To have a good understanding of how Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help you with marketing and lead generation, it’s essential to know just what SEO is and how it works.
What Is SEO?
SEO is the practice of writing website content that is readily found and rated highly by search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others. Search engines utilize complex algorithms to rate content and respond to searches with content and links that will satisfy the user with the most appropriate content matching their search criteria.
A search engine’s goal is to provide the most relevant information with as little effort and fewest clicks as possible. Websites producing the search engine’s highest rating are rewarded by being placed highest in the list of responses returned.
How Can SEO Generate Leads?
As much 60% of all traffic on the internet comes from Google. Add in the traffic from other search engines like Bing and Yahoo! and it’s obvious to see that the majority of this online traffic happens through search. Furthermore, it’s completely possible to pull leads without even paying for advertising.
SEO marketing is defined as a series of actions, strategies, and best practices that help your website content rank higher in search results. Building content to rank in Google’s first pages gives it a higher chance of getting read, which should translate into more leads for your business.
From a sheer business perspective, the point is that no one will visit your website if they don’t find it easily in their searching. How often do you search the web for products or services, and wade through dozens of results before finding what you need? Not very often.
In fact, researchers found that nearly 75% of those viewing search engine results pages (SERPs) never get past the first page. If your web pages don’t rank high in the results selection, most users will never see them. That’s why SEO and lead generation go hand-in-hand.
What This Means for Lead Generation
Producing the highest level of search results means more of the potential customers looking for your services or products will find you and read your content. This may sound simple, and to a certain extent it is, but it has evolved today to almost an art form.
Search engines have become smarter in how they rank content. No longer will stuffing website content with keywords or popular search terms result in higher rankings from search engines like Google. More sophisticated search engines will analyze your site (referred to as “crawling”) to determine the relevance of content before returning a site in a search results list.
To optimize your website for lead generation, your content must have several attributes:
- Keywords that match not only the search, but anticipate the purpose of the search
- Quality content that answers the questions a prospect has in mind
- Provides the user with direction and a plan of action (such as contacting your business or making a purchase)
- Ease of use—it must be easy to generate a contact with your company whether by email, online ordering, or real-time chat
SEO attempts to promote your website and products organically. Organic site traffic is traffic obtained strictly through search, without the use of paid advertising. This increases lead generation for multiple reasons:
- Many computer users have installed advertisement blockers, making paid ads on the internet less productive.
- Paid advertising still requires those viewing the content to take additional steps to get to your website. Website optimization and SEO are far more likely to generate leads.
Note: While organic traffic is critically important, so too is paid traffic—a wise plan emphasizes organic traffic generation but utilizes both strategies!
What SEO Means to Your Lead Generation
To get the most from your website optimization, you must create content that promotes a lead generation strategy:
- Determine the audience you’re trying to reach and the products you want to promote
- Anticipate the needs of your prospects and provide the information they need in order to make your products or services stand out
- Know what you want users to do—make a purchase, contact you, etc.—and define your lead expectations accordingly
- Create content that includes primary keywords that apply to the needs of your audience
- Monitor your rankings and compare them with your prior lead generation strategies and results
Continuously evaluate your results and adjust content and keywords to improve rankings and transform leads into sales. If you don’t have SEO skills and tools in-house, consult with professionals to help evaluate SEO results and enhance your website optimization. CDS Office Technologies can help you create and optimize your web presence with a full range of services:
- Website development: We primarily work in WordPress, but can assist you with sites built on other development platforms (such as traditional/static HTML sites, Joomla, Wix, etc).
- Website maintenance and management: Whatever your website platform—HTML, Squarespace, Wix, and others—we can keep your website updated with flexible hourly or monthly fees.
- Web hosting: Need a secure and reliable home for your website? CDS can provide hosting services and cloud backups.
- SEO: Our studies and experience provide your business with proven SEO techniques that promote lead generation and search rank improvement.
CDS Office Technologies will help you achieve the highest ROI from your website presence. Contact us today to discover how to improve your SEO and lead generation strategy.
