Improving your search engine optimization comes down to keyword research, on-page optimization, and measuring how visitors behave once they land on your site. Done well, SEO brings in organic traffic, lowers acquisition costs, and builds long-term brand reputation without paying for every click.
Why SEO matters for your business
SEO drives organic growth, raises brand awareness, increases revenue, and lowers the cost of acquiring new customers. A strong strategy helps you own the first page of search results with positive reviews and news articles about your brand, and it balances coverage across the major search engines. The higher your pages rank in organic results, the more likely potential customers are to find your website.
How do you do keyword research and on-page optimization?
A good SEO strategy starts with keyword research. Using a keyword tool, you can see which keywords your competitors’ pages are ranking for. That data shows you what your prospects search for, so you can create content that matches their needs. High-quality content gets crawled by search engine spiders and shown in search results, which is the main job of any SEO effort.
On-page optimization means making each page relevant to a target keyword. The title and meta description should match the content of the page and target a specific keyword. You can increase relevance by placing the main keyword in your title and URL, using headers, and making sure your site is crawlable.
Why does traffic behavior matter as much as traffic volume?
Search marketers know that traffic alone is not enough; what visitors do on the page matters just as much. Conversion rate optimization involves A/B testing and gauging how different changes affect clicks and page views. Tools like Optimizely make that testing easier with a visual editor, so once your site is set up, you can start running tests and measuring results.
What about paid search and sales-focused websites?
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is another way to reach customers. You bid to show your ad at the top of Google’s advertising pages when someone searches for your keyphrase, and you pay each time someone clicks. In Google’s SERPs, businesses pay for the top positions, while organic results sit in the bottom third of the page and are often more valuable than paid ads. If you want to dominate search results, you need a sales-focused website, and most marketers who use SEM will also optimize their site for organic rankings to save money over time.
FAQ
What is the first step in an SEO strategy?
Keyword research. Using a keyword tool, you can find out which keywords competitors rank for and create content that matches what your prospects search for.
How does conversion rate optimization fit with SEO?
SEO brings visitors to your site, and conversion rate optimization uses A/B testing to measure how page changes affect clicks and page views. Tools like Optimizely’s visual editor make it easy to run those tests.
How do organic search results differ from paid ads?
Paid ads sit at the top of Google’s SERPs and cost money per click through PPC bidding. Organic results appear in the bottom third of the page, are free, and are often considered more valuable than paid advertisements.