by Search engine optimization can come off sounding like a technical term. When that happens, it’s easy to let your eyes gloss over and move on.
But that would be an enormous mistake. Search engine optimization, also referred to simply as SEO, can be one of the most significant drivers of traffic to your business’s website.
More traffic to your website means more ecommerce sales, or more foot traffic to your brick and mortar store. Best case scenario is both happen at the same time.
A business owner would be wise not to turn away the opportunities SEO provides.
What we mean when we talk about SEO
Let’s do away with all the technical jargon for a moment. When we talk about SEO, we are normally talking about the importance of ranking highly on Google and the search results pages that the search engine’s users see when they are searching for keywords. SEO strategies are how you get your business to rank on Google search results pages, ideally on page one.
Why is this so important? Because Google gets a massive amount of traffic from people doing their research on products and services like the ones your business offers. If your website isn’t showing up first on Google, then your competitors’ websites are.
Users click the first search result more than any other
The goal is to rank first because many users start and end their search there. While some users will look at second, third and maybe fourth results, 39.6% of Google users click the first result they see. Only 18.4% of users click the second results and just 10% click the third.
Clearly, you want your business to be the top result. But that takes investment of resources on your end. Here’s why that investment is worth the time, effort and money that needs to go toward optimizing your business’s website for search engines.
SEO works
Your company has a website because you want people to discover and become customers of your company, right?
Well, the most tried and true way to get more traffic and more clicks on your website is through SEO. Put plain and simple, SEO works – and it’s going to continue to work for those that implement solid strategies alongside other marketing efforts.
Making sure your website is heavily optimized with relevant keywords, quality content, fast speed loading times and many other SEO strategies is how Google decides whether to rank your page highly and direct users your way.
SEO is cost-effective
Of all the ways a business can market and advertise their website to users, search engine optimization is among the most cost-effective. This is especially true when you compare the costs to the return on investment you receive from optimizing your website’s content and get it ready to rank on Google.
Although initial set up can take a fair amount of time, once the foundations are established for optimized web content, your website should continue to see effective, positive results without a whole lot of necessary overhaul.
Content makes you look like an expert
One part of establishing a search presence through an optimized web page is making sure that you have high quality, easy to read content that Google believes people searching for your targeted keywords will find useful.
A good SEO strategy will involve producing content that includes all of those keywords and keyphrases that will draw people to your website. But if that content is of a higher quality, then it’s a bonus. Not only will it result in more search traffic and a higher ranking on Google, but visitors to your website will begin to see you as an expert.
Once your business is seen as an expert, you will very quickly begin to see a boost in brand awareness and credibility – all thanks to SEO. Pretty soon, with regular content updates, you should begin to notice a base of loyal return users. The more times a user returns to your site, the more likely they are to become customers.
SEO boosts other marketing efforts
SEO lays the foundation for those first-time visitors to your website to become repeat customers.
Think about it. Those customers started out as people searching on Google, then became a first-time visitor to your website and then became customers.
Now they’re primed and ready to hear more of your message through retargeting and other marketing efforts. For example, you hopefully have also captured an email address to send upcoming email campaigns to and have also recommended they follow your business on social media.
See? A customer that first engaged with your company through SEO can now be reached through marketing channels like email and social platforms.
In this case, SEO has become a major boost to other areas of your marketing plan.
Your competitors are using SEO
We have hinted at this, but it’s safe to say that if your business does not rank highly on Google, then one of your competitors’ websites is.
That means when a person visits Google to search for a service or product that both you and your competitor provide, they are probably going to visit your competitor. In the end, that adds up to lost market share and lost business.
Luckily, with a commitment to SEO strategies, you can start to chip away at any competitor’s ranking on Google – or solidify your own top status.
Let’s talk SEO strategy
We’ve covered the “why” of SEO, but now it’s time to talk about the “how.”
And that’s where Emagine can help. Our team’s mission is to help your website get real results through boosted ecommerce sales, lead generation, increased traffic and more. Search engine optimization is one of the strategies we utilize to get that job done.
Are you ready to see better results from your website? Let’s set up a time to chat about your goals and how our team can help.
We’ll even offer you a free consultation so you can catch a glimpse of the real benefits investing in SEO can provide your business.
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