What is SEO in digital marketing?
SEO, also known as search engine optimization, is about adjusting and optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results. This increases your visibility, traffic, and ultimately, sales.
Here we go through what SEO is, the most basic aspects you need to know about SEO, and what to consider when optimizing your website to rank high on Google.
Why is it important?
Continuously working with SEO is crucial for every business’s online success. Here are the main reasons why you should focus on SEO:
Increased visibility: Google is the world’s largest marketplace, with nearly all purchases today starting with a Google search. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to continuously work on your SEO to be visible when your potential customers are searching for solutions to their problems.
Understand your audience: SEO helps you better understand your customers’ search behaviours and tailor your content to meet their needs. This increases relevance and attracts the right visitors.
Adaptation to changes: Search engine algorithms are constantly being updated. Continuous SEO work involves adjusting your strategy to meet these changes and maintain or improve your website’s ranking.
Competitive advantage: By continuously working on your SEO, you stay one step ahead of your competitors, which is crucial in the ever-changing digital environment.
Understand the basics
Understanding the basics of SEO and what it entails is crucial for successfully increasing your website’s visibility and ranking in search engine results. To make this clear, we break it down into three main categories:
Keyword analysis: Identify the keywords and phrases your target audience is searching for.
Content quality: Create valuable and engaging content that addresses users’ needs and questions.
User experience (UX): Ensure your website is easy to navigate, fast, and mobile-friendly.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO involves optimising all the content displayed on your website to make it more attractive to both search engines and users. This includes:
Keyword analysis: Identify and use the keywords and phrases your target audience uses when searching for the products or services you offer. These keywords should be naturally integrated into titles, headings, content, and meta descriptions.
Content quality: Create valuable, relevant, and engaging content that meets users’ needs and answers their questions. The quality of your content plays a significant role in how well your page ranks.
User experience (UX): Ensure your website is easy to navigate, has fast loading times, and is mobile-friendly. A positive user experience contributes to higher engagement and longer visit durations, which benefits your SEO.
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO focuses on actions taken outside of your own website to improve its position in search engine results. This includes:
Link building: Acquiring links from other websites to your own can boost your site’s authority and improve its ranking. Links from highly credible and relevant websites are particularly valuable.
Social media: Interactions on social media, such as likes, shares, and comments, can indirectly influence your SEO by increasing content visibility and driving traffic to your website.
Brand building: A strong and recognizable brand can improve the click-through rate (CTR) from search results, signalling to search engines that your website is a trusted source.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO ensures that your website is well-structured and can be efficiently indexed by search engines. By understanding and applying these principles, you can create a strong foundation for your SEO strategy.
Website structure: A logical and well-organized website structure makes it easier for search engines to understand your site’s content and how the pages relate to each other.
Mobile optimization: With mobile-first indexing, it is crucial that your website is optimized for mobile devices, offering a good user experience on smaller screens.
Fast loading times: Search engines prefer websites that load quickly, as this contributes to a better user experience. Optimizing images, minimizing code, and using a fast web hosting service are important measures.
Security: A secure website (HTTPS instead of HTTP) is important for user trust and is prioritized by search engines.
Fundamental Strategies
To effectively improve your SEO, you need to regularly create high-quality and relevant content that addresses your potential customers’ questions and needs. The content should be informative and engaging, using relevant keywords that reflect the terms and phrases your target audience uses in their searches. It is important that the keywords are naturally integrated into the text, as well as in titles, subheadings, and meta descriptions to strengthen the website’s relevance and authority.
Internal linking
Another important aspect of SEO optimization is internal linking. By creating logical links between different pages on your website, you can not only improve user navigation but also help search engines understand the structure of your site and which pages are most relevant for specific keywords. This can signal to search engines that certain pages on your website are particularly important, which can enhance their ranking in search results.
Link building: Acquiring links from other websites to your own can increase your website’s authority and improve its ranking. Links from highly credible and relevant websites are particularly valuable.
Social media: Interactions on social media, such as likes, shares, and comments, can indirectly influence your SEO by increasing content visibility and driving traffic to your website.
Brand building: A strong and recognizable brand can improve the click-through rate (CTR) from search results, signalling to search engines that your website is a trusted source.
Mobile optimization and loading times
In today’s mobile era, it is critical that your website is optimized for mobile devices. Mobile optimization not only ensures that the website looks good on smaller screens but also that it functions smoothly and loads quickly. Search engines like Google use mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor, and websites that offer a strong mobile experience tend to rank higher. Faster websites create a better user experience, which is favoured by search engines in their algorithms.
When will you see results from SEO?
Seeing results from SEO can vary depending on several factors, but generally, it takes between three to six months to start noticing significant improvements in your website’s ranking and traffic. It’s important to understand that SEO is a long-term strategy that requires continuous effort and optimization. Here are some factors that influence how quickly you can see results:
1. Competition in your niche
If you operate in a highly competitive industry, it can take longer to climb up the search results as more companies are competing for the same keywords.
2. Website age and authority
Older websites with established authority often have an advantage and can see faster results compared to brand new websites that still need to build up their trust with search engines.
Content quality
Websites that regularly publish high-quality and relevant content tend to rank higher more quickly because search engines prioritize pages that offer value to users.
4. Link building
Acquiring high-quality backlinks from trusted websites can accelerate your ranking since links act as indicators of credibility and authority.
5. Technical SEO and user experience
A technically optimized website with fast loading times, mobile-friendliness, and a well-structured layout helps search engines index and rank your pages more quickly and higher.
Expected timeline for SEO results
Short term (1-3 months):
Now, you may see small improvements in rankings for less competitive keywords as well as increased traffic from long-tail keywords.
Medium term (3-6 months):
Significant improvements in rankings for targeted keywords. Increased organic traffic and potential improvements in conversion rates.
Long term (6+ months):
In the long term, sustained SEO efforts typically yield the most substantial and lasting results:
SEO is not a quick fix but a long-term investment that requires time and commitment. By continuously working on keyword optimization, content creation, link building, and technical optimization, you will gradually see improvements in your website’s ranking and traffic. Patience and persistence are key to success in SEO.
Ready to take the next step?
We know that every business is unique and that standardized solutions don’t work in digital marketing. That’s why we tailor our SEO strategies to fit your specific business and needs. We work closely with you to understand your business and create customized solutions that are effective and deliver clear results.
