Search Engine Optimisation is the process of improving your site to increase visibility when people search for services relevant to your business in any search engine (Search Engine World, 2022). There are millions of pages accessible through search engines so ensuring your service stands out against others is important. SEO is an important tool for marketing as it drives traffic and sales and allows for greater opportunities.
To better understand the importance, an individual must know how to optimise visibility on search engines. SEO can be achieved through keywords, phrases or services repeated on any of your online platforms. For a business to optimise potential, there should be multiple online platforms that drive traffic to a single source, usually a website (Search Engine World, 2022). For example, if a business has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn, which all link to a website, six forms of traffic drive will increase the chance of a user reaching the website. Pinterest is especially useful for this, as posts on this platform link directly to a website and, is known for good traffic drive (Search Engine World, 2022). However, SEO has risks if not used correctly including lowering rank and disengaging clients' (Digital Marketing Institute, 2018). By repeating keywords over and over, content may seem boring which will divert clients away from the site. Generally, a user will decide within 0.05 seconds if a website is of interest or not (Sweor, 2022). Uninteresting content with keywords should not be the first thing users see, but rather subtly included within online platforms.
If SEO is used correctly, traffic will naturally increase sales, which is the ideal scenario with optimisation. 'Search is often the primary source of digital traffic for brands' (Search Engine World, 2022). By having good SEO, an individual's business or service will be the first to be displayed on a search engine. Through algorithms, a search engine will produce results most relevant to the users' data. Therefore, by having a good SEO, businesses are more likely to 'generate organic traffic.' Organic traffic is ideal as are users most likely to buy into the business or service being offered (Farstad, 2021). By having a large amount of organic traffic diverted to a business's site, there is more opportunity for sale. Without SEO, the list of potential customers is limited, as are sales and revenue. This makes SEO crucial for online sales and growth.
SEO also opens businesses to other opportunities besides sales. By having a good SEO, a business will appear reliable and socially credible. This credibility will allow businesses to build relations with prospects and allow the brand to be identified as trustworthy and valuable (Search Engine World, 2022). This is commonly referred to as Page Authority or PA, which allows businesses to build rapport with current or potential clients and network.
With so many businesses advertising online, it is crucial to be the first option on a search engine to stay relevant and grow sales and revenue.
Reference:
Digital Marketing Institute. (2018). What Is SEO & Why Is It Important?. Digital Marketing Institute. Retrieved 5 September 2022, from https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/what-is-seo-and-why-is-it-important#:~:text=In%20short%2C%20SEO%20is%20crucial,can%20use%20for%20optimal%20ranking.
Farstad, A. (2021). Why Organic Customer Acquisition is Key for Exponential Growth | New Normal Group. Newnormalgroup.com. Retrieved 5 September 2022, from https://newnormalgroup.com/stories/business-insight/why-organic-customer-acquisition-is-key-for-exponential-growth.
Search Engine World. (2022). What Is SEO / Search Engine Optimization?. Search Engine Land. Retrieved 5 September 2022, from https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo.
Sweor. (2022). 27 Eye-Opening Website Statistics [Updated for 2022]. Sweor.com. Retrieved 5 September 2022, from https://www.sweor.com/firstimpressions#:~:text=It%20takes%20about%2050%20milliseconds,they'll%20stay%20or%20leave.
Image:
Creativeart, 2022, Magnifying glass with seo concept, digital image, veiwed 5 September 2022, https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/magnifying-glass-with-seo-concepts_902861.htm#query=SEO&position=1&from_view=search under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0. Full terms at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0.
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