Why SEO is the Foundation of a Strong Digital Marketing Strategy
From hiring a famous influencer to frequently running ads on social media, the competition to increase online visibility and engagement is becoming expensive.
You may need to choose wisely if you are a startup or a local business with a small marketing budget. The answer is SEO! In fact, it may prove to be the backbone of long-term success.
SEO is about driving traffic and creating a sustainable digital presence that fosters brand trust and helps businesses grow over time.
Would you like to know “How?” Here are a few proven ways to employ SEO from the best web developers in Melbourne.
Role of SEO in Digital Marketing
The foundation of a successful digital marketing campaign begins with search engine optimization.
SEO is an organic process of optimizing your website’s user interface, navigation, content, and codes to rank higher in Google.
While other marketing strategies require ongoing investments, SEO continuously delivers results over time, making it suitable for small and medium businesses.
Whether you are a restaurant, cafe, hairdresser, accounting firm, photographer, mortgage broker, or maintenance provider like plumbing, cleaning, carpeting, etc., if you have a website, you must begin with SEO.
Imagine a customer searching for “Plumbing Services in Kensington” on Google and your website coming up on top!
Therefore, the better the implementation of SEO, the more organic traffic you will get.
5 Proven Ways SEO Drives Digital Marketing Success
Let us reveal the secrets of SEO and how it drives digital marketing success.
SEO is Key to Winning Local Markets
It is no secret that local businesses often compete with one another and sometimes online giants like Amazon. Still, you may have an edge if you specialize in providing services such as freshly prepared meals, plumbing, or accounting.
However, a local service provider may face competition when contacting local customers. It is where SEO may help you gain leverage.
A study reports that 76% of consumers who search for “near me” in Google often visit the business within a day.
Local SEO is a popular term for local businesses to reach out to their niche audiences using familiar tools like Google My Business, local map listing, directory listing, and posting addresses on the website.
It is simple: post your business details, such as services, address, products, etc., to Google My Business and other local listings, and whenever a customer does a local search, you will come up.
Do you know that a staggering 46% of Google searches are seeking local information? By increasing your presence in Google, you can attract many local customer engagements.
2. SEO Drives Long-term Organic Traffic
Unlike paid ads that stop working when the budget runs out, SEO continues bringing traffic to your website as long as your content is relevant.
Do you know organic search results account for 53.3% of all website traffic, like five out of every ten people visiting your website daily?
However, it depends on how relevant and optimized your site content is and the number of top keywords you come up with in Google search results.
The searches with a variant of “to buy” or “can I buy” get five times more hits than regular keywords. If your content caters to these search results, you are more likely to get traffic.
Similarly, keeping your content relevant to the changing search landscape by using SEO techniques will guarantee consistent website visits.
3. SEO Improves User Experience (UX)
An SEO-optimized website guarantees better user experience and interaction (UI), providing users with a smoother experience.
Moreover, improved UI and UX make it easier for search engines to index and rank websites higher.
Do you know a 1-second delay in page load time can result in a 7% drop in conversions?
A crucial part of Google ranking is optimizing your website for user-friendliness because the ranking algorithm prioritizes websites that are clean, fast-loading, mobile-friendly, and easily accessible.
When looking for someone to design a new website for your business, always prioritize user-friendliness to improve your users’ experience.
4. SEO Is Cost-Effective
Cost minimization is a pressing issue for many small businesses and startups as they try to stay afloat and get more customers.
Luckily, SEO is a cost-effective approach that saves marketing funds in the long run and offers a greater return on investment.
If you are a small shop owner, preferentially cafe, hairdressing and salon, photography, etc., you will significantly benefit from SEO.
A digital marketing agency reported that businesses that invest in SEO may see an average ROI of 275% annually.
Therefore, SEO may be foundational to your digital marketing goals by bringing in customers at the lowest cost possible.
5. SEO Supports Other Digital Marketing Strategies
SEO sets the foundation for digital marketing; however, it is not a standalone strategy. It works in sync with other digital marketing techniques.
Here is how SEO complements other marketing efforts.
- Paid Ads: Paid ads will only bring traffic to your website, and conversion will depend on how well the site is designed and optimized.
- Content Marketing: High-quality content in websites and blogs engages potential customers, no matter where they come from.
Let us imagine digital marketing as a holistic approach and SEO as the beginning of it.
How to Start with SEO: Checklist
You will need a website to start with SEO, so it may be great if you already own a website. Otherwise, consider hiring an experienced web developer in Melbourne to create one.
Here is an SEO checklist for you.
- Identify your target market niche audience, and choose appropriate keywords, such as “best carpet cleaner in Melbourne.”
- Choose a based domain, something like “xyzcarpetcleanermelbourne.com”
- Design a website for mobile devices, then expand it to create a desktop website
- Focus on query-based, non-plagiarized content infused with keywords at strategic places.
- Choose illustrations and images that reflect your product or services, and keep them to a minimum.
- Keep the code clean and bug-free
- Check the website for load speed; anything less than 3 seconds is Ok.
- Test for UI/UX experience by asking your family, colleague, or friends to use the website
- Make great use of the image URL “best-carpet-cleaner-melbourne.jpg” and alternative text “Best Carpet Cleaner in Melbourne” to make website images Google-friendly
- Use SSL or web encryption to safeguard your website from hacking or data pilferage.
- Remove 404 or non-existent pages from your website
- Make use of web interlinking by hyperlinking one page to another using appropriate keywords
