within a variety of industries.
Increase Online Visibility
Search engines are the most common way for consumers to learn about businesses. They trust the results of popular search engines as credible sources. The higher that your website ranks on search engine results, the more people will view your business as a reliable option.
Online visibility is one of the best ways to generate more traffic and convert leads to customers. Searches for businesses with the keywords “near me” have grown over 900% in two years, showing how strongly consumers rely on online sources. One of the best ways to increase the visibility of your business is online.
Chris Dreyer, CEO of the SEO legal marketing agency Rankings, tells us that “almost a third of consumers use search engines on a daily basis, 49% of marketers believe organic search is the most profitable channel they use, and organic search generates up to 66% in the legal industry.”
So, without SEO, your small business may be missing out on tons of clients. 75% of users never go past the first page of Google. This means that if you aren’t using SEO to rank highly within search engines, your business is highly unlikely to be discovered online.
Not only is your business accessible to more online users with SEO, but these users are also of a higher quality. Higher quality leads mean a better likelihood of client increase.
SEO Improves User Experience
Some components of SEO can impact and improve user experience. Sites that load quickly, are mobile-friendly, have engaging content, and are easy to navigate are more likely to rank better on search engines.
In addition to ranking higher, sites that provide a better user experience have other benefits. For example, sites with better user experiences make it more likely for customers to become repeat buyers.
Ensuring that your website provides a good user experience helps consumers find and remain on your site for longer. In doing so, you are more likely to turn website traffic into customers thanks to a cohesive experience.
Users who have an easy time navigating your website and spend more time on it are likely to develop a better perspective on your business. Businesses that seem professional and reliable online are more likely to be trusted in person and overall.
ALSO READ: IMPROVING YOUR WEBSITE VISIBILITY ON SEARCH ENGINES
A Cost-Effective Type of Marketing
Return on investment is one of the most important things for a small business to consider when it comes to marketing. Thankfully, SEO has a relatively high return on investment compared to other marketing channels. This is part of the reason it’s so popular amongst various businesses.
SEO is so cost-effective because it targets users who are specifically searching for your product or service. Leads that are generated by other marketing channels can cost much more than those generated through SEO. For example, cold-calling generated leads cost 61% more than those generated by SEO.
SEO return on investment averages between 5x and 12.2x, making it one of the most cost-effective marketing channels. In addition, traffic generated through SEO is 5 times higher than pay-per-click and 10 times higher than social media marketing. This makes it one of the most effective ways to gain traffic without spending an abundance of money to do so.
How Can I Use SEO?
SEO is a combination of different strategies that lead to a higher ranking. With a successful combination of these aspects used in SEO, your business will be recognized by search engines more.
SEO is very complex, and being familiar with all of the different components can take some time and education. One of the most common and important SEO factors to consider is keyword usage. This component can easily be understood and utilized by business owners and staff.
Choosing Keywords
Relevant terms are an important component of SEO. These keywords let a search engine know what your webpage is about and can be used for. With this information, a search engine is able to properly categorize your webpage for specific searches.
Keywords are what a user types in when they are searching for anything within a search engine. Some keywords may be higher in search volume and some may be more difficult to rank for.
Once you have an idea of how to make your high-competitive keywords rank, it’s time to refine your list based on the best ones for your search optimization.
Keywords that are higher in search volume mean that people use this term within a search engine very often. Including these terms with high search volume in your web page is a great way to ensure that you are using SEO best practices. The more that the content of your webpage aligns with common searches and relevant terms, the better.
Rank difficulty refers to how hard it is to get on the first pages of a search engine for certain keywords. If a keyword relevant to your webpage has high-rank difficulty, it may not be the best one to focus on.
It’s important to look at these components of certain keywords when choosing the ones that you will include in your webpage. In doing so, you can make sure that search engine bots pick up on keywords and include you in relevant searches.
Placing Keywords
Once you have discovered the best keywords to use for your website, placing them correctly is very important. You want to make sure that keywords are placed enough to classify you as a relevant source, but not too much that they will cause you to be penalized.
Using keywords excessively is in hopes of obtaining high keyword density and better SEO won’t increase your chances of ranking better. This practice, called keyword stuffing, can be recognized by search engines. If a search engine believes you are keyword stuffing, you may be pushed back further within search results because of it. This tactic to obtain a higher ranking, though it may not be deserved, is no secret to popular search engines.
There are places on your webpage that are more effective when it comes to keyword placement than others. A web page’s title, URL, first and last paragraphs, and tags of any images should typically include relevant keywords. In addition to this, wherever keywords fit naturally within the content on your web page, they should be placed. This will help bots identify these keywords as the topic of your web page, and identify your web page as a reliable source regarding these keywords.
Hiring SEO Experts
SEO may sound simple to use, but there are a variety of different factors that go into it. Sometimes your website may have components that are negatively impacting SEO and you don’t even realize it.
To make sure your website’s SEO performance isn’t taking any unknown hits, hiring an SEO expert may be a good idea. This isn’t always necessary as many businesses can implement SEO without any help. But if you feel that your site isn’t performing as expected, there is likely a reason why.
In this case of poor performance, consider checking common factors that can negatively impact SEO, such as user experience and keyword usage. Keywords that were once relevant may have been replaced with other ones as time goes on. These outdated keywords may need to be replaced by ones that will better improve ranking.
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