Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a difficult concept for individuals who aren’t familiar with digital marketing.
SEO services no longer mean paying X amount of dollars to rank #1 for a particular keyword. It just doesn’t work like that, that is merely a myth. Let me explain:
In 2018, we saw numerous studies were done by Google, where they revealed that customers nowadays are impatient, curious, and demanding. This means that they are no longer searching for simple keywords like they used to. With so much content available online, they have moved into more meaningful queries in search engines. Google’s primary objective is to provide users with the most relevant search results when it comes to organic search results.
Most users are searching complex questions such as, “what does SEO mean?” or “How can digital marketing help my business?” it’s no longer enough to rank for your products’ or services’ name. It takes effort, and SEO is a full circle. It is made of different online activities, such as a user-friendly website, backlinks, social media accounts, content marketing, on-page SEO, and more. It builds a solid foundation for your business online.
Even when we search for more meaningful queries such as; “Best TVs,” the actual product pages are not the number 1 to rank, it is usually articles comparing different brands, directories, reviews, and forums.
We need to stop talking about SEO as some one-step action that digital marketers take to increase website traffic because this isn’t true.
If you want to increase your traffic you absolutely must do the following three steps, without each one, you will not get significant traffic.
1. Run ads
If you look at the screenshot above, as you can see the products on the right are from ads, and the products on the left are from an article that mentions products (which are most likely sponsored). It is almost impossible to rank number 1 for these kinds of queries when there is so much content online being published every single second. People don’t click on websites to see which product is the best anymore; they click on opinions, or articles where they feel like they can trust the advice being presented. They are doing their research more than ever, so remarketing ads are incredibly effective too.
2. Consistently create valuable content
Again, if you want users to find you through their meaningful queries, you need to give them information. If you don’t have endless content showing how much you know about your product/service and why it’s so amazing, then why would they pick you over someone else with infinite content? You have to give people a reason to find you.
3. Ensure a user-friendly website
Even if you pay for your traffic, and create valuable content which means that many people will find you, this doesn’t mean that you’re done. Your website must be user-friendly and logical; otherwise, people will exit out and never return. Once you have targeted and reached your audience with ads and content, you need to ensure that you give them a reason to stay on your website and continue being interested. Do you have clear call-to-action buttons,
If you are still under the impression that you can pay a certain amount of money and be guaranteed #1 ranking on Google, then you need to research SEO and what it entails. SEO is a combination of practices in terms of your website, that helps Google TRUST your business and rank your website higher. A combination of SEO and PPC not only brings the leads and sales but also build organic traffic which you will benefit from in the long run.
