Let’s take a look at how you got to this blog. Did you search “What is SEO” on Google? Did this article pop up on your social media feed? Was this blog sent to you via email?
Whichever way you got here, welcome! All these aspects play a crucial part in your company’s SEO rankings, which can help accelerate your inbound lead generation efforts. Throughout this blog, we’ll cover:
What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a digital marketing practice that helps maximize the number of users directed to a company’s website. Businesses that routinely refresh their SEO can improve the quantity and quality of their website traffic, driving more leads and generating more revenue for their business.
One of the best parts about having an SEO strategy is the ability to target organic (or paid) traffic. When done properly, you will see the quantity of traffic increase, and the traffic to your site will be from the right users and decision-makers.
Sounds like a lot of internet sorcery, right? SEO is an incredibly important inbound lead generation tactic, and there are many ways businesses can implement it to generate the results they want. Believe us when we say it’s no magic trick, so let’s get into how you can get your company website to rank and generate leads.
What Are the Different Types of SEO?
While SEO may be an overarching concept, there are different types of SEO that go into how search engines rank your company website. Understanding the various types of SEO is important because each type focuses on different goals.
Many people think of content creation and using the right keywords when it comes to accelerating their SEO strategy, but it’s so much more than that. If you’re a common industry in a large market, implementing keywords isn’t enough to make your company standout, which is why it’s important that you intermix various SEO methods.
When it comes down to it, there are six main types of SEO:
Technical SEO
Technical SEO encompasses all the optimization efforts that are specifically being applied to pages and blog posts on a company website. Technical SEO makes sure that your business’s search engine crawlers can crawl and index the website without any problems, providing users with a great user experience.
Businesses that opt for technical SEO boost their overall website health, including its crew ability, core web vitals, internal linking structure, load speed, and more. Ultimately, better website health equates to higher-quality business outcomes, but some crucial technical SEO guidelines need to be in place.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is focuses on a specific page at a time, ensuring that a specific page is as optimized as it can be for maximized SEO value. Typically, on-page SEO refers to the content itself, such as a page’s:
- URL structure
- Meta title and description
- Canonical tags
- Image optimization
- Image alt tags
- Structured data (known as schema)
While technical SEO can be seen as a sitewide effort improving several pages at once, on-page SEO takes a page-by-page focus at each of these elements (since they should be different for each page). You may also apply specific technical SEO efforts to one single page encountering problems rather than several at once.
Content SEO makes sure that the content on your website is unique, high-quality, relevant, and engaging. When choosing what type of SEO to pursue, content SEO stands out. Whether your content is good or bad can mean the difference between a positive and negative ranking. High-quality content attracts higher traffic, while stale content can damage ranking.
Content SEO uses techniques like adding keywords to content that can significantly influence ranking. Websites that embrace content SEO can balance including keywords on titles, headings, and in the main content. Content should be long enough to pass the message but short enough to keep the readers interested.
Content SEO also involves adding backlinks to reputable sources and pages. When using this type of SEO, schemas also come in handy. Once a website takes advantage of structured data, the probability of ranking grows two-fold.
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO is another strategy that every business keen on ranking should consider. These actions include steps taken outside a business’s website that directly impacts the site’s ranking. These techniques include things like link building, which is the process of attracting SEO backlinks from other websites.
Backlinks from other platforms can act as a vote of trust and an affirmation of credibility. Backlinks include:
- Social media posts
- Features in new articles
- Features in magazines
When other platforms and mediums are talking about your business, it boosts authority because it’s showing users other people trust what you have to say. Constant conversations online about your brand across varying platforms can easily promote and build a name for your business, resulting in higher web traffic on your site.
Local SEO
If you’re a business looking to drive more traffic into your store or location, then starting with local SEO is going to be the best approach for you. Local SEO is the frequently forgotten SEO strategy.
Local SEO is what you use to get your business featured within the MAP Pack, the top three listings or related results on Google. Here’s an example of what the MAP Pack looks like:
It’s important to remember that if your industry is competitive in your region or you serve in a large metro market, the more targeted your local SEO strategy should be. Since there are many different competitors fighting for the same top rankings, it’s going to make your local SEO strategy much more difficult to work towards and achieve. However, while it may be difficult, it’s definitely not impossible.
Getting into the top positions requires a few core pieces of information. For instance, your business must pass a NAPu audit, which means Google can quickly recognize and find your name, address, phone number, and company URL. Your business will also need a handful of reviews to appear.
To be a leader within local SEO, it’s crucial to understand how your social channels, website, and other forms of digital media your business appears in are listed.
Mobile SEO
Did you know that at least 60% of all Google searches are now performed on mobile devices? Mobile SEO puts a greater focus on providing highly user-friendly options for users. With more than 85% of the modern population having access to smartphones, businesses must readily embrace mobile SEO.
Mobile-first indexing began in 2018 but it didn’t officially roll-out completely until 2021. This is because many company websites struggled with it at first since they initially built their websites for desktop use. Google gave businesses three years to convert their websites into a mobile-first format, helping them continue to use their websites as valuable lead generators.
With mobile at the forefront of all searches, design trends have even begun switching to mobile-first design. This design trend has paved the way to make sure users have great experiences viewing websites on their phones and desktops.
Google currently sets a two-second threshold for e-commerce website acceptability because slow pages stand the risk of missing out on high ranking. The good thing about mobile SEO as a technique is that your webpage’s overall speed increases significantly over time.
Why Does Your Business Need an SEO Strategy?
SEO Boosts Traffic to Your Company Website
Say goodbye to the days of only receiving leads through word of mouth or referral. With SEO services, new customers find your business on their own simply by searching for what you offer. If you aren’t currently optimizing your website, SEO can open up an entirely new avenue of lead generation. The best part? Website leads are already looking for what you offer, you just have to sell them on working with you. If you want to get organic traffic to your website, SEO is the way.
Most Buyers Research Their Options Before Making a Purchase
A strong SEO strategy is essential for any size business. Studies show that about 76% of people research a company online before visiting the business or making a purchase with them. If your competitor is outranking you and has a better reputation in a search engine, they could be winning a lot of business. With a better strategy, these could be new customers for your business.
The goal of SEO is not only to drive more visitors to your site but to establish a strong foundation for a beautiful website that is easy to navigate and offers a great user experience. People trust Google. If your website shows up on the first page of a search (a result of great SEO), you instantly gain credibility from a user. You can establish even more credibility with great content and optimized on-page elements.
SEO Provides Potential Buyers With a Better User Experience
Every business wants to rank well in search engines and increase their organic traffic, but very few realize that optimal user experience is a huge part of getting there. While there are many factors that play into SEO—great content, backlinks, website speed, and so on, user experience is definitely one of them.
Google is incredibly intelligent and has learned how to interpret whether sites offer a good user experience or poor user experience. A positive user experience is critical for website success.
Here are a few factors that influence user experience (UX):
- Content is useful and satisfies user intent for the search
- The site is easy to use and navigate
- You must establish yourself as credible to readers
- Make your website desirable (focus on image, identity, brand, and other design elements)
When optimizing your website, user experience should be a top priority. At the end of the day, Google, Bing and other search engines day are businesses, and their business is serving its searchers (aka customers) with the best information and experience for their search. Practicing SEO allows search engines to know you are trying to provide the best info for their customers.
SEO Can Shorten a Prospect’s Time in the Sales Cycle
We’ve already established that SEO helps more users to find your business online, but this isn’t the only advantage. When users search for a product or service online and land on your website, they’re already looking for what you offer—you just have to sell them on working with you. Unlike B2B appointment setting, you aren’t reaching out to people who may have no interest in buying at that time, SEO services bring customers to you who are ready to buy.
A good SEO strategy makes the sales cycle shorter because you don’t have to sell people on working with you. Users will find you organically and have all the information they need to make an informed decision and ultimately complete a conversion or engagement on their own.
SEO Provides Long-Term, Sustainable Results
With great SEO, you’ll consistently see web traffic increase over time, something that you can’t achieve with paid advertising. Paid advertising offers a quick fix, a way to generate leads in a pinch, whereas SEO is more of a long term strategy. You can write a great blog today and still be seeing the impact of it years later. The more time, effort, and budget that is committed to SEO, the longer a website will be a force to reckon with in its market.
Tips for Improving Your Business’s SEO Strategy
Having a company website and implementing various SEO techniques is the first step to expanding your book of business, but it’s definitely not the last. If you want to improve your business’s SEO strategy and approach to inbound lead generation, it’s vital that your sales development and marketing teams:
- Analyze how competitor websites are performing
- Examine how your pages and blogs are performing
- Distribute content through other digital platforms
- Use relevant, targeted keywords in your website copy
- Routinely update meta titles and descriptions
- Update older content and produce new insights
Key Takeaways
SEO plays a big role in inbound marketing and lead generation. With an SEO strategy in place, you build brand awareness and generate inbound leads from people who are interested in purchasing your company’s product or service. As you continue to evolve your business’s SEO approach, you establish your company as a trusted leader in the industry and generate more revenue for your business.
At Abstrakt Marketing Group, we collaborate with B2B companies across the nation to help them implement, build, and sustain an SEO strategy that generates inbound leads for their sales pipelines. When you’re ready to maximize your business growth through inbound SEO services, contact the lead generation experts at Abstrakt!
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