The most important currency in today’s digital business landscape is visibility and search engine optimisation can help organisations get that. It is estimated that 94% of buyers in B2B space and 81% of buyers in the B2C space search online before buying something. It simply means that brands that do not have a strong online presence will find it difficult to remain competitive in the market.
A well thought out search engine optimisation strategy allows brands to rank their web properties in the top search results for keywords related to their business. Top ranked websites get a lot of traffic and can help bring potential customers into the sales funnel. Use Data Cube and search marketing hampshire to strategise for important keywords.
Define Search Engine Optimisation
Search engine optimisation is the technique used by brands to rank their content at the top of search engine results pages. Web visitors that discover websites through a search engine are known as SEO traffic or organic traffic. Even though nobody knows the exact algorithm used by Google for ranking webpages, SEO profession has come up with certain strategies through careful study of the search results. They have discovered major factors that affect organic rankings and these factors are broadly categorised into on page SEO and off page SEO. On page SEO refers to strategies implemented on your own website whereas off-page SEO strategies typically cover techniques implemented outside the main web property.
A well thought out search engine optimisation strategy typically includes on page as well as off page SEO.
On page optimisation strategy typically includes production of useful content containing high-value keywords and optimisation of this content to ensure that search engine algorithms are able to figure out the value and intent behind that content. It means paying attention to factors such as meta-description, keyword placement, URL, alt tags and title tags, among other things.
When it comes to off page SEO, it encompasses linking to appropriate content on the website as well as off it. Specific strategies need to be developed by brands to get backlinks in order to boost rankings and traffic. It can be accomplished by promoting quality content on various platforms including content syndication, social media, or guest postings.
Why Businesses Need SEO?
A variety of factors are considered by Google’s algorithms to rank websites in the search engine result pages. The goal of these algorithms is to rank content that is highly relevant to the query made by the user. It should be something that provides good value to the visitor. Top ranked content on the search engine results pages has a much better chance of getting the attention of visitors as compared to lower ranked content. It is estimated that the first position on the search results attracts 30% clicks and this number goes down to 12% for the content that is third. In fact, the proportion of clicks goes down substantially as you move down. It is estimated that webpages on the 9th and 10th position might get only around 2% of the total clicks.
This huge difference in the clicks attracted by sites that rank on the top and at the bottom shows that brands that want attention of online customers need to work on improving their organic rankings. Today’s digital ecosystem has penetrated all the industries and has become an important part of the overall sales funnel for all kinds of businesses. In fact, 2016 was the first year when online sales surpassed in-store sales. Almost 50% of retailers are of the opinion that their customers research online even when they eventually buy things in the store. This is why, it is important for brands to pay attention to search engine optimisation in order to ensure that they remain in front of potential customers.