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It’s fair to say that most business owners know that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the best way to grow a business online. Google provides us with a powerful tool that brings customers to your business.
Yet SEO is being under-utilized by millions of small businesses and startups. as 47% of small businesses do not invest in SEO. On a fundamental level, the goal of SEO is to improve your online visibility and drive organic traffic to your online store. And since 2018, inbound marketing professionals have said that search engines generate the highest quality leads.
Consumers have more trust in online businesses that have a higher rank. But breaking into the lucrative first page of Google is difficult to achieve if you don’t have a sound understanding of how search engine algorithms work.
This is only one reason why you should work with an SEO agency. However, selling products and services online requires more than ranking on the first page of Google. Once visitors find your website, you still have to work to convert browsers into buyers.
Related: Content is Queen! 4 Simple Ways To Level Up Your Content
1. Take advantage of specialist knowledge
Today’s SEO professionals offer more than simply driving web traffic to your website. SEO analysis is a specialist area that dives into creating higher quality leads and increasing conversion rates. Dedicated SEO agencies typically offer “technical SEO” services that analyze the performance of your website. This includes load speed, missing links, 404 pages, toxic inbound links, spam, and more.
The purpose of this in-depth analysis is to ensure your website is fit for its purpose. A website should function properly and provide visitors with the information, products or services they are searching for.
SEO specialists use advanced tools and techniques to analyze SEO performance across the web. Expert knowledge enables them to perform in-depth research that determines what your ideal client is looking for. With this knowledge in hand, you are better positioned to curate highly relevant content. Subsequently, there is a higher volume of visitors arriving at your website with purchasing intent. A fully-functioning website improves your opportunity to increase conversions and build your brand.
2. Improve the user experience
Online shoppers have an abundance of options — and they know it! If they have a bad experience on one website, they will leave and look elsewhere. Consequently, user experience (UX) is crucial in how well your website performs and ranks in search engines. Approximately 88% of internet users are less likely to return to a website after a poor experience.
Sophisticated search engine algorithms have built-in metrics that can determine how much visitors interact with a website. If your bounce rate is high and the time spent on your page is low, search engines will assume you are not providing visitors with a good user experience.
The amendments you need to make to a page are not always obvious. In many cases, they will only be identified by sophisticated SEO tools or experienced professionals that have seen the same issue with other clients. SEO professionals with the right tools and analytical experience can evaluate your entire website and eradicate issues that impair UX. The information an SEO agency provides enables you to make an informed decision about the design of your website and the type of content you create.
Related: 7 Reasons Why SEO Matters for Every Startup
3. Stay in touch with search engine algorithm updates
Search engines aim to deliver information to internet users that best answers their search queries. To do this, tech companies use a sophisticated algorithm that analyses approximately 200 metrics. The algorithm also gets tweaked regularly.
Google releases around nine algorithm updates every day. The company also performs three or four major updates each year. Any changes to the algorithm can have a significant impact on where a website ranks. This is important because search engines establish quality guidelines that forbid SEO practices that can manipulate search engines. This “dark side of SEO” is known as “black hat techniques” and is penalized by search engines.
With such a high volume of changes, businesses can’t keep track of search engine algorithms without hiring a full-time SEO expert. What’s more, experience is needed to understand how search engine algorithms work in the first place. An SEO agency is best placed to keep track of algorithm trends and make necessary changes. Because experienced professionals already have an in-depth understanding of the algorithm, it’s easier for them to determine whether you need to make any changes to your website or your content strategy.
4. Expand your online presence
The higher your website ranks in search engines, the more your brand gets noticed. You get noticed not only by search engine users looking for the products and services you sell, but your content also gets picked up by other industry professionals. An essential SEO strategy is to publish content with outbound links to other high-quality content. Content writers usually link to relevant content from the first page of Google — typically any of the websites in the top three positions.
External pages to your website inform Google that you’re publishing high-quality content and expanding your online presence across other platforms. Expanding your online presence strengthens your brand reputation. However, you will also receive links from low-quality websites that could damage your search engine rank. An SEO agency will perform link analysis and eliminate any bad links.
SEO professionals not only help you get to the top of search engines, but they also help you to stay there.
Related: These 9 SEO Tips Are All You’ll Ever Need to Rank in Google
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