Why SEO is Important for Business & How to Rank Your Website?

Have you ever searched for something online? Of course, you have! When you type in those words on Google or another search engine, you usually click on one of the first few results, right?

You can invest a lot on your web design and its content but if the pages do not rank and there is little or no traffic then you won’t get any benefits. That’s where SEO comes into play for businesses.

With a good SEO strategy customized to your business needs, you can reach out to more of your target audience, increase brand awareness, and boost sales.

Here we will discuss why SEO is important for businesses and how to leverage the benefits of SEO to the fullest.

What SEO Entails – A Quick Overview

1. Keywords

What do we mean by keywords? People use words or phrases to find content online that are known as keywords. Businesses also use them to connect with potential clients that are looking for products and services they offer.

When doing keywords research, it is important to choose words that have a low competition and a high search volume. You should make sure you have:

• Short tail keywords (e.g. apple)
• Long tail keywords (e.g.red apples for sale)
• Local keywords (e.g. red apples for sale in New York)

The keywords can be used to optimize URLs, meta titles/descriptions, content, and other on page SEO factors.

2. Content

When considering on-page SEO factors, it is important to know what kind of content your website needs to publish. For example, if you own a pet shop you will want to publish blogs about the best animals to pet, petting accessories, and tips, and more to help increase your visibility on search engine rankings.

If a user is looking for information about pets, your blogs will show up and you can build trust with a potential client by giving them the information they were looking for. So, when the client wants to buy a pet or any equipment for their pet, your business will be the first one they think about.

The quality of content expected on the internet today needs to be educational, relevant, interesting, and shareable. There are many forms of content:

• Videos
• Blogs
• Infographic
• Podcast
• Listicles
• How to guide
• Social media post
• Local listing

3. Off page SEO

There are many elements outside of your website that you can optimize for favorable search engine rankings.

The most important off page SEO approach is building a strong backlink profile as backlinks from high authority websites signal search engines that your website is also valuable and helps build authority for yourself. Another common off page SEO strategy is influencer marketing.

4. Local SEO

One of the fastest growing SEO factors these days is Local SEO. Statistics reveal that 46% of Google searches are looking for local information so that should be enough to make you aware of why local SEO is important for your business.

For example, if you own a car wash company, local SEO ensures that everyone in your area that searches for the best car wash around will see your website. We mentioned local keywords before, but apart from that you can try adding yourself to Google My Business and Google Maps and creating pages for specific locations to improve your local SEO efforts.

5. Search Engine Marketing

Paid marketing efforts are known as SEM (search engine marketing). They include PPC (pay per click), social media ads, Google Ads (shopping, display, etc) and more. Even Though SEM isn’t a major SEO strategy, it can help reach your target audience easily.

Why SEO is Important for Businesses?

1. SERP ranking and visibility

The most important benefit of SEO for small businesses is to increase visibility so the potential clients can find you easily when they search for something you have to offer. Visibility and rankings are directly related to each other.

A higher SERP (Search Engine Result Page) ranking will lead likely clients to your website faster and increase organic traffic. You will be rewarded with a high SERP ranking depending on the effectiveness of your SEO campaign.

2. Traffic

One of the main goals that SEO campaigns aim to fulfill is an increase in traffic, which results in better visibility and higher ranking. 32% of clicks are given to the first spot on Google’s SERPs.

The featured snippet section of the SERP is the most valuable and prestigious place websites can rank. It is known as position 0. If you want a boost in your organic traffic and click through rates, you need to run an effective SEO campaign.

3. Authority

Domain authority (DA) and page authority (PA) are two important factors when it comes to search engine rankings. A website’s authority is measured based on its quality, relevance, and trustworthiness.

An authority for a website is scored from 1 to 100, with 1 being the lowest authority a website can have and 100 being the highest. This score can be found using tools like Moz and you can improve your score by building a strong link profile from popular and credible  sources.

4. Improved UX (user experience)

Optimizing for On page SEO and publishing quality content will no doubt improve your website’s user experience. For example, you can make your website more responsive for mobile users.

You can also increase the loading speed for your website as it will decrease bounce rates and encourage users to spend more screen time on the website.

People expect a website to have a loading time of less than 4 seconds. The longer a site takes to load, the higher the bounce rate becomes.

SEO for Businesses: Understanding Your Target Audience

The importance of understanding the target audience has existed in marketing long before things went digital.  You want your website to show up when the target audience searches for something you offer.

However, if you don’t have the content they were looking for when they enter your website, it will negatively impact your conversion rates. This is why it is so important to know your target audience and what they want.

1. Demographic

The best way to understand your target audience is by creating a consumer profile using data such as-

• Gender

• Age

• Location

• Marital status

• Education level

• Occupation

• Income

• Religion

• Lifestyle

When your target audience is not a single consumer, but instead a business, you should focus on the company’s-

• Industry
•  Products and service
• Annual revenue
• Age
• Location
• Number of employees

It is important to conduct market research on the target audience. There are many companies that provide services like this. You can also use Google Analytics to know more about the audience your website already has.

