So, Why Do I Need SEO For My Website?
Back in the day, in order to promote a product or service, people used to stand in the streets and start shouting about their business. Marketing used to have a lot of flair and was… dirty. However, that isn’t the case anymore. Today, majority of marketing ventures take place online with search engine optimization (SEO) being one of the most widely-used terms out there.
A majority of San Diego SEO experts and marketers suggest that SEO is the best way to get your business out the door. Most often, Google is their main target with these ventures. Why? Because of the massive difference in search engine traffic. Roughly 94.6% of traffic on all websites comes from search engines, while 87% of that comes from Google alone. The graph below is proof of that!
Source: Statista
SEO is important, that much is no secret. However, why is it important? Why do businesses need it? Why do San Diego SEO specialists trust it so much? In this article, we’ll explain the concept, along with helping you differentiate between the two types of SEO techniques; white and black hat.
What Do San Diego SEO Experts Say?
A straightforward answer; SEO is important to enhance search-ability and visibility, which is after all the main purpose of any form of marketing.
As we get into the depth of the matter, we come to understand that the answer is a bit more complicated than that. The overall value provided by SEO goes much deeper than just visibility. Search engines have adapted over the years to modern SEO techniques.
Back in the day, and we’re talking a decade and a half ago, all that marketers had to do to rank higher was spam keywords. This is now considered a part of black hat techniques and is therefore prohibited by search engines; particularly Bing and Google. Now, SEO also includes making sure the website is user-friendly and provides value.
At the start of 2020, Google wanted SEO specialists in San Diego to E.A.T., i.e. the content must offer:
- E: Expertise
- A: Authoritativeness
- T: Trustworthiness
This shows that SEO is more than just spamming keywords now. It’s a matter of providing value to clients.
Modern SEO will certainly help you improve your website’s ranking but at the same time will also help your clients have a better experience on your website. Some key benefits noted by San Diego SEO specialists for websites include, but aren’t limited to:
- More traffic and therefore opportunities to convert prospects
- Brand awareness
- Building relationships and trust
- Positioning yourself as a subject matter expert
- Better customer experience
- Growth opportunities
- The top 5 results in SERP (Search Engine Results Page) get 71%-92% clicks
- Improved social interaction with customers
- Giving you a leg up your competition
Now that we have the basics out of the way, it’s time we get into a bit more detail about the benefits we listed above.
The Importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Better Ranking & More Traffic
The first benefit SEO experts in San Diego provides is that of increased visibility. As you rank higher, you get more clicks on your website and therefore have a better chance than your competitors to convert prospects. The easier it is to find your website, the easier it is to trust you.
As your click-through rate (CTR) increases, search engines will understand that you are providing value, which will at the end of the day further your SEO efforts. Only a quarter of all searchers make it past the first page, so it’s important to have the best SEO representation possible!
Authority, Trust, & Position as an SME
To understand this concept, it is important to understand that the traffic SEO experts in San Diego generate from search engines isn’t yours per se. These search engines are the ones who led clients to your digital doorstep; they can take them away as well!
Search engines want you to treat their clientele with as much respect as possible. Here, respect entails offering audiences what they’re looking for along with sufficient, trustworthy information. The content you post and the products and services you offer must be high quality and relevant, and have something new to offer.
This is an essential part of SEO as being trustworthy or being regarded as someone who knows what they’re talking about, an SME, and therefore affects your SERP ranking as well.
Better Customer Experience
As important as being trustworthy for your audience is, your website design also has a significant bearing on your SERP ranking and is a crucial part of SEO. By design, we don’t mean the color scheme you choose, font size or classes, but user friendliness.
Your website must be easy to navigate and find what audiences are looking for. This is a part of on-page SEO. And then there’s the matter of making your website responsive. In the third quarter of 2020, 50% of all traffic on search engines was through mobile. Here is a graph to illustrate our point:
Source: Statista
By making your website responsive, i.e., adjusting automatically to the screen on which it is being accessed, you get a huge plus point in your favor from search engines. Another important aspect in terms of customer experience is that your website should be light. More than half of all internet traffic expects a web page to load within 2 seconds!
Website SEO involves all that, and more to help you improve customer experience and, of course, to help you get more traffic. We recommend hiring San Diego web designers to help you create a user-friendly and search engine optimized website.
Growth Opportunities
Every marketing venture has one goal in mind; more conversions and therefore business growth. Almost every goal that your business or website wants to achieve is tied to on-page and off-page SEO. The leads you get from SEO are called organic leads.
Although it takes a bit to get enough leads organically, once you get there, you don’t have to rely on your PPC ad campaigns, which free up more resources for you to spend on business growth.
White Hat & Black Hat SEO – What’s the Difference?
Now that we have a good idea of why you need SEO, it is important to know the difference between the types of SEO. “White hat SEO” is when SEO specialists in San Diego use techniques that search engines recommend websites adopt. The goal is to give every business a fighting chance all while providing value to your traffic.
“Black hat SEO” on the other hand includes techniques and strategies that search engines prohibit. These include spamming keywords, linking your website in the comments on other websites (for back links) and more.
Many websites that have been penalized by search engines have gone bankrupt, so be very, very careful. If you’re looking to embark on your own SEO venture, we recommend you get in touch with us, one of the most trusted SEO experts in San Diego. Give us a call any time to schedule a FREE audit below!