Search engine optimization helps a business stay present at every stage of the customer journey with high-quality content. By optimizing a site, a company can attract visitors, engage prospects, and create repeat business. Without proper SEO, a business can lose out on a substantial portion of revenue, miss ecommerce sales, and fail to capture traffic driven by brand searches and ads.
Why SEO matters in the US market
About 90% of the websites on the internet are undiscovered by the average user, a sign that SEO is critical for any business hoping to be found. The best way to reach the right audience is by studying the market first. There are hundreds of SEO firms in the US, but only a few of them have a comprehensive knowledge of the subject. Understanding the search habits of a potential audience and building a content strategy around those habits is essential.
How dominant search engines shape SEO
SEO techniques are typically optimized for the dominant search engines in a target market. In the US, Google dominates the market with about 75% of all searches. In Germany, there are around 300 SEO companies, and as of June 2008, Google held a near-90 percent share of that market (with a 92 percent share reported separately for June 2008). Knowing the differences between search engine algorithms helps ensure a site is optimized for maximum traffic from the engines that matter most in each region.
Practical tips to boost SEO
Applying the right SEO tactics makes a website visible to search engines and attracts more visitors. Depending on the business, SEO brings in free traffic from unpaid sources, including image, video, news, and industry-specific vertical searches. The most effective steps include:
- Create high-quality, easy-to-read content.
- Research the target market and study audience search habits.
- Use the right keywords with a healthy keyword density and multiple relevant phrases to gain traffic and conversions.
- Build content that matches what users are actually searching for, so the site ranks higher in the SERPs and appears more trustworthy.
- Keep SEO techniques applied consistently rather than as a one-off effort.
What an SEO professional actually does
An SEO professional can use several methods to optimize a website. The single most effective move is to add relevant content; without it, even the best SEO techniques will not work. Using keyword-relevant content tailored to the most popular search engines in the target market ensures the site gets found by the largest pool of users. Done well, SEO raises a site’s rankings, builds credibility, drives more customers and revenue, and positions the brand as more relevant to searchers.