2. keyword

According to a report from Forrester Consulting,74% of users use search engines for a purchase.

Your job is to find out what these keywords are and create content around them for your website. This will help search engines decide if your website is relevant to what the searcher is looking for.

If you don’t know what your audience is looking for you can never help your website rank.

3. Surveys

Another great way to understand your audience is by conducting surveys online or over the phone. Your survey must represent every criterion of your target audience. You can try asking things like-

• Why do they buy your product or services?

• How do they decide to choose you over the competition?

• What stops them from purchasing your products or services?

• What do they expect from your products or services?

To understand how your audience behaves online, you can follow up with questions like-

• What websites do you visit the most?
• Who do you follow on social media?

Finally, you can ask them to comment on your website such as-

• Is my website easy to navigate around?

• Is the information provided valuable?

• Is the site available on all devices?

• Is the customer service and response satisfactory?

When you have the necessary data you will understand the customer’s journey much better. The customer’s journey or the buyer’s journey is an important part of SEO. It is the path they take from searching on Google to purchasing your products or services.

Yes, search intent can change as they proceed through the journey. Most users start off by searching for information and decide to purchase after they are done with their research. If you don’t know your audience properly, your SEO efforts will never be fruitful.

The Competitive Digital Marketing Landscape Scenario

When we think about competition, we think of a rival business that sells similar products and services to your business. Maybe they operate right next to you or maybe they are across town. The problem is, in a digital marketing landscape almost everyone ends up becoming your competition.

Any business that offers what you offer and operates online will become your competitor in the digital marketing landscape. You will need to be ready with a response to match their marketing tactics and develop your own digital marketing strategies like SEO.

Thanks to the internet, your competition is not restricted to any region. Instead you are now competing with businesses around the world. Everyone has an opportunity online which is a great thing about digital marketing. It can be a major upgrade for a business or lead to its downfall.

Before companies would compete for TV air time and billboard spaces, but digital marketing has changed the type of challenges companies face. Nowadays you are likely to be competing for page space on Facebook, Google and wherever else your target audience spends time online. You and your competitors are all fighting for attention and SEO helps make that battle easier for your business.

SEO helps you define your target audience and create the message that they will connect to. Many audiences will search for you, but you will have to go and search for many audiences too. SEO will help you target ad spaces wherever your target customers are and help improve your brand and reach.

Search Engine Algorithms and Their Impact

Google and other search engines are constantly updating and improving their algorithms to help users get accurate and relevant search results. For that reason, SEO is also a continuously evolving field and keeping up with algorithm updates is important for any SEO professional or the website owner.

What are Algorithm Updates?

Any changes to a search engine algorithm is an algorithm update. These changes help search engines decide how to rank websites on their SERP (search engine result page). They are designed to provide improvement to the accuracy and relevance of search results. They also make sure that websites don’t get any unfair advantage by manipulating the algorithm.

As you know, Google is by far the most used search engine in the world and they make constant updates every year. Most updates to the algorithm are minor, but some updates have a huge impact on ranking factors.

There are two kinds of algorithm updates

1. Core update – Most of the impact on ranking factors come from core updates
2. Minor updates – Minor updates make small changes to the algorithm and don’t affect ranking too much

Algorithms are used by search engines to decide what website needs to be displayed and what the order will be. The algorithm is made of complicated mathematical formulas that consider many factors like content quality, keywords, backlinks, target audience, and many more.

Impacts of Algorithm Updates

• Change in ranking factors

After an algorithm update is complete, the way search engines rank websites is changed. For example, if a core update prioritizes helpful content and backlink, websites that don’t satisfy the new criteria will fall in rankings.

• Change in target audience

For example- If an update changes how the SERP is displayed, users might click on results they didn’t before

• Change in competition

The business that responds to the algorithm update the fastest will enjoy the most of its benefits while the competition spends time responding and improving their SEO efforts

How to Respond to Algorithm Updates?

• Stay up to date

Staying informed on latest updates will give you a massive advantage in the competitive digital marketing landscape. You can stay up to date with algorithm updates and SEO news by following related blogs. Google has its official blog where they release information about updates and other insights.

• Monitor rankings

Monitoring and comparing your website’s ranking after an algorithm change will help reveal where you need to improve according to the new update.

• Make adjustments

It is very important to make the adjustments needed to your SEO campaign after an algorithm update. This includes publishing helpful quality content or improving the UX (user experience) for your website

Local SEO

Local searches help create traffic and brand awareness, which means you should optimize your website for local searches – known as Local SEO. the common practices include, local keywords, optimizing GMB profile (Google My Business), and NAP citations (Name, address, phone)

What makes Local SEO different is that Google uses different ranking factors for local search, such as:

• Location of searcher
• NAP citation
• GMB listing
• Keywords in GMB profile
• Online reviews
• Keywords in online reviews
• Check ins at location
• Social media shares
• Google Map rating

Metrics Used to Measure SEO

• Organic Traffic

All the non-paid clicks from search engines are counted as organic traffic. A high organic traffic is a sign of successful SEO efforts. You should monetize website traffic by displaying ads to increase your revenue. Organic traffic can be measured using Google Search Console.

