Search Engine Optimization Isn’t Dead
The marketing world is constantly changing. New strategies and services seem to appear on a daily basis. But even with all these changes, sometimes the classics still work. The best example of this may just be search engine optimization, or SEO. Some may say it’s dead, and for some businesses that’s true. But, despite everything, this type of marketing can still be a very effective tool for a lot of people. Let’s jump into a few reasons why you need SEO marketing and the benefits of it.
What is SEO?
The burning question we need to cover first, what is SEO? Search engine optimization, when it’s done well, involves working keywords related to your target audience into the copy of your website to help it rank higher on Google search results. For example, say you owned a non-profit in Colorado Springs that assisted low-income families. Optimizing your website content through SEO best practices would help your site appear closer to the top of the results when someone searches something like “low-income family assistance” or “non-profits Colorado Springs”. You’ll want to write a lot of copy related to those two keywords, just make sure your copy is super relevant to your audience.
Why It Matters
SEO marketing is obviously important for businesses that rely heavily on internet traffic to make money, but it’s also important for brick and mortar establishments. If someone searches “coffee shop near me”, any coffee shop within a few miles will want to appear in those search results.
While PPC is a sure way to get on that list, some businesses can’t afford to pour hundreds of dollars into that type of marketing. If you’re looking for affordability, SEO can be invaluable to your business.
Make SEO Work for You
When you need to use search engine optimization to market to your specific demographic, a little keyword research will help you find the relevant terms that are often searched. Strategically placing these keywords throughout your site will help you show up higher on the list of results.
Be very aware that your content needs to feel organic and relevant, not just like you’re trying to cram as many keywords into one sentence as possible. Google has bots that track that kind of thing, so it won’t work anyway.
Just like pay-per-click, good SEO marketing involves a solid goal, testing different strategies, and knowing your target audience. For example, who’s going to find your new blog update useful? What words are being searched that could lead to your content? Choose keywords that are relevant to the post and make sure they are in the body, meta tags, titles, and SEO titles. If you’re using WordPress to host your website, there is an awesome plugin that can help you SEO optimize your website really easily.
As long as businesses are using optimized, specific, and targeted keywords for SEO marketing, they will see continued organic growth and bring in new customers.
Give SEO Some Love
We’ll admit it, search engine optimization isn’t usually our first choice when it comes to digital marketing. We’re bigger fans of pay-per-click. That’s simply because it’s a guarantee of results rather than a “let’s teak wording meticulously and it’ll most likely work”. There are strategies to help SEO be more effective. Still, it’s just not quite up to the level of PPC. We prefer hard data, it’s just who we are.
That being said, incorporating both PPC and SEO is hugely effective for all businesses, no matter what.
PPC will drive traffic using specific top keywords, while SEO can also drive organic traffic to those keywords and then some. The option to attack digital marketing from all angles is why you need SEO in a nutshell.