Webmasters with goals of increasing their search visibility employ a process called Search Engine Optimization(SEO) to try and outrank their competitors page and with the rise of social media marketing, content marketing, mobile marketing and other marketing strategies, it will lead to the evolution of SEO as long as search engine exists and SEO will also integrate as an essential ingredient to a more powerful marketing strategy.
Of all commodities in the world of online business, “search engine traffic” is arguably the most valuable. This is because search engine drives targeted and highly motivated visits to the websites. This kind of traffic is more receptive to marketing messages and therefore easier to convert into paying customers. Did you know “Google alone receives almost 6 billion average searches per day?” So if you want to increase your brand awareness, website traffics, revenues and even customer loyalty, search engine optimization is one important element that should be mixed in your strategy.
Little wonder why companies, either big or small are always trying to get and maintain a good position at google search status. The ones who manage to get on top, have the distinct advantage of being considered by potential customers ahead of anyone.
There are many SEO tips that can improve your brand visibility but we’ll list three important ones;
#1. Audit yourself
The first step in any SEO process is auditing what you currently have. Before you start anything, ensure you go through your website and read each and every page carefully then write down the errors that you experience; errors like broken pages or images, out-of-date information and poor grammar. Start with those problems first, after which you ensure you have Google analytics, Screaming frog and webmaster tools properly set up for your website. You can proceed to Google Analytics to take a look at which of your pages have organic traffic. You can also use webmaster tool to see what search queries are sending people to your site.
#2. Know the right keywords
Get familiar with the terms your target customers use to find business products and services like yours. This is a crucial step in getting fond on the web and can indirectly boost your website’s visibility if used correctly. Many small businesses make the mistake of focusing only on high-volume, short-tail keywords and try to pack those keywords in as often as possible on their website — this could be a recipe for disaster when it comes to improving organic search ranking.
To check whether you are using the best terms on your webpage, you can use the free Google keyword planner tool. This online app provides you with estimates on how many searches happen per month for a particular term globally or within specific countries.
#3. Build an online presence
Say you run a gift shop in a tourist town, your target market will likely be twofold: local buyers and seasonal visitors on vacation. The locals may know of your shop but it is unlikely that the tourists will. More so, one of the first things those tourists will do is to pull out their phones and search for gift shops in the area. If your website isn’t optimized for local business, your shop might not show up at all. Set up social media profiles for your business, listing correctly you business address. You can also gain insights on how your site is viewed by google. Google is willing to share some of the data it has about your site by using a platform called Search Console. With Search console, you’ll receive some SEO-related data and console can also help train you on a lot of basic SEO principles.
SEO is a technical game on the surface but if you ask Search engine optimization experts, they’ll tell you the most important thing to remember is “to be human”. This is why the search engine optimization experts have tough jobs because they always have to remember to balance the human element with the technical aspect. Create a website that people want to visit, fill it up with good content and you should begin to see marked increase in your traffic which is as a result of increase web visibility.
