For anyone who is well versed in digital marketing and website development, the importance of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is common knowledge. Implementing a robust SEO strategy has become an integral aspect of marketing for businesses in all sectors. Much of a companies’ online success depends on the visibility of the website in searches and driving up customer engagement.
Prioritising SEO is essential to gain the upper hand in a highly competitive field, and to increase your client and customer base. It is a multifaceted and often complex marketing organism, one that requires careful research and planning to utilise properly. Taking the time to understand its many features will ensure that your online content and website always draw attention.
Content Creation
Without the use of SEO, your company website would not feature highly on Google searches, social media and marketing content would gain hardly any traction and driving organic traffic to your business would be immensely difficult. Research conducted by the marketing company BrightEdge indicates that organic searches are the primary driver of website traffic, making 51% whilst paid searches (PPC) takes up 10% and social just 5%.
Regardless of which industry or sector you are in, organic traffic takes up the largest portion of your engagement figures. Often people will avoid clicking on Google links that are clearly labelled as advertisements, instead opting for the search results directly below them. Without strong SEO in place such as specific keywords and meta descriptions, your website could fall to the bottom of the pile and miss out on a huge proportion of traffic.
Ensuring that your website is optimised is just one part of the SEO puzzle, producing organic content is another crucial factor in gaining traction. Whether you upload them onto your web pages or social media platforms, or both, creating fresh content boosts your SEO ranking and provides material to engage with your target audience. Content can take a multitude of forms from blogs, videos, infographics, web page content and social media posts. By creating engaging, informative content can generate interest in your brand and increase your organic engagement.
Getting technical
Creating your own content and optimising it with keywords is a vital aspect of your SEO strategy, but ensuring that you have a solid grasp of the technical side is critical to success. Google is the primary search engine used by consumers and should be your focus point, so take the time to understand the way its algorithm works to make your website compatible with its searches.
Make sure that your website is user-friendly on all its pages and is easy to navigate. Go over it with a fine tooth comb to balance the keyword density, optimise the meta descriptions and title tags as well as ensuring compatibility with mobile devices. Google Analytics will help you to keep track of all your engagement figures and allow you investigate what your target audience is responding to. SEO is an excellent marketing tool for your business, so take the time to fully understand how it works and how it can aid you best.
As we approach 2021, taking a fresh look at existing marketing strategies and analysing new developments is essential. Now is the time to closely examine your goals, enhance your decision making through performance metrics and adapt to the ever-changing landscape facing all brands and businesses in the new year.
Doing your research
The stalwarts of digital marketing, pay-per-click advertising (PPC) and SEO for example, are certainly not new elements for marketers to contend with. It is the way in which they evolve that is of interest to brands developing new strategies, so conducting market research is vital to understand the fluctuations of your target audience’s interests and needs. Establishing the intent of your audience when they search for content is the first step to achieving better search ratings and producing more engaging content.
In 2019, Google announced and rolled out their BERT update that improved the understanding of people’s searches, namely the subtle nuances of language that computers struggled with. Since this huge update, Google’s search algorithm has become even more advanced at interpreting various kinds of natural language enquiries. Optimising your content with SEO keywords that reflect user intent has resulted in a user engagement increase of an enormous 667% for some brands.
PPC campaigns certainly don’t seem to be going anywhere soon either, with responsive search ads (RSAs) now seemingly becoming the default search format due to Google’s implementation. RSAs eliminate the need to manually figure out the headlines by mixing and matching the combinations to determine which create the most compelling ads for customers. Augmenting this technology into your strategy could save valuable time and resources, providing the edge to your upcoming ads.
Stay in tune with your audience
Making sure that your brand values and ethics chime with the desires and passions of your target audience is key to ensuring success for 2021. This success isn’t just about optimising your advertisements and researching the market, it’s also dependent on observing the traits of your audience. According to research, up to 41% of consumers actively shift their business away from companies who do not reflect their values of inclusivity and diversity.
Modern audiences, especially younger sections of society, have begun to shy away from the typical, homogenous groups often represented in previous marketing and advertising campaigns. Representation for people with disabilities, as well as a variety of races, genders and religions is essential for these audiences when selecting their most trusted brands. In a similar vein to inclusivity, the modern consumer takes an avid interest in environmentalism.
With 81% strongly feeling that companies should protect the environment, communicating an eco-friendly stance to your audience can pay huge dividends for your upcoming campaigns. This can take many forms from unveiling a new product that is sustainably sourced, to creating ad banners that champion your commitment to a particular environmental issue.
The key to successful marketing materials is to always centre it on the relevant audience, whilst preparing the relevant research and technological tools to maximise your engagement. 2021 is sure to bring new challenges, but opportunities will abound for enterprising companies.