What did you do the last time when you wanted to find a grocery store near you or check out a restaurant that could deliver your favorite food? Did you ask Google about it? More than 90% of the searches on the web are done on Google Search Console, and there are very few chances that we go beyond the results shown on the top of the search engine result pages.  And if you desire to be a brand that is the first choice of the customers, you must feature on the very first page of a search engine when someone searches for your name or products/services you offer. The only way to rank higher or on the top of the search result pages is through search engine optimization(SEO).  You have heard a million times that search engine optimization is an essential digital marketing tool. Even if you have a basic understanding of what SEO is, you might not understand this complex and multifaceted feature. Search engine rankings are very crucial for your website to grow.  SEO is made of different elements and knowing what they are and how they work is the key to understanding why SEO is so crucial for a website. In simple words, SEO significantly helps you make your website more visible. More visibility means more traffic which eventually leads to the opportunities to convert prospects into potential customers.  Apart from this, SEO is also an essential tool for brand awareness, building long-term relationships with potential clients. It can also help you position yourself as an experienced and trustable expert in your field. So, without any delay, let's move further to know more about SEO and why it is vital in today's digital world. 

The Essential Elements of SEO

The Essential Elements of SEO

1. Keywords 

Gone is the time when Keywords were the only SEO strategy that mattered, but that doesn't mean that they are still not important. The difference is just that the keywords should now be well-researched, carefully selected, and appropriately used in your content in order to be effective.  But, what are Keywords exactly? These are the words or phrases that a customer uses to find content online. Further, the brands can then connect to the customers looking for their products and services. When you are researching for keywords, always choose the ones with a high search rate and low competition.  Choose short-tail keywords, long-tail keywords, and local keywords that would work in your content. You can also use the keywords to optimize your URLs, titles, and other on-page elements. 

2. Content 

Content acts like a vehicle that you use to reach and engage the audience. Therefore, it is a crucial part of SEO. For instance, if you have a website for web development, you will publish blogs related to new web technologies, software updates, the latest trends, and many more. When a person went looking for some information about web development, your blog would show up in the results, and you would be able to develop a relationship with the prospect.  When a client plans to buy responsive web design services, you would be the first company that comes to mind. Various forms of content include blogs, website page content, videos, infographics, podcasts, whitepapers, e-books, social media posts, local listing, and more. 

3. Off-Page SEO

External optimization practices that happen away from your website instead of your site is known as Off-Page SEO. The main method used for off-page SEO is link building. Link building from external websites tells the search engine that your website is valuable and high-quality. This ultimately builds authority.  There are many methods for link building like guest blogging, creating a number of infographics that could be shared, and mentioning influencers in your content. 

4. Local SEO

Local SEO has become necessary as more and more people prefer using tablets or smartphones for search. These days more searches are performed through tablets or smartphones, and half of them have local intent.  For example, if you own a grocery store, the local SEO will ensure showing up your website when people in your area search for the best grocery stores in town. Apart from Local Keywords, other SEO best practices include directory listing, creating location-specific pages for your website, and creating pages on Google My Business, Google+, Google Maps, etc. 

5. Search Engine Marketing

These are the paid marketing efforts, including native ads, social media ads, Google Adwords, Pay-per-click, display ads, and more. Even though SEM is not a major component of SEO, it has its own importance as it helps you reach new and highly targeted audiences.  So, these were the essential elements of SEO. Now that you know the basics of SEO, before starting to do SEO on your website, it is crucial to know the reason why SEO is important for websites. So, here we go.

Importance of SEO for Responsive Website Designs

Importance of SEO for Responsive Website Designs The digital world has exponentially expanded over the last decade. Every business on the internet is in the race to rank their websites higher on the search engine results pages. With more than approximately 85% of the people using search engines to find a product/service, website optimization with a solid SEO strategy is very important. Business website optimization leads to more visibility and leads. This eventually leads to more revenue. Below are the benefits of SEO for your business:

1. Increase Brand Visibility

One of the most significant benefits of supporting your content with good SEO is that it helps your website rank higher on the search engines. In addition, it helps your website to be visible to the customers searching for a particular product/ service. It doesn't matter how useful or engaging your content is; no customer would come to your website if they couldn't find you easily.  A professional Search engine optimization company can help you develop a verified SEO strategy that would help you climb on the top of the search engines and become more visible to the customers. 

