
Search engine optimization sounds like a highly complicated business term that only marketing experts use, but that’s not necessarily true. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is how a business can increase organic visibility from consumer search inquiries. In more simple terms, SEO is formatting a website to deliver the best answer to a customer’s question or problem that a search engine like Google can easily recognize. To do this, a business needs to change the characteristics of its website to improve searchability and therefore increase traffic.
Key factors to successfully implement an SEO plan include anticipating customer intent and need, as well as easily and clearly providing a solution through the website. Combining the technical and strategic marketing elements together is tricky, but it’s not impossible. SEO requires research to simultaneously serve customer or client needs and present the information in a way that is attractive to search engines.
More than 50% of all web traffic comes from organic search, or unpaid search results, and a majority of marketers attribute SEO results to their highest quality customer leads. As the consumer is searching for a solution, the top pages will be more likely to solve the problem and result in a click-through. The better the SEO, the higher the page ranks on the search engine. Ranking on the first page of Google will significantly increase click-through rates even over the second results spot. If you’re still questioning if SEO is worth it, here are some of its benefits:
In the last year, Google has put more emphasis on using customer/user experience as an SEO ranking factor. By prioritizing the needs of your customer first, the website is more likely to rank higher, attract customers, and convert click-throughs to sales.
SEO results are much easier to track than traditional marketing. For example, a billboard’s number of views is based on the average traffic volume, but clicks on a website can be reported precisely through online analytics. SEO is completely quantifiable, which provides more value to a business looking to change marketing strategies.
While SEO requires more work behind the scenes to discover what will produce the desired results, it is much more budget-friendly than paid advertising. No special training is required and there’s no need to hire an expert! SEO simply takes work. It’s important to use the available tools such as Google Analytics to determine page views, order completions, and internal ad clicks. From there, much of SEO is trial and error, but it will save you money in the long run when compared to paid advertising.
If you have additional questions about SEO or need some extra help implementing SEO practices, contact Fuhrman Creative to see how our team can help optimize your search results and increase traffic to your website!
About The Author
Kathi Fuhrman
Kathi Fuhrman, owner of Fuhrman Creative has many years of online marketing experience.