Why Should I Care About SEO?

SEO is too often underestimated by business owners. As any marketing professional will tell you, it’s nearly impossible to overstate the potential return optimizing your website for search engines can have.

Over the years, search engines have perfected the ability to provide search results that give the best possible answer for a user entering a query. The highly refined algorithm does the work for you of matching your website with the potential customers who are actively seeking something your business is offering, organically.

All you need to do is set yourself up in such a way that you get noticed and highly ranked by the search engines on the results pages.

Search Engine Optimization in an Algorithm-Driven World

Getting your business’ online content ranked higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs) is not about cheating the system or keyword stuffing. Not only will this not work – the algorithms are much too sophisticated for that – but your SEO goal should not be to just get more clicks but to drive more valuable traffic to your website. Optimizing your site so that it lands in front of the eyes of people who will benefit from it results in much better, quality traffic of likely customers.

Smart search engine optimization is a matter of understanding how these potential customers are searching for information online, what the search engines are looking for, and then optimizing your online content to suit. A successful SEO strategy will be mutually beneficial to both your business and to the consumer, as they will have an easier time finding you.

An SEO campaign should be built with two facets in mind:

1. Optimize your content for the search engines. This involves using a combination of on-page SEO (i.e. targeted keywords, relevant content, etc.) and off-page SEO (i.e. link-building, outside verification, etc.) best practices, but the most important thing you can do to teach the search engines who you are and what you have to offer is to publish valuable content, in multiple places, often. This will help your content rank higher on the SERPs.
2. Once a user clicks on your page, make sure you are giving them something useful. Be the answer to the query. And always include a strong call to action to direct them on how to continue to engage with your business. Whether the CTA directs them to read on, buy now, fill out a form, or give you a call, good SEO has to end with a clear path to convert.

If done correctly, a successful SEO strategy can have tremendous benefit for your business. Primarily, search engines offer targeted traffic – people that are actively seeking the information that matches what your website has to offer. Improving your website’s visibility on the SERPs connects you with a pool of organic leads that are looking for what your business has to offer. That’s a marketing strategy with potentially tremendous return!

The Facts: How Smart SEO Benefits Business

Need data-driven proof?

• 82% of marketing professionals report that SEO effectiveness is on the rise. (MarketingDive)
• 72% of consumers who did a local search visited a store within five miles. (WordStream)
• Google receives over 57,000 searches per second on any given day. (Internet Live Stats)
• SEO has value that is completely unparalleled in the online marketing world (Forbes)

We get it. You can’t risk investing in a marketing strategy without a way to measure the effectiveness. The good news is a comprehensive SEO plan should include analytics to help you track and measure the effectiveness of your efforts. And the potential return is well worth the investment.

Putting Theory into Practice: What Makes for Good SEO

“No one remembers you for standing in the crowd. But they do remember you for standing OUT of it.”

-Eddie Harris

As SEO is a constantly changing practice, the only way to successfully optimize your online content is to regularly evaluate and refresh your strategy. In a crowded room of people, you may get noticed if you are one of the only individuals who are raising their hands. But, once everyone in that room is raising their hands for attention, you’ve got to change your approach if you want to get noticed. SEO works similarly.

For organizations not in a position to employ a marketing team, even small steps to help you optimize your website can have a big impact. Of course, like with any investment, the more you put into your SEO efforts, the greater the potential return. A comprehensive SEO strategy may involve an entire team of professionals behind the scenes; running analytics, generating and publishing content on multiple platforms, and staying ahead of ever-changing marketing trends.

Optimize Your Website For Search Effectively with a Team of Marketing Specialists

Want to work with a complete team of knowledgeable marketing strategists at your side? Contact the specialists at EmoryDay to learn more about how our online marketing plans can be tailored to help businesses of all sizes, in all industries, grow.