If you run a business and have a website, someone has probably already told you that you should be doing web optimisation. And they're right — today it's an essential part of any successful marketing strategy.
But if you're not familiar with it, you may not be convinced it's worth your time or money. That's exactly why this page covers what web optimisation is, what role it plays, and the key benefits it brings to your business.
What exactly is SEO web optimisation in marketing?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is the process of improving a website so that it ranks higher in search results when users look for specific words and phrases.
If you're not sure why that matters, just think about how you find information in your daily life. What would you do if you needed to replace your television and weren't sure which model to buy? Where would you look if you were on holiday and needed to find somewhere for dinner? How would you research your options for learning a new language?
Like most people, you'd pick up your smartphone or sit down at your computer and type a simple phrase into Google: "best 55-inch TV", "restaurants nearby" or "how to learn French". Then you'd scroll through the results and click on whatever seemed most relevant to your needs.
Those results are based on what Google believes will be most useful to you, based on the keywords you used. But in many cases, the sites you see on page one didn't get there by accident. They used SEO to help Google understand what their content is about.
They also likely did thorough research to understand how users like you search for specific topics, so they could optimise their pages accordingly. If you want your target audience to find your site, you need to do the same.
As an agency, ranking a website is an ongoing activity that demands real commitment: results are incremental, and that's precisely what keeps us motivated.
Benefits of SEO web optimisation
SEO web optimisation can improve your rankings in search engine results, and that can have a significant impact on your most important business goals — generating leads and increasing sales, especially when you combine it with a combined SEO and SEM approach.
If you're still not convinced, read on to find out some of the biggest benefits of web optimisation for search.
SEO targets quality traffic
One of the biggest advantages of SEO is that it's an inbound marketing strategy. Unlike traditional advertising channels — which involve reaching consumers whether or not they want to hear from you — inbound methods focus on making it easy for your audience to find you when they're already looking for information.
Inbound marketing is customer-centred. Rather than interrupting people while they watch television or listen to the radio, it's about creating useful resources and making information more accessible.
When users are ready to research your sector and explore their options, they'll find you on their own. This also generates higher-quality leads for your business.
By focusing on attracting users who are actively searching for information related to your sector, products and services, you reach your target audience far more effectively.
Our advice: when defining your web positioning strategy, understand the scale of work you can do yourself or delegate, what budget you have available for the latter, and set realistic, achievable goals accordingly.
You don't need to pay for ads with SEO web optimisation
Google's organic rankings are based on what its algorithm determines to be the best results for any given query. This means that once you've created a page the search engine considers worth sending users to, you can keep attracting traffic to your site for months — or even years — after publishing it.
Of course, researching and writing high-quality content requires investment. That investment takes the form of time, if you create it yourself, or money, if you choose to hire a digital marketing agency with deep expertise in SEO web optimisation to help with your rankings.
Once you've made that initial investment, there's no ongoing cost to keep attracting traffic to your content. You may need to update the page every few months, depending on the topic. You may also need to add to or improve the content if competitors target the same keyword. But your position in search results is free.
This is a key difference from PPC ads (pay-per-click), which carry a cost every time a user clicks and visits a page. Through SEO web optimisation, you have the potential to avoid paying for visibility and earn traffic to your site at no ongoing cost.
SEO web optimisation gets more clicks than PPC
Although PPC ads appear above organic rankings, most searches end with a click on an organic result on the first page.
It's hard to say exactly why, though the most logical conclusion is that users trust Google's algorithm. They know what advertisers are paying for, and they choose instead to visit the pages the search engine has determined are the best.
Speculation aside, the fact is that the majority of clicks for any given search go to an organic result.
SEO web optimisation supports PR
Although SEO and PR may look like entirely opposite marketing strategies, you can use them together to maximise the results of each.
Earning links on reputable websites is a core component of any SEO web optimisation strategy. This means that one of the most important parts of an SEO professional's work is identifying placement opportunities in industry blogs, news publications and other relevant sites.
And given that a PR strategy revolves around getting prominent publications and influencers to talk about your company, this represents a significant opportunity.
When you carry out research for your link-building strategy and look for new ways to present your brand to consumers, you'll have much greater success distributing content to potential customers if you take care of your site's SEO.
You can get ahead of the competition
Today, SEO web optimisation is considered a basic element of any marketing strategy. This means your competitors are very likely already taking steps to rank better in search results.
With your own SEO web optimisation strategy, you can keep pace and move ahead of them to stay competitive in your sector.
Our SEO agency is dedicated to increasing your website's visibility. You can also benefit from our positioning consultations.