The term “search engine optimization” has been going around for quite some time over the last couple of decades. You hear everybody talking about “why is SEO important” and how it made a big difference for their business, but you have no clue what it is or how it works. Well, lucky for you I am here today and totally free to explain everything! So, go grab a cup of coffee and let’s walk through it together.
Covered in his article
- What are search engines & how do they work
- Why people search anything they want on search engines
- What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- How Google Search Works
- Is SEO still worth it in 2023? 7 Reasons why
What are search engines & How do they work?
The library concept
Imagine yourself going into a library, and then you find loads of shelves full of books of different colors, times, and categories. But instead of having a precise book name in mind, you are looking for a specific topic and looking to read more about it.
Search engines are the like the librarian standing behind the desk. They have everything indexed according to a category, and date of publishing, and will even go further as to give you recommendations about the best books in each category. To your surprise, you found that the librarian has even gone the extra mile and read all the books in his library one by one. Now he can even be a million times more accurate in his recommendations.
Search engines work the same way, but with greater accuracy and less room for error. A search engine is just another website. But, instead of providing you with information directly displayed on its pages, it carefully reads content from other sites. Then, they evaluate those websites’ content and stack it among their huge index base, following a set of highly studied criteria.
Why do people search for anything they want on search engines?
Users trust search engines because their objective is to provide the user with the most valid results for his search query. That way, users would grow to trust and use that platform more, and that will attract advertisers to the platform.
What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?
After learning that search engines are just an intermediary between users and web pages offering high-quality content, the question of what SEO is still lying ahead. Search engine optimization is the process of continuously developing and customizing your website to match its criteria for offering website users the best on-screen experience while browsing your website.
How Google Search works
Let’s take Google as an example here as it lies the number one search engine worldwide. When users type in their search queries on Google search, millions of results start to show on a wide range of search engine results pages (SERP). Search results take ranks based on their compliance with the criteria implied by Google. First-page search engine rankings are the luckiest ones, as they get the highest share of website traffic.
SEO efforts should be more of a race for digital marketing strategies to climb up the search engine results page and get more traffic for their websites. Only by developing a well-structured SEO strategy and following the essential SEO tactics, will they appear on the first page of Google search results.
Is SEO worth it? 7 Reason why SEO is still important in 2023
You must have come here looking to learn more about the benefits of SEO because you either have a business website or planning to start a blog. Either way, you must want to increase your website’s traffic and have been told that SEO is the best way to do so. And you are correct!
In the digital marketing world, online traffic is like a gold mine but it needs a clever miner to dig deeper in order to claim his reward. And in this case, organic traffic that can be generated following the proper SEO techniques is your share of the gold.
1- Advertising is becoming more competitive and expensive day after day
If you have been in the digital marketing field for long, you would understand that the cost of advertising on social media, search engines, and ad networks is increasing day after day. That is due to the increasing number of competitors jamming up the auction system of those platforms. SEO however, is considered the best organic traffic generation channel in most google analytics accounts.
when you develop and implement a set of well-studied SEO strategies, that organic traffic is going to grow day after day. The more traffic you push down the conversion funnel of your website the more conversion you are going to get at its end. Once a business secures its place on the first results page, your SEO work would start to pay off
2- Creating a keyword strategy and writing quality content earns you trust
Think of yourself before making any high-value purchase. What steps do you follow, in order to make up your mind when evaluating alternatives? First, you try and find as many suitable alternatives as you can. Then, you start looking up more information for each option, and maybe consult an expert to know his opinion as well.
Let me tell you that you can be all the above-mentioned parts of a buying cycle; you can become the business the source of information and the expert’s opinion. Yes, by writing inclusive articles about your products or field of service and optimizing those articles using a successful keyword strategy, you will achieve the core elements of trustworthiness.
Dominating the first page of the search results and being the first option he sees
Offering all the product/service’s related information, USPs, and features from your side
Becoming the trusted source (influencer) in the consumer’s buying cycle by showing him that you are an expert in what you do.
3- Organic search traffic is considered (consumer to business)
When we speak as marketers, we categorize our communication channels into two types.
Business to Consumer: Usually on those channels the user is just surfing the social media platform without the actual intention of receiving information about a specific topic. It is considered somehow pushy and hence has a low impact on the user’s consideration.
- Consumer to User: This is generally said when a channel is used by any user to look for an answer to his inquiries, or research a product before buying. Google is the most valid example of this scenario. Let’s say you want to explore a good tool for managing your SEO efforts, how would you start such a technical review process? You would most probably start by typing “Best SEO tools” on Google to get an idea about the best available options. Afterward, you would use “SEMrush reviews” for example to get more of an idea about how it works and whether it is truly helpful. When a user comes to a channel looking for a solution that your business offers, that is considered a high potential step to becoming your leverage point. Placing your website among the top results for those search keywords will yield better results when it comes to consideration and conversion.
4- SEO increases website engagement rates and in turn conversions
Search engine traffic is considered the top traffic source in terms of website engagement. When the user lands on a search engine friendly landing page that is optimized for a keyword matching his search query, he will most likely find the valuable information he was looking for and go through it bit by bit. The more time a user spends on your site, the more actions he will take, and the more likely he becomes to convert.
Have you heard the term “Conversion rate optimization” before? It is a close relative to SEO. That is they both aim to make your website better for users. But, the first one (Conversion Rate Optimization) works in the direction of facilitating the conversion funnel on your website, so your visitors can find their way toward completing a purchase with ease.
SEO certainly helps with making your website faster, optimized for all devices, and more friendly for people to find their way around. This helps with conversion rate optimization as well.
5- Monetizing your Blog
By implementing the right SEO strategy, optimizing your on-page SEO, carrying inclusive keyword research, and tackling all the right keywords, your organic search traffic will climb month after month. Consequently, your website’s blog traffic will reach a good number that will attract other advertisers looking to reach the same target audience as you.
Depending on the amount of traffic you can capture through your target keywords and backlink building efforts, you will start earning extra revenue through ads placed on your pages by advertisers.
The higher your revenue, the more ad networks you can participate with. You can also direct some of your traffic to buy a certain tool or product online and receive an affiliate marketing profit through your marketing efforts.
6- Decreases the cost of your PPC campaigns
PPC advertising depends on keywords search volume, Keyword difficulty is based on the amount and quality of competition trying to rank for the same keywords. Landing page experience is also a crucial factor in the price you will pay to rank on each given keyword.
Google takes all the previous into consideration to come up with an evaluation technique called “Quality Score”. The higher the quality score, the higher your potential to rank for a given keyword with a lower bid cost.
Imagine if you have a page SEO-optimized for that specific keyword, and you use it as a landing page for your PPC campaign. No doubt your quality score will rise as a result of an exceptional landing page experience, and in turn, your cost per click will decrease.
Better results for lower costs! isn’t that the dream?
7- Helps you improve your website’s performance for your users
SEO’s objective is to elevate the levels of user satisfaction with your website. Hence, search engines will understand that is a good result to show for users at the top of the first search results page. That way by optimizing your website for SEO in order to claim those top rankings, you are actually optimizing for a better user experience on your site.
Have any comments or questions?
I would like to hear what you think will become of search engines after the new introduction of AI systems like ChatGBT. Do you think Search engines will die in the coming years?
Write your opinion in the comments or ask me anything you need an answer for? I am here just for you!
