What Is Search Engine Optimization & Why Does Your Business Need It?

When it comes to attracting potential customers and converting them into clients, an attractive and well-thought-out website is a must. But how can you ensure that your website is being seen?

With trillions of searches taking place across major search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo per year, it is vital that your virtual storefront is optimized to come in as close to the top of the results list as possible. Just as you work hard for your customers, you want to ensure your website is working hard for you. That’s where search engine optimization comes in.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Putting it simply, search engine optimization (or SEO) is the process of improving your website’s visibility in a search engine’s unpaid results—this is often referred to as organic results.

In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users. Consider this: how often have you looked past page one of Google when searching for something?

SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search, and vertical search engines, which focus on a specific subset of, or industry-specific, online content.

SEO helps you to build your brand.

Let’s face facts: consumers are fickle creatures and optics matter. In this digital age, we can safely assume that most consumers are heading to a major search engine to begin their hunt for whatever product or service it is that they are looking for. The general perception among these consumers is that the higher a website is ranked in a search engine, the better the company is.

But consumers are also doing their research. They have access to a wealth of information at their fingertips, on just about any topic, that they can use to make purchasing decisions. With SEO optimization, you can help contribute to that decision-making process.

By combining a strong SEO strategy with valuable content marketing, you can position your business as an expert in your field. This will ensure your brand remains discoverable and ahead of the competition.

SEO is free and easy to measure.

Software company, Sageworks, has found that the average business spends about 1% of its total revenue on advertising. While this may seem like an insignificant number, it can add up over time, not to mention as your business grows.

While you can pay to push your website to the top of a search engine’s results through pay-per-click advertising, organic traffic attracted through SEO is completely free. Of course, you’ll have to account for the cost of the time it takes to develop and promote your content, but this is true of paid advertising too.

Additionally, it is quite easy to accurately evaluate your SEO efforts. Using tools like Google Analytics allows you to monitor your traffic, referral sources, conversions, and other metrics that might be important to your business.

Organic traffic has a higher close rate.

We aren’t going to lie to you: building your SEO and, in turn, increasing your organic traffic takes time, patience, and persistence. All that being said, it is worth the effort. Studies have shown that organic search leads have a 14.6% close rate, compared to 1.7% for paid search leads.

Building your organic traffic might take longer than paying your way to the top, but the results last longer and produce more conversions. And it all starts with SEO.

How can I implement SEO into my strategy?

Research, research, research. If you want to attract your target audience, you have to be in tune with what kind of content they are consuming and what questions they have that need answering. Start by conducting some keyword research. Then, once you have a better idea of what your potential customer base is looking for, start creating valuable content that caters specifically to them. You can also work on earning backlinks and improving the flow and user experience of your website.

But we understand that this can all seem quite daunting. And that’s where we come in. At Web Design Centre, we offer a broad range of vital services to help you create valuable content relating to your niche and increase the search engine ranking and site traffic of your company. The search engine optimization techniques offered by our technical staff and content expertise of our writers enable us to successfully meet the needs of companies in competitive industries.

From content creation to improving function and usability, we will work alongside you to manage your website as a business asset. Get in touch today and see how we can help you take your business to the next level.

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