2. Save Expenses

By doing SEO, you are not just saving your expenses by not wasting your money on marketing to everybody, but also saving your efforts. There are many alternatives to SEO, such as paid ads, influencer marketing, etc., but no tactic is cheaper and effective than SEO. Of course, you do not pay for the traffic; still, all your spendings comes down to strategy and execution.  Putting this in simple words, with an affordable SEO company, you can get enormous traffic on your website, and that too at a fraction of the expense. 

3. Achieve Higher ROI and Conversions

ROI and conversion are the two most essential marketing results that are always being chased by business owners. Traffic coming from organic searches is free, and it delivers higher volume for a minimal investment as compared to paid searches. For paid searches, you have to pay each time a customer clicks on your ad. This benefit directly results in higher ROI.  Well, the benefits don't stop there. Since organic searches focus on reliable leads, build trust, and make it easy for the consumers to find you, it results in better conversions. In short, building trust through organic searches will get you more conversion rates. 

4. Target the Right Demographic 

For instance, suppose you are selling a car, why would you waste your money on someone looking for a sofa. This is where targeted marketing comes into the real film. One of the easiest ways of targeting your niche-specific audience is through SEO.  When customers put a search query in Google, they know what they want and are actively seeking information about it. Targeted marketing allows Google to pick the relevant leads for you. 

5. Build Trust and Credibility 

If you search for a product on Google, right on the top, you would see a couple of results with "Ad" written just next to them. These generally get ignored as the consumers are smart enough to identify the genuine results and avoid such ads.  Consumers searching for a product trust organic results more than the Ads, and if you show up there, it will definitely build trust and credibility among your customers. 

6. Improve User Experience

Even Though Google considers how informative your product or content is to rank you higher on the search engine, that's not it. It also considers the user's interaction with your website. Getting customers to click on your website link is not enough; they should stay. The less time spent or, the more bounce rate can eventually push you down on the search results.  A good SEO service provider makes sure that you are not just visible on the first page of the search engines but the customers have a great user experience on your website. 

7. Stay Updated with Latest SEO Practices 

You might be thinking about why should you hire an SEO services provider. Why can't you do it yourself? Well, you can do it. But there is a difference between doing SEO and doing SEO right. Google constantly keeps on revising the algorithms to rank the pages. Therefore, you not only need to stay updated with the latest algorithm, but also you should know how to integrate it into your SEO strategy. Miss an algorithm, and you would probably come down at the bottom of the search results. On the other hand, being aware of these changes and continuously integrating them can help you rank higher, and a good SEO service provider can exactly do that for you. 

8. Stick Through Buyer's Journey

A buyer's journey starts from the moment they get to know about the product and ends when they finally make a purchase. It usually consists of 4-5 stages, and buyers are bombarded with a lot of content at each stage.  If you don't want to lose them to your competition, make sure you are visible at each stage of their journey till they make a purchase. Take help from an SEO provider and ensure creating an SEO strategy that targets the buyers at every stage of their purchase. 

9. Compete with Bigger Players 

Competition is available in every industry these days. There will always be someone in the market with a better marketing budget and resources than you. You cannot deny this fact. But this is nothing to get disappointed with. Since SEO offers better results and better conversions at an affordable price, you can always compete with the bigger players, and that too cost-effectively.  You just need to hire a professional search engine optimization agency to help you create a strategy that would push you to the top of the search results. 

10. Beat the Long Game with the SEO Partner 

SEO is a long-term strategy, and to make it work for your business, you need to partner with the SEO agency that can help you ace Google. You need to implement an SEO strategy right on time before Google notices you and starts pushing you down on the search engine results pages.  Investing an appropriate amount of time and continuous efforts, you can get better results and can enjoy the topmost spot on Google for a longer time. Future proof your business by partnering with the right SEO agency. Read also about 7 Best Practices for Responsive Business Website Development Services

Stay Ahead of Your Competitors

As you can see, SEO has a lot of benefits, but it is a very complex process. However, SEO, if done correctly, can help your business get more productive and profitable. It involves a lot of new techniques, tips, and hacks that are not easy to catch. Additionally, SEO practices are constantly evolving as new technologies emerge, consumer and search engine behavior changes. Nevertheless, SEO is still important for any business that desires to be visible on the first page of the search engine.  SEO can help a business achieve numerous goals, including the ones involving better traffic, conversions, brand awareness, user experience, and much more. If you face difficulty ranking your website higher on search engines, contact us and share your query.  WeDoWebApps LLC has a team of SEO experts who have a solid grasp of the latest SEO techniques. We can use our experience and knowledge to help you achieve your goals and get on the top of Google.