In this Search Engine Optimization how to series, you’ll be learning about how SEO works, and why your business could benefit from it.
Many people assume that submitting their web site to lots of search engines and online directories will automatically increase traffic to their site. This couldn’t be farther from the truth! Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your rankings within search engines (such as Google, Yahoo, Bing etc), hence increasing what’s called organic, or natural online traffic to your site.
The #1 element of ANY digital marketing campaign is to bring TARGETED TRAFFIC to your site, which will result in more leads and sales. Without traffic to your site, your online presence is next to useless.
There are 2 ways to show up in the search engines:
1. Pay Per Click (PPC)
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The easiest way to distinguish between the two is that with SEO, your site appears along the middle area of the search engine results pages (SERPS), as opposed to the sponsored areas, which are along the top, and down the right of the page.
Organic vs. Paid in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS)
The higher your site is on the SERPS, the more traffic you obtain. And, provided that your site is also optimized for sales and leads, you can increase your bottom line via free online traffic tactics. This is why business owners must consider SEO in their online marketing plan.
SEO is very complex and could be considered a science. Google claims that there are at least 250 factors that their algorithms analyze, when deciding whether a site should rank highly or not for given search terms or keywords. And these factors, or the algorithm that’s used to decide how well a site ranks in the search engines are constantly evolving. The #1 goal for search engines like Google is to provide RELEVANT information to the user who’s searching. However, seeing as this is just an intro as to how SEO can help businesses, we’ll keep this as non-techie as possible.
SEO has two distinct areas:
1. On-site SEO
2. Off-site SEO
In the next of this series, you’ll discover what exactly these terms are, but for now, let’s look at more reasons why business owners should consider using SEO in their marketing strategies.
Did you know that over 80% of global Internet users rely on search engines and directories to find the information they need, especially when they’re looking to make a purchase? So for example, if you were a Real Estate Agent in Sydney and people searched the term “sydney real estate agents” in Google, if your site is no where to be found, you just lost a targeted, valuable, INCOMING lead! In a nutshell, customers are knocking on your door, and you’re not answering! Therefore, ranking highly in search engines can REALLY affect your bottom line.
Here’s Some Hard Facts For You (Note: stats change rapidly!):
- More than 60% of search engine usage relates to the first step in the buying process.
- 85% of people use search engines to explore the Internet.
- 89% of searches are generated by Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
- 99% of people don’t search beyond the 3rd page.
- 65% of online revenue is generated from websites in the top three positions of page 1.
- 77% of Google users click the organic/natural links
- 42% of visitors click on the #1 organic spot on Google search results.
- 12% click on #2 and 8.5% on #3.
- This reduces in increments all the way down to only 3% clicking on #10.
The distinction between being ranked #1 and #10 on page 1 can be as remarkable as having 2 million clicks as opposed to only 147, 000. Statistically speaking, if you’re ranked #1 for your chosen keyword, you increase the traffic to your site by a staggering 1,400%! But even jumping from #8 to #3 can TRIPLE your traffic!
So now that you’ve discovered what the significance of having your site appear on page 1 of search engines can mean to the profitability of your business, do you think this is something that you should be implementing in your marketing plan? I certainly hope you do!
Ready to get started with your SEO Campaign? Click the big green button below!