This digital age has changed the way businesses compete and consumers behave. Accenture’s data alone have shown that 94% of their buyers searched for their products on the web first before making an actual purchase. This just goes to show that businesses which are not willing to build up their presence online will hardly be able to keep up with the competition. Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin are brands that want to gain competitive advantage and are willing to leverage and understand that SEO or Search Engine Optimization can really play an important role in reaching that goal.
The Impact Of The Internet On Businesses
In the business-to-consumer sector alone, a lot of businesses have already dominated the online world. In fact, it has been forecasted that global ecommerce will reach over $5 trillion by the year 2022. By then, ecommerce-based sales will rise up to 18.5 percent, more than twice what was attained in 2022. Moreover, according to the data from GE Capital Retain Bank, 81% of their customers also searched for their product online and researched quite a bit before finally deciding to buy.
Local businesses were also affected by the digital migration in terms of local searches. One of these was LSA Acquisio whose website gained visitors from mobile searches result. Amazingly, out of the total searches, 30% resulted in an actual purchase.
Internet is the modern time’s platform to have an easier, more convenient, and more informed shopping experience. You’ll see a significant portion of today’s populace buy or search for product reviews online. Clearly, internet has been maintaining the potential for businesses to reach a wider market and earn hundreds or thousands more.
The Role Of SEO
If you plan to establish an online presence, first and foremost, you will need to set up a website that talks all about your brand. If your business is product oriented, you can opt for an online shop setup where customers who wish to buy your product can make a purchase online through it. On the other hand, if your business is service oriented, you can rather stuff your website up with relevant content that you think your target niche will be interested in on top of the content that describes your brand and the services your business offers. Your task does not end there, however. To date, the web already has over 600 million websites and they vary depending on the type of product or service they offer or talk about. If you want to gain that competitive advantage, your aim should be to put your website on the first page of Google results, outranking all your competition; something that can be achieved with the help of good SEO strategies laid out and implemented by a Los Angeles SEO Consultant.
Search engine optimization comprises of a set of techniques or strategies that cover nearly every aspect of content development alongside site building. As this requires a series of meetings to effectively communicate and carry out the SEO, hiring a consultant based near your area, e.g. a Los Angeles SEO agency if you reside in or around LA, California, is more advantageous and is oftentimes advised. When done effectively, SEO can facilitate a remarkable user experience for the potential customer and this consequently boosts their trust in the company or brand.
The main goal of SEO is to introduce and promote your website’s value to the search engines. When this happens, your webpages will get a high ranking for searches relevant to your content. In layman’s term, SEO will act as a bridge between your business and your market; with it, your potential customers will be able to find and be interested in your business’s presence easily.
The Process
Google fetches the websites available using their spiders. These spiders look for bits of key information that will tell them the topics and content on each of the web pages. They do not really read the content though. Rather, they only look for specific terms and look into the website’s organization to find clues about the site’s value. A good SEO company formulates a strategy and implements it after taking these factors into consideration:
1. Keyword Optimization
Keywords are one of SEO’s best friends. They are actually the terms your target audience will most likely use when searching on Google. These are the terms you will need to write about.
However, it is important to note that keywords alone do not suffice. Google is so sophisticated that it can easily detect if a website is filled with useless repetition of keywords or not. Here, Google sides with factors that contribute to a great user experience and obviously, repetitive mentions of keywords without context is not one of these factors.
Aside from high-value keywords, semantic keywords are also Google’s favorite. These are terms a user will likely use when talking about a particular term. For instance, if the topic is about “how to grow a garden”, terms like plots, fertilizers, seeds, or plants are also being interpreted.
2. The Construction And Organization Of The Website
Google uses algorithms that study a website’s organization through the use of a clear site map. This site map helps spiders accurately check every page of the site while it scrutinizes the website’s domain.
Besides its use to Google, a clear site map also facilitates easy site navigation that enhances the user’s experience and their chances of purchasing your product or service.
Load speed is also an important aspect that Google takes into account. It flunks a website that loads poorly. That means your chances of appearing on Google’s top results can be eradicated that easily.
3. Site Errors
A good SEO should eliminate and prevent site errors as these easily discourage Google to rank your website highly. This can be done through an extensive site audit to check whether there are pages with broken links or buttons, dead external links, errors, duplicates, or poorly done redirects.
4. Mobile Optimization
As more people do searches via mobile now than on their desktop computers or laptops, Google has also set a requirement that aims at improving mobile optimization. This means that a website’s mobile optimization can now impact its search rankings on both desktop and mobile.
SEO Like A Pro
The battle for search engine supremacy gets harder every year because SEO is the future for business marketing. Keep these tips in mind to ensure that your website continues to earn valuable organic traffic from Google and other search engines.
