We live in a fast-paced world, with things happening around us all the time. Everything is go, go, go, from the minute we wake up, to the second we close our eyes at night (sometimes the early hours of the morning). There is this constant need for instant gratification in this 21st century that we find ourselves in. From constantly checking our phones for how many likes our latest Instagram pic has, to how quickly our online deliveries can be shipped. We are a zero patience generation that craves results by the minute.
This is why, when it comes to digital marketing, our paid partner, Google Ads, usually takes the lead with speedy results and that instant gratification that so many clients are after. And Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), likened to the tortoise in the tale of The Tortoise And The Hare fairy tale, carries on slowly and steadily, organically, winning the race metaphorically.
Let me explain how.
What is SEO?
Let’s start with a basic overview of what SEO is. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, which is a process that ensures your website can be found on search engines through searches with particular words and phrases that match to what your site is offering. It increases the quantity and the quality of the traffic that passes through to your website, through organic search results, using the words or phrases mentioned above that people are searching for.
What Does it Mean To Receive Quality Traffic?
If for instance, you are an IT consultant, and you receive traffic from people searching for a financial consultant, that would not be quality traffic. You want people coming to your website because they are looking for the service YOU are offering, not someone else.
What Does it Mean To Receive a High Quantity of Traffic?
Once people start finding your website in the search engine results pages (SERP’s) and clicking through to your website, the quantity of traffic increases.
What are Organic Search Results?
Paid for Ads make up a large portion of the SERP’s landscape – organic traffic is any traffic that finds its way to your website organically (naturally), through unpaid for means.
How SEO Can Assist Your Website in The Long-Run
You’ve got the basic idea of what SEO is, and how SEO sends organic traffic to your website through targeted keywords or search terms that users search for. But can it sustain for an extended period of time and keep the traffic flowing to your website? The answer is yes.
Here are FOUR of the long term advantages of SEO, among many more, however these four stand head and shoulders above all the other benefits.
Increase in Targeted Traffic
One of the main reasons that businesses have a website is to ensure that they are consistently able to increase and vary their customer base. Implementing SEO as part of your marketing strategy will help you reach the audience you want to reach, and this will give your website an increased amount of targeted traffic, which will increase your conversion rate.
Improved Search Engine Rankings
This advantage speaks for itself. The higher you rank, the greater the chances your website will be clicked on than that of your competitors who are ranking lower than you. This greater amount of targeted traffic can only lead to higher conversions, which means a higher return on investment or ROI. Ideally, you want your website to sit in the 1-3 organic search results position when people search for a term that matches what you are offering – this is called sitting “above the fold”.
Reduced Dependency on PPC
PPC or pay per click (generally, Google Ads or Bing) is a marketing strategy whereby a business will pay a certain amount each time a person clicks on their ad that leads them to a website. This is an effective marketing strategy, but unfortunately, it can become a bit costly before it gives you the desired results. PPC and SEO often go hand-in-hand; therefore, if you have both running well, you should be seeing the desired traffic coming through your website. However, if you are a bit short on funds for marketing, SEO isn’t the cheaper option, but it is the option that will give you more lasting benefits than what PPC may be able to give you. Ranking well organically will reduce your dependency on PPC, thereby reducing your monthly marketing cost.
Branding Benefits
This is one of those hidden advantages that affect the way people will view your website. When you are ranking higher in search engine results, people will often choose to click on your site over your competitors who are ranking lower than you. This is because people trust Google to rank better businesses at the top (thanks to great SEO initiatives). Therefore, if you are ranking near the top, your business is more than likely going to be a brand that people come to trust, which can only benefit your business. SEO can help your website go from ranking somewhere far down Google’s black hole, that no one goes to, to ranking right at the top of Google, on the first page. With the right amount of effort, SEO can possibly get you ranking in the top half of the first page, in that coveted 1-3 mark. This greater brand awareness is a priceless long term advantage of SEO.
SEO is an investment that every online business should take seriously if they want to gain the right amount of traffic to their website. It is a huge task to undertake, and it requires a lot of effort and time, this is why it’s recommended to hire an SEO company, but once your website is ranking well organically, and Google trusts you, not much is going to affect your ranking position. This means that there’s very little chance Google will give your spot to another competitor overnight.
Paired with a great local SEO strategy, which is essentially registering your business with Google My Business, your company will be set to soar high in Google’s ranks, and quickly found organically.
Once your SEO marketing strategy is running well, it will only require a few tweaks here and there to maintain, making SEO a valuable long-term investment for any business.
To find out more about how Kaomi Marketing can assist your company with SEO, drop us a mail.