You might have heard the news that SEO is no longer relevant. You may feel that is true after your SEO efforts are turning up fewer customers than ever before. If you are not up to date on SEO methods and are not an SEO professional, you may not understand why this is happening and what you can do about it. If you want to convince your bosses that SEO is still the way to go and that it holds value for companies looking to expand and reach more consumers, you may have a tough battle ahead of you. So what should your approach be to make SEO work for your business? While the traffic to your site and the search rankings, you achieve are important to your business and play a vital role in SEO, there is more to optimising your site for search engines than just these things.
Businesses will find it frustrating to witness their sales and traffic decrease as the search engine rankings fall. Many times this happens due to factors beyond their control. So if your business can suffer due to outside factors that you have no control over, why should you bother with SEO? If the traffic being sent to your site isn’t translating to sales, then what is the point? These are the same questions your managers will be asking you, and you want to have an answer ready for them or be ready to abandon SEO entirely. Now the answer is that SEO is incredibly effective at making your business more visible to the public. It brings in new customers and can be flexible enough to stay on top of trends and changes that happen within the industry.
However, reaping the benefits of SEO can be a process that takes a long time to see results, and not every business is prepared to wait that long. What many business owners are looking for is a way to get their ranking up quickly. That isn’t always possible, nor is it always a good idea. Brand recognition takes time, especially if it is going to last for a while. Those who work in SEO will need to gain the trust of their clients and to do that, they are going to have to show them how beneficial SEO can be.
Making Sense
Google may change its search engine algorithms a few times a year. That doesn’t even account for major updates that are conducted every few years. Just last year, we saw Hummingbird implemented, and that changed the face of SEO dramatically. What this means for SEO professionals is that the tactics and methods they use need to change as well. While the methods used in SEO just a few years ago are terribly outdated, SEO itself is still very effective.
If you are not staying on top of these changes as they occur, then a large percentage of your user and consumer base won’t be able to find you. Major search engines play a vital role in purchase decisions, and modern SEO only works when it takes the initiative to change and keep up with what the consumers are doing and using. Your efforts may not be enough to get you onto the front page of search results right away. Your page may still need to gain authority, or you may need to tweak a few things here and there. But proper SEO technique ensures that your site is not penalised. While SEO is a marketing effort primarily, you do need to ensure that your content is created appropriately for what you are trying to accomplish.
The basic SEO approach may begin by auditing a client’s website, but it should quickly move past that. There are other factors to consider, such as the business’s social media efforts, the promotion and development of content, ongoing SEO efforts, The targeting of an appropriate core audience, and making certain that a site adheres to best practices as laid out by the search engines. SEO should not be about manipulating or trying to outsmart search engines but rather by working with them and creating better sites and better content.
SEO Methods
SEO is great at building brand awareness when implemented correctly. You want your company to stand out in front of the competition when it comes to search engines and social media efforts. Other businesses are trying to do the same thing you are within your same industry, and you need to build your brand presence through SEO to get noticed.
Now getting the top rank in the search engines may seem like a great way to build your brand. After all, most people are going to notice who is number one. However, that’s not all there is to it. Consumers will quickly find out if your site has any content or services they are interested in. If it doesn’t, then your ranking won’t matter, because people will be flocking away from your site. The core of modern SEO is about making your website as good as it can be. If you are making a site that is worthwhile, then you will focus on a selling point that no one else is. You will also make sure that well-made and effective content is promoted and produced.
More Customers
Now where SEO really proves its worth is by bringing in more customers. Your ranking is important to your business being noticed, but ensuring that people are aware of your brand is even more important. By funnelling people into your site through natural and directed methods, you can help people who are actually looking for your products and services to find them. If you have your brand awareness to the point where it is supposed to be, then they will already know that your company can provide what they are looking for.
