Businesses and companies that want to reach more potential customers have various marketing and advertising options. However, search engine optimization is one of the most important methods you need to use today.
Suppose you’re starting your internet marketing and advertising journey and trying to understand how SEO can benefit your business. In that case, you might be wondering, “What is the purpose of search engine optimization (SEO) in digital marketing?”
You may have heard about how SEO strategies can boost your search engine rankings and increase organic online traffic to your website. However, there needs to be more clarity surrounding this marketing method. Today’s post is here to share some fundamentals of SEO and remove some of the complexities surrounding it.
What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Before we answer the question, “What is the purpose of search engine optimization (SEO) in digital marketing?” Let’s first answer a more obvious one: What is SEO?
SEO is a combination of internet marketing strategies to drive traffic from free and organic search results in search engines.
According to a study, 68% of online experiences start with a search engine. This means that your potential clients or customers are also online searching on Google or Bing for businesses like yours.
The purpose of search engine optimization is to increase a website’s ranking in the SERPs, or search engine results pages. However, a good SEO strategy entails expertise, resources, and time that you may not possess. This is where hiring a professional digital marketing and search engine optimization agency comes in.
As you know, the higher a website ranks in Google or other search engines, the more people will see it. Whenever people search for your business – whether it’s the services you provide, the products you sell, or the information on topics you are an expert on – you want to be at the top of these search results so people see your website right away.
Ultimately, the goal of SEO in digital marketing is to attract your target audiences to your website and convert them into customers or clients who keep coming back.
SEO in Digital Marketing
The goal of marketing is to create demand for your business’s products or services. In digital marketing, SEO is key for reaching potential customers and introducing them to your offerings.
Since more and more consumers are utilizing the internet to search for just about anything, it’s important to establish a good online presence for your business. Getting a good ranking on search engines such as Google and Bing is an important first step in connecting with your potential customers.
Millions of online Google searches happen every day. Search is primarily the best source of organic traffic for websites. As such, it’s vital for your business website to be “search engine optimized” or “SEO friendly” so your target audiences can easily see your business or brand.
How SEO Works
People using online search engines to look for something is the norm. Google is the most popular search engine. However, some still use Bing, Yahoo, and other search engine platforms.
If you want your business’s website to appear when a potential customer searches for your products or services, you need to employ search engine optimization strategies.
Some common SEO terms that are helpful to know include:
Target Audience—determining your ideal customers will significantly influence your overall SEO strategy.
Search Intent—describes the nature of the online search—whether it’s informational, commercial, transactional, or navigational.
Keywords—phrases users enter into search engines to start an online search.
Content—considered as the central focus of any SEO strategy.
Backlink—also referred to as incoming or inbound links. These are created when one website or web page links to another. High-quality backlinks that point to your website are considered a heavily weighted ranking factor and are seen – when set correctly – as a referral of trust from other websites.
Site Architecture—refers to how organized your site is and how easy it is for users to navigate from one page to another and find the information they’re looking for.
Site Speed—an important SEO element that can determine whether a website is ranked on page one or page two of online search results.
Why Is SEO Important?
If you don’t have a search-engine-optimized website for your business, you could be missing out on the following benefits and opportunities SEO offers:
Increase organic search rankings.
When done right, search engine optimization techniques can help improve your website and its web pages. A higher position on search engines and in relevant search results for your business equates to a more extensive online presence, visibility, and website traffic.
To rank on search engines translates to more leads, potential new customers, prospective clients, and increased sales for your business. Improving your business website’s organic search engine rankings using SEO techniques entails proper keyword research, technical SEO techniques, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, link building, content marketing, and other SEO methods. This is why it’s important to employ the services of a professional SEO company to aid you in this feat. SEO requires time, resources, and expertise – which are readily available when you hire the services of SEO specialists.
Boost your online credibility.
In the context of search engine optimization and digital marketing, credibility is gauging how trustworthy, reliable, or authoritative an online content source is – whether it’s a website, webpage, social media profile, or other online pages.
One of the most effective ways to boost your online credibility is by creating valuable and high-quality content. Incidentally, content is also vital to SEO success. Google, Bing, and other search engines want to provide the best online resources and solutions to their users when they show results on search engines. Once search engine crawlers understand that your content offers value to their users, you get improved chances of ranking on search engine results pages.
Higher search engine rankings mean more credibility for your business not just for your target audiences, but also for search engine algorithms. This can have a positive impact on your brand reputation and inspire more site visitors to engage with your business.
