A Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimisation

Marketing on the Internet is one of the most effective ways to reach your audience and build brand awareness today. As of 2019, 4.13 billion people are using the Internet, thanks to more accessible computers and the advent of smartphones that make it more convenient for everyone to go online. With billions of potential customers or subscribers, the Internet is where you want to be if you’re going to gain more exposure and generate more sales.

However, merely having a website is not enough to create a substantial presence online. With millions of sites in existence these days and hundreds more being created daily, you have to be ingenious and creative to pique the interest of your target audience. Otherwise, you might find yourself buried under stiff online competition.

For this reason, brands and businesses utilise SEO or search engine optimisation.

What is SEO?

SEO is a methodology of strategies, techniques, and tactics designed to increase the number of visitors to a website by ranking high on a search engine’s search result page (SERP). With high search rankings, sites can attract as many visitors and generate the highest amount of traffic possible.

Because most Internet users have a short attention span, they don’t waste their time clicking through numerous search result pages to find what they need. Often, they would settle for websites on the first or second pages of Google. If your target audience has to click through many pages of Google to find you, you’re less likely to obtain a significant amount of traffic. This could hurt your chances of making more sales or conversions.

SEO makes your website more search engine-friendly and gives you more online visibility. When you are more visible online, you’re more likely to obtain high search rankings. When you have excellent search rankings, you can enjoy the following benefits:

1. More web and mobile traffic

Statistics showed that 81% of consumers conduct online research before buying anything. More and more shoppers are also purchasing goods and services using their mobile devices. Through SEO, you can position yourself where prospects looking for products/services similar to yours can easily see you. With more web and mobile traffic coming in, you have more chances of making sales and conversions.

2. Transform undecided audience into leads

Search engine optimisation allows you to influence the sales process. By using high-quality content that contains relevant keywords and phrases, you can guide your prospects throughout their journey. You can engage them and direct them towards your desired conversion goal. Through sound and effective SEO strategies, you can convert undecided prospects into paying customers or subscribers.

3. Build better brand awareness

There’s a reason why being number one on Google is the most coveted position amongst businesses and marketers. The first spot on the first page of Google has a 31% click-through rate (CTR). This means 31% of users who viewed the first page of Google will click on the topmost link.

As discussed earlier, SEO helps you obtain better search rankings and gives you more online visibility. The more visible and searchable you are online, the more people will know about your brand. Apart from this, it also helps you establish yourself as an expert in your field or niche. Since Google awards the top search rankings to those who are considered authorities in their respective field, obtaining good search rankings gives you more credibility over your competitors who are ranked lower.

4. Provide visitors with better user experience

SEO is more than just giving you more online visibility. It also enables you to provide web visitors with better user experience.

SEO promotes the use of better navigation, quality web design, and faster page loading times, amongst other things. By implementing these strategies, you’re offering your web visitors a valuable online space that can help fulfil their needs. This encourages them to return and keep coming back to either peruse your content, sign up for your services, or make multiple purchases.

The Importance of Asking for Help

Search engine optimisation may seem simple and straightforward. However, for someone with no prior experience, it can be filled with numerous pitfalls and challenges. Any SEO professional will tell you that it takes time and effort to rank well on search engines. If you’re already busy running your business, you might neglect one for the other.

For this reason, it helps to hire SEO professionals, like us here at Springhill Marketing. Working with us can help you save time and effort. It is cost-effective, too, since it allows you to accomplish more in less time. More importantly, it gives you more positive results, which is something you cannot quickly obtain when optimising your website on your own.

Conclusion

Because more and more people have access to the Internet, making your website search engine-friendly is crucial to your success. Good thing you can accomplish this with SEO. Through various strategies and techniques, you can obtain better online visibility while providing your web visitors with better user experience. Also, you can attract more web traffic, which can give you more opportunities for conversions.

Need help with SEO? We are happy to assist you. Contact us at Springhill Marketing to obtain the SEO solutions you need.