Search Engine Optimization (SEO) continues to be one of the key concepts in digital marketing. Improving a site’s SEO means that it will show up higher in when people use certain terms to search for things, especially if they use Google.
In practice, SEO is always worth doing. Finding the right keywords and using them in headlines, titles, and metadata will make it easier for new customers to find the online store.
1. Search engines direct traffic to your online store
When customers look for a service or product online, they use search engines. Every day countless people, who already have a need for something specific, make purchase decisions online. The users who come to your store after searching for a specific product are much more likely to make a purchase than those who are just surfing.
When people look for a product or service online, they are often looking for a new store or a new service provider. That’s why search engines are ery useful when it comes to acquiring new customers.
2. SEO can be as effective as paid marketing
Google, for instance, offers customers paid keyword services. In these instances, a company pays to have its site show up higher in Google’s search results when it comes to certain keywords. The effectiveness of these paid services depends on the field and the product. At their best, however, paid keywords can generate very high amounts of traffic and revenue.
When done correctly, SEO can be equally useful. Paid marketing can be easier, but at its best, SEO can yield similar or even better results. The idea is the same, after all: both marketing tricks aim to make the store’s site rise higher in the search results. SEO can be less expensive than paid marketing campaigns, because you can either do it yourself or hire a professional to help you out. Several digital marketing agencies and freelancers offer SEO services to their clients.
On the other hand, paid marketing campaigns and SEO never cancel each other out. In fact, they can and should be used in tandem whenever possible. A store that has the resources to invest in paid marketing should at least give paid keywords a try.
3. Successful SEO is only the beginning
Optimizing keywords for search purposes is a great beginning, but it’s often not enough. The competition for the peak spot in Google’s search results can be brutal, and there are many other things that affect the order of the results, too. One thing that makes your store show up higher in Google’s search results is having more external sites link to it.
Successful SEO can start a circle that leads to even bigger results: SEO makes the site show up higher in the search results, which leads to more people discovering the store and talking about it online, linking to it. This makes the site show up even higher, which leads to even more people finding it.
SEO is no longer one of the things you can simply fix in one go. Even if you optimize your site for search engines today, it will take Google a little while to take all the changes into account. Thorough SEO is built one step at a time over a long period of time.