SEO is the most well-known digital marketing medium compared to other marketing options. Over 7.6 million Google searches per day, and 70% of consumers want to learn about products & services through content, are the reasons. Due to the recent Covid-19 and pandemic, businesses are noticing the SEO benefits and investing more in this marketing channel, with 82% of marketers using content marketing and 24% looking for ways to boost search engine optimisation efforts.
What is SEO and its Advantages?
SEO is a digital marketing technique that utilises various strategies to increase the rank of websites in the results of the search engine (e.g. Google, Bing and Yahoo) pages. There are different kinds of SEO, like white and black hat SEO, but the main advantage of SEO is to increase the amount of natural traffic to the website, leading to increased prospects and more sales.
What are the Benefits of SEO Marketing?
There are numerous advantages of SEO, and it is crucial to know why you should use it initially. Let us discuss the reasons why SEO is essential for businesses.
Reach International Audiences and Prospects
If you are expanding your business in the international market, there are either SEM or SEO marketing options apart from ground-level marketing. We all know that every country’s SEM bidding depends on its local currency, and we have to compete with the local competitors from our countries, which is quite expensive.
Many businesses rely on SEO to expand their business and acquire new customers. With the help of SEO, we can reach our target audience and rank higher on other countries’ search engines. For example, Schools/Universities always target overseas students to enrol with their institution. In SEO, they can target the keywords that international students are searching on the search engines, and if your school ranks on page #1, there is a higher chance you will get the enquiry. SEO conversion is anytime higher than any paid marketing.
Brings in More Customers
Making more customers are one of the main advantages of SEO. It is because SEO is an inbound marketing technique. Potential customers are looking for solutions on the internet. They have already been curious about your services or products, making it simpler to turn these into customers who pay.
Organic visibility is also less expensive in the cost of maintenance compared to paid ads. After you have completed the initial effort to enhance your organic search engine ranking, your company will be able to continue appearing organically in search results, even if you cut back on your SEO efforts for a short period.
For instance, companies optimised for local searches could include phrases like “near me” and appear to anyone in the area looking for solutions. Local SEO requires businesses to improve the performance of their Google My Business” accounts and produce local-specific content, which could increase conversions.
Multiple Keywords Ranking & More Traffic
SEO is known to target the specific and desired keywords to rank the website on SERP (search engine results page).
While businesses pay to rank their website with desired and selected keywords, SEO help the site rank with many other secondary and non-targeted keywords. For example, if you are targeting “SEO company” keywords and if your website is ranking on page #1. There are higher chances that your website will rank with many other keywords such as “the SEO company”, “SEO company services”, and many others, for which you are not paying your SEO agency.
Drive More Website Traffic
Many people search the internet for answers or answers to their questions, and Google receives millions of daily searches. Maybe they are searching for the top cat food or a nutritional program that fits their specific eating habits. If you are a business owner, when you conduct proper keyword research and target relevant keywords that are in line with the type of query that consumers are searching for and get at the top of Google, which is likely to attract a significant number of customers to your site.
If you are targeting general keywords, it could be challenging to rank high on the results page list simply because of the sheer amount of competition. Many SEO experts suggest using long-tail keywords because they are less competitive, which makes it simpler to rank highly on organic results. Additionally, long-tail keywords are 2.5 times more conversion rates because your site directly addresses what people are searching for.
Improve Brand Credibility
When users conduct research online, they are more likely to be influenced by websites on the top, which are typically reputable. 75% of users never go to the second-page results for the search. Google’s algorithm sorts websites based on unique ranking factors like the speed of their websites, mobile-friendly usability and quality of content, the authority of the domain, and a host of other aspects. It is also more likely for users to consider your site trustworthy if it appears on the first page of results since your site would be ranked based on the latest algorithms of search engines.
If your site has reached the top page, you have likely employed SEO techniques to improve the performance of your content and your website, and improve user experience, thus increasing your credibility as a brand in the eyes of search engines. The presence of other sites relevant to your site which link to your blog’s content will increase your site’s domain credibility, which makes your website even more trustworthy.