• Keyword ranking

The organic ranking for a specific keyword is known as its keyword ranking. Monitoring keyword ranking regularly lets you track the performance of your SEO campaign.

• Conversion rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of people who performed an action on your website such as signing up to a newsletter or purchasing a product.  Conversion rates can be improved by targeting keywords with high purchase intent as those who search for these words are likely to take an action on your website.

• Backlinks

The number of domains that direct to your website are called backlinks. Backlinks from high authority websites like Google and LinkedIn will give you a high search engine ranking.

• CTR

Click through rates play an important role in SEO campaigns and engagement rate. It is the number of clicks your page or post receives against the number of times it has been shown to a user.

• Bounce rate

Many visitors to your website will leave without performing any action, which is known as bounce rate. A high bounce rate is caused by several reasons like incorrect meta description and low quality content on the website.

• Domain authority (DA)

A high DA rating (domain authority rating), will usually indicate a higher ranking on SERP for your website.

We have a detailed blog on “Domain Authority vs Domain Rating” that you can check out here.

How to Create SEO-Friendly Content?

Any online content created to rank on Google can be called SEO-friendly content. They are usually centered around a specific keyword and are an easy way to get consistent organic traffic to your website.

When wondering why SEO is important for business, you also need to know how to make your content SEO-friendly to establish your authority online.

1. Headers and subheaders

Headers and subheaders help optimize your content for search engines. They also make your content readable for users and easy to skim through.

Search engine crawlers also understand content using the headers and subheaders of a content. They interpret headers based on their importance (H1, H2, H3, etc).

Headers and subheaders also give you the opportunity to increase your keyword saturation but remember not to turn it into keyword stuffing.

2. Linking

Search engines use both internal and external links for ranking purposes. You should always try to link your old content in your new posts to keep it relevant. Using credible sources from high authority websites will also create trust among readers and search engines.

3. Keywords

First you need to find the relevant keyword for your content. You can do this by using keyword research tools from Google, or SEO tools from Ahrefs or even hire an SEO agency to do it. After you start writing your content make sure you use the keyword strategically in headlines, meta description and title, ALT tag, etc

4. Image optimization

Images are an easy way to make your content attractive as people are easily drawn to catchy visuals. One of the ways you should be optimizing the images in your content for search engines is by adding keywords to image files and Alt tags. Large image files will increase the loading time for your website so remember you also optimize the images for size.

5. Quality content

This is simple to say but not an easy task to do. Engaging and helpful content will always create traffic which is why search engines rank websites with relevant and quality content.

Long-Term SEO Strategies

As the digital landscape gets more competitive for businesses and marketing, having long term strategies and knowing how SEO helps your business grow is more crucial now than ever. You want your business to survive over the long haul, so you should have long term SEO strategies.

Quick results won’t always be long lasting results and SEO is all about consistent effort. Some of these efforts include-

• PPC or paid search campaigns
• SEO Audit
• Digital PR
• UX development
• Social media campaign

SEO is always evolving. Social media and Google algorithms are getting updated very often and online businesses have to be ready to adapt to the changes. Having long-term strategies will help you predict the future and prepare for these sudden changes.

Black Hat SEO

Black hat SEO techniques may help you get quick results with boostes traffic but you can be penalized soon. Google often penalizes black hat practices and ranks them negatively.  Always avoid things like –

• Keyword stuffing
• Content spam
• Link manipulation

Wrapping It Up

Now that you know why SEO is important for business, it’s time to launch a result-driven SEO campaign for your company. The world of SEO is always changing but at the end of the day the core aim is the same. It is done to help provide customers with what they are looking for. As businesses we also benefit from the opportunity to reach target audiences. SEO can seem like a complicated matter but it is critical to a business in this digital era.

FAQs

Q. Is SEO important for a website’s success?

Ans. SEO is important for a website’s success as it helps how quickly and easily users will be able to find your site. Google and other search engines have a complicated algorithm that they use for ranking and the websites that are optimized for search engines will always rank higher in the SERP (search engine result page).

Q. Will SEO benefit a small business?

Ans. Yes, SEO will benefit a small business. Websites that are optimized for search engines will get a higher ranking on the result page. Ranking high allows more users to come across your website.

Q. How much does SEO cost?

Ans. Usually small businesses pay from $500 to $2000 per month and larger companies pay from $5000 to $20,000 per month for SEO. Different factors determine how much SEO will cost such as the complexity and size of a website, keyword competition and hours taken to complete the task.

It is best to get a consultation with an SEO consultant to find out how much your budget might be.

mothasim

SEO & Growth Manager

A distinguished SEO and Business Development Consultant with a proven track record of helping businesses achieve outstanding results in the digital landscape. Throughout his career, Mothasim has worked with a diverse range of businesses, from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

His strategies are characterized by his meticulous attention to detail, data-driven decision-making, and a deep understanding of search engine algorithms. In his personal life, Mothasim enjoys hiking, photography, and volunteering in his community. He believes in giving back and is actively involved in mentoring aspiring SEO professionals. LinkedIn .