Drive more website traffic.
How does search engine optimization generate traffic? By focusing on two primary SEO strategies: off-page SEO and on-page SEO.
On-page SEO methods focus on the components that have direct impacts on websites. Its the factors that ensure that your website is easy for search engines to understand and recognize. This includes:
- Identifying what your target audiences are searching for and providing the answers to their common questions
- Optimizing your meta titles and page descriptions
- Guiding site visitors and search engines within your website through internal links
On the other hand, off-page SEO entails boosting your website’s reputation across the web. When other websites and web pages link to your site, it tells Google and other search engines that you are an authority in your niche. Enhancing your off-page SEO includes guest blogging, local citations, social media marketing, link building, and more.
What are Google ranking factors?
Hundreds of factors affect Google search algorithms. We know of about 200, but there are probably thousands more.
These factors include keyword usage, content relevance, site speed, page load times, content freshness, topical authority, mobile responsive design, backlinks, UX design, and more. Each is weighted differently.
However, optimizing for every one of these factors is not practical.
Google aims to provide users with the best content to solve their online queries and give them a positive online experience. To rank high on the SERPs and drive more traffic to your website, it’s good to understand how Google works so you can shape your content strategy and SEO approach strategically.
Boost Page Ranks with High-Quality Content
Content is the most important search engine ranking factor.
No matter how visually stunning or optimized your website is, you need to offer good content to your site visitors so that you can expect higher rankings.
What makes high-quality content?
- Relevant—Some information loses its relevance over time. Keeping your content updated and accurate with new information and removing outdated pages is vital.
- Engaging—your site content must be readable, organized, easily digestible, and resonate with your target audiences.
- Matches the intent of the keyword—proper keyword research will help you understand what your target audiences are looking for online. Your content must not be stuffed with keywords just for the heck of it.
Provide a positive user experience.
User experience means the overall experience a user obtains while interacting with your website and its web pages. It encompasses all touchpoints a site visitor encounters on your website—from the navigation to the content to the calls to action. The ideal scenario is fostering a positive, pleasurable, and valuable experience for all website visitors at all times.
With enhanced user experience comes repeated and longer site visits. These events are often tied to making purchases from your site (if you’re an eCommerce online store), scheduling appointments with your office, and calling to inquire about your products and services.
Search engine giant Google provides content guidelines that encourage website owners to focus on providing a positive user experience. This is why search engines look at user experience when evaluating a website’s online performance. Search engine algorithms examine user interactions with a website to gauge the type of experience a site offers.
Stay competitive
Whether you’re a small business owner or a big corporation, staying competitive in the online space is challenging. Achieving a high search engine position and standing out is becoming increasingly difficult.
The frustration of being surpassed by your competitors on online search results or not appearing at the top of search engine pages can be discouraging.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is more important than ever in digital marketing to make a real impact online. It’s not a buzzword, and it’s not marketing mumbo-jumbo. If you want to stay competitive, reach your target audiences, and maximize ROI, SEO is a must.
How Do Search Engines Actually Work?
Learning how search engines and SEO work can help your business leverage it for growth.
Whenever someone types a query on search engines such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo, these platforms use these queries as keywords to scour the web for content relevant to the user’s search. They will then return a list, also known as a search engine results page, with web pages ranked in order of relevance.
The following are the basic steps to how search engines operate:
Crawling
Search engines use crawlers, bots, or spiders to browse the entire web for new and updated content. These spiders follow links from one webpage to the next.
Indexing
Search engines learn about and categorize every web page based on its content and store them in one big database.
Ranking
Ranking web pages is based on several search engine ranking algorithms, including content, page speed, user experience, mobile performance, links, etc.
Search engine algorithms are constantly updated. A professional SEO agency aims to optimize your website for search engines, so they stay on top of SEO and internet marketing trends and updates. If you have a good SEO strategy, you can always adapt to what search engine algorithms need.
Use SEO to Drive Traffic and Boost Brand Awareness
Implementing a strategic SEO strategy – including content marketing and website optimization – and staying on top of search engine algorithm trends take expertise and dedicated time. Don’t get discouraged if you’re not seeing gains from your SEO strategies. Invest in partnering with a reputable digital marketing and SEO agency to see the best SEO results.
Understanding the purpose and importance of search engine optimization and digital marketing can propel your business’ success and sustain its growth. With a well-developed and targeted strategy, you can promote your business and increase its exposure to more potential customers while enhancing your online credibility and positioning your brand as an authority in your field.