Improve Website Usability
If a site has an extremely high bounce rate or the time it takes to spend on it is not enough, Google or Bing may determine the website’s user experience as inadequate and result in a decline in the organic ranking. This means that many companies can concentrate on improving the user experience of their website through faster loading times and a mobile-friendly layout, fixing broken links, and making sure that the website is simple to navigate.
You are optimising your website’s on-page SEO by simultaneously enhancing your website’s usability.
SEO Offers Impressive ROI
SEO has a high ROI compared with other marketing methods that use digital technology, like social media and marketing. 49% of marketers believe that optimising organic traffic provides the most ROI compared to other marketing channels. Leads generated by SEO can close at a 14.6% closure rate. That is more than outbound leads.
Customers who purchased via SEO had already been looking for solutions. They will likely believe the site because search engines like Google and Bing have deemed your site reliable enough to place you at the top of the results. Customers feel they are opting for you rather than being pressured into buying something, which could increase the conversion rate.
SEO Gives You a Competitive Advantage
SEO is a long-term marketing approach. However, it can provide you with reliable traffic in combination with other channels for marketing. If the price of advertising through paid channels increases to the point that it is unprofitable, some websites might need help generating sales. However, you would still be able to generate sales and leads from your site using SEO regardless of whether you needed to stop the paid advertisements.
Compared with SEM campaigns, SEO leads convert at a higher rate when compared to leads generated by PPC campaigns.
SEO Provides 24/7 Promotion
In contrast to social media platforms and PPC advertisements, Organic SEO results will always work for you. Social media posts may disappear from users’ timelines within a few days, meaning businesses must update their content regularly to stay relevant. PPC ads require a regular budget to keep them running. Nevertheless, an effective SEO will draw the appropriate group of people and keep bringing in customers no matter the time of the day. This is because a high ranking on the results of search engines gives the best search visibility to those searching. Website rankings will continue to bring in traffic for several months, weeks, or even years provided the keyword phrase is relevant and the content remains current.
Compliments SEM Campaigns
Your SEO marketing strategies will typically focus on improving the user experience on the page and loading speed, which can boost your SEM campaigns’ performance. Your website’s appearance in the organic search results and paid ads will increase the confidence in your company in the people who view your site. You can also expand your reach and increase market share by getting your website to appear in results for keywords that would otherwise not have been profitable to use for SEM campaigns. Many businesses also conduct Remarketing campaigns for users of Bing or Google person who has already visited your website before using organic search using SEO information, which will significantly boost the return of your SEM campaigns.
Cut Down on SEM Advertising Costs
An SEO plan will improve your rankings, and your website pages will get more organic traffic. Suppose you are tracking visitors correctly, collecting the correct information about your audience, and utilising it for your PPC strategy. In that case, it will help your campaigns identify people most likely to convert and reduce costs per conversion. Remarketing is another option for those who have visited your site previously, and these ads typically yield higher returns.
As time passes, if your site can drive substantial traffic to your website from organic search results, you can reduce your budget for SEM as you rely less on paid results to drive traffic.
Find out more about the differences between SEO and Google Ads here.
Improves User Engagement Rates
SEO is a method of creating high-quality content that meets your targeted market’s requirements. Most businesses notice an improvement in user engagement because of correct SEO strategies, including more excellent rates of click-through as well as the dwell time (length of time that a user spends on a website) and time on pages, pages viewed and less bounce rate. With higher participation, the conversion rate generally increases, regardless of whether you want to increase the number of email sign-ups, purchases, calls, or any other micro-conversions.
You can monitor the results of all these metrics using Google Analytics and Google Search Console to determine whether the SEO strategy is effective.
Summary
Numerous SEO advantages for companies can result in long-term exponential growth. Businesses investing in SEO will build credibility and trust with their audiences and boost sales, making it an essential element of a successful digital marketing strategy.
Many businesses use SEO sparingly because it is complicated to understand. Hire a reliable SEO agency, sit back, and enjoy business growth with SEO power.
Sources:
https://www.responsify.com/
https://www.worldometers.info/
https://www.hubspot.com/
https://www.firstpagesage.com
https://blog.cws.net/
https://www.imforza.com/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/