Have you ever asked someone a question and the person’s response is to “Just Google it”? I have. And after simply entering a question into a search bar you are presented with millions of answers, and there is a reason you are shown a certain answer– Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is a tool used by marketers to more effectively and efficiently reach their desired customers, and you can do it too!
There are four primary functions of search engines that explain the process of searching, when users search on the web the first process is “crawling” in which the search engine searches the internet for content. Indexing then occurs, in which the content gathered from the search is stored and organized based on how relevant the content is to what the user is searching for. Finally, each search result is given a ranking that orders the displayed content from most relevant to least relevant. The goal of SEO of course is to achieve a high ranking and be the most relevant content- there is power in being first!
SEO, and What It’s All About
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical to delivering valuable and relatable content to consumers. SEO is the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of website traffic which provides marketers with higher click-through rates and increased conversions, which is what we’re all here for of course. Consumers know when they are being marketed to, and let’s be frank, they don’t like it. This is why non-paid search engine results, or organic search engine results are so important. (Funny how free marketing efforts are more effective than the ones we pay for) Some basic, but important factors necessary to understand and implement an effective SEO strategy are user intent, keyword search, and link building.
The first step is to understand your customer and define the user intent in order to provide the customer with what they want and how they want it. Accurately understanding your desired users also gives useful insight into the keywords users are searching to find the answers you are providing them. When defining keywords it is important to be aware of the competitive nature of keyword search tools, or keyword difficulty. It is recommended to target long-tail keywords, highly user-specific terms with lower search volumes, to minimize potential competition.
Implementing an effective SEO strategy allows you to be the one to provide users with their desired solutions. SEO increases visibility, making it much easier for potential prospects to find you throughout their search journey. This of course increases awareness which will increase the number of individuals that enter and travel through the marketing funnel. A high SEO ranking will increase web traffic and prove your website to be trustworthy and high-quality. This emphasizes the importance of valuable and relatable content when determining an SEO strategy. Without valuable content, the SEO ranking of a webpage will suffer causing a decline in web traffic and visibility of your webpage
The Importance of Link Building
As mentioned earlier, Link Building is another extremely important component of SEO as it is one of the most important ranking factors for SEO. Link Building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your websites, an extremely effective example of earned marketing. When users search for something and the search engine “crawls” the search engine looks at the number of high-quality inbound links to a webpage to determine the webpage ranking which influences the visibility of your webpage to desired consumers. A large component of how links influence ranking is through the concepts of E-A-T. It is important to have expertise in the solution being provided to users, which also increases trust between other web pages and users. Trust and authority are acquired through search engines by having your web page linked from a website that also demonstrates the concepts of E-A-T. Link building is extremely useful when wanting to increase your SEO ranking and drive traffic to your site!
SEO in Action
I am very interested in content marketing within the Beauty and Personal Care industry. The Beauty and Personal Care industry is booming and is predicted to experience a 3.8% annual growth. Functioning within an extremely competitive industry makes implementing an effective SEO strategy that much more important!
The Beauty Industry is dominated by select brands which increases the importance of understanding your consumers and differentiating yourself from top competitors to formulate keywords that will drive traffic and provide consumers with valuable solutions that will navigate them through the marketing funnel. Implementing the concepts of E-A-T into an SEO strategy in this industry is extremely important as products and services offered within this industry can’t be tested when purchasing through e-commerce sites, therefore your brand needs to be trusting among users in order to rank above competitors. This can also be demonstrated by the increasing popularity of reviews as they have been a powerful tool and an essential SEO trend for the beauty industry.