Search engine optimization (SEO) might seem like just another marketing buzzword. But the power it has in creating a recognizable business is unmatched.
Since the number of online businesses is growing yearly (Vital, 2022), simply having a website isn’t enough. You need to be noticeable to the right people.
In this article, I’ll help you understand the importance of SEO in building your brand online. I’ll also share how to get started with search engine optimization.
Keep reading if you want to achieve a solid foundation for your online business.
The Role of SEO in Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is a broad umbrella under which several strategies reside – email marketing, social media, pay-per-click ads (PPC), and our star player, SEO. They are all helpful in establishing a remarkable brand.
Since our main topic is search engine optimization, let’s focus on that.
SEO is about creating and tweaking your page to make it notable to search engines like Google. It’s the best solution to marketers’ common challenge – getting traffic and leads.
You can think of it like this: You’ve opened a new coffee shop in a middle of a busy city competing with similar stores.
- Your coffee shop = your website
- Busy city = the Internet
- Similar stores = competitors
Now how do you make sure your customers find you? You can create the right signs, build excitement, and offer something unique.
That’s also what SEO is about. And you’re wasting huge growth potential if you’re not working on it.
Benefits of SEO for Building Your Brand Online
Cost-Effective
Unlike paying for ads, SEO doesn’t offer instant results. But expert marketers still prefer it over paid campaigns (Greene, 2022).
Why? Because it brings the highest return on investment (ROI). You don’t have to drain your budget to make it work. And since it’s organic, readers find it more acceptable than they do with ads (An, 2020).
Helps Build Trust
SEO isn’t just beneficial for visibility; it’s also effective in helping you be a go-to ‘person’ in the industry and increase your brand value.
Let me give you an example. When I was new to SEO, I used Google to learn how it worked. One expert I came across is Neil Patel. His content was excellent, but optimization made his site visible to me and other SEO enthusiasts. Because he played his cards right, he gained the trust of his readers. His website still gets a lot of traffic even if newer websites teach engaging lessons.
Attracts High-Quality Traffic
SEO helps you determine the ‘why’ behind your audience’s searches. It allows you to address that using your content and website.
You’ll be in a great spot on the search engine results pages (SERPs) by continuously providing relevant and optimized articles. Eventually, it will result in the right people engaging with you.
Provides Access to Valuable Customer Insights
Besides user intent, SEO gives you a deeper understanding of your audience. It translates to better content, improved product offerings, and an enhanced user experience.
Look at Google Analytics, for example. This SEO tool works like a crystal ball. It reveals who your readers are, where they’re from, their devices, interests, and how they behave. A little shocking? Perhaps. But it’s invaluable in ensuring that you don’t waste your efforts.
How to Embrace SEO in Your Branding Strategy
Now that you know the value and benefits of SEO, it’s time to learn how to apply it.
Harness the Power of Keywords
SEO will continue to change, but one thing’s for sure – keyword research isn’t going anywhere. Keywords are the search terms that drive users to your site. They are your golden ticket to achieving higher search rankings. But you got to make sure that you’re using them right.
Doing keyword optimization isn’t guessing or targeting random relevant words. And it certainly isn’t just throwing them anywhere your content. It requires studying trends, user intent, website status, and competitors. That’s why we have “low-hanging fruit” keywords. They are the sweet spot as they have a good search volume but low competition.
For instance, let’s say you’re running a fitness studio. Going for the term “fitness studio” won’t be a good idea because it’s highly competitive.
A better keyword to target is: “workout studios near me” or “fitness studio [your location].” This is what you call local SEO.
Besides choosing the correct term, keyword placement is also crucial. It’s essential to add your chosen keyword/s in the following places:
- Title
- Meta description
- Headings (at least once)
- First 100 words
- Image alt text
Look at this example. The writer of “How to Start a Business” from Business News Daily added “start a business” to the title, first 100 words, and headings. He also used similar terms inside the meta description and alt text.
Craft Content that Captivates
Think of a high-quality item in a huge grocery store placed incorrectly and without a label. It’ll remain hidden from potential users no matter how good it is. The same idea applies online with SEO and content.
Great content elevated by SEO techniques will help you gain more visitors, drive better engagement, and strengthen authority. To achieve that, you must adhere to Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).
While I can’t delve deep into it here, you can learn more directly from Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.
In addition, engaging content with lots of shares and specific searches sends a positive signal to search engines. It’s like saying, ‘Hey, this content is great! Check it out!’ And in turn, it can improve your rankings.
Check Ahref’s “The Beginner’s Guide to SEO”
This comprehensive guide offers actionable advice and encapsulates everything we’ve discussed – engaging, valuable, authoritative, and optimized. It’s a great model to follow as you shape your content strategy.
If you want to learn how to create content that will earn you customers, check out this post about the 10 principles of effective writing.
Elevate User Experience to Boost SEO
Search engines favor sites that offer a fantastic experience in terms of content and usability. Google talked about it in its 2020 algorithm update.
For now, you can focus on improving your website’s load speed, mobile-friendliness, and navigation. PageSpeed Insights is a great free tool to help you with this.
Build Links for a Robust SEO Strategy
Link building in SEO is like networking in business. Sure, strategies have changed, and we’ve bid goodbye to practices like link farming. But building a solid network of high-quality inbound and outbound links still matters.
Consider these links as a promotion of your brand. The more authoritative they are, the greater they contribute to your authority. This boosts your site’s credibility and propels it higher in search engine rankings. It’s the digital equivalent of a shout-out from industry leaders, nudging Google to take note of your brand.
Besides that, linking your pages to each other is also crucial. This simple action allows proper crawling and notifies search engines about your other content.
Conclusion
If there’s only one thing I want you to remember, it’s this – SEO is a vital marketing piece for your brand.
It’s the most brilliant move you can make if you want to become credible and get noticed by your target market. Although it’ll take time to see results from your efforts, the impact will be long-lasting.
So remember to do the following:
- Choose low-hanging fruit keywords.
- Write and publish high-quality content.
- Improve your website’s interface for a better experience.
- Create a strategic link-building campaign.
If you want to know more ways to build your personal brand besides using SEO, check out this post. Here’s to your long-term business success!
Sources
Vittal, B. (2022, March 16). How many ecommerce companies are there?. PipeCandy. https://blog.pipecandy.com/post/e-commerce-companies-market-size
Greene, J. (2022, December 13). Seo vs. PPC: Which channel generates more sales?: Databox blog. Databox. https://databox.com/seo-vs-ppc
An, M. (2020, January 14). Why people block ads (and what it means for marketers and advertisers). HubSpot Blog. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/why-people-block-ads-and-what-it-means-for-marketers-and-advertisers
Google (2020, May 28). Evaluating page experience for a better web. Google. https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2020/05/evaluating-page-experience
Camille Concepcion is an SEO content writer offering blogging services for SaaS businesses and coaches. She aims to deliver compelling and lead-generating posts. During her free time, she likes watching Korean variety shows, reading self-help books, listening to ballads, and napping.
Camille is a graduate of Writing Hacks Academy’s Masterclass.