Natural referencing, otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is a vital component for driving traffic and acquiring customers for your website. This process involves the optimization of your website to increase its visibility in search engine results, particularly Google. Essentially, the more relevant Google considers your website to the query, the higher it places you in the search results.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website to rank higher in search results. The higher a page ranks in the search results, the higher the likelihood of being visited by the user making the query. It’s crucial to differentiate between SEO and SEA (Search Engine Advertising), where sponsored results require payment to Google for a high placement in search results.
9 Reasons Why SEO is Essential
1. Enhanced Visibility
Without SEO, your site might not be visible. Studies have shown that over 90% of user clicks are from the first page of search results. Hence, visibility is not just about being on the first page, but also about securing a high rank within that page.
2. Permanent SEO Results
Natural referencing offers long-term benefits and is a powerful tool for customer acquisition. Although the process may take time and require maintenance to keep the achieved objectives, it does not require a continuous financial investment like SEA. To manage SEO effectively, tools like an SEO position tracking tool or a comprehensive SEO solution are necessary.
3. Major Source of Traffic
Google search results are a significant source of traffic for many websites. If organic traffic is well optimized, it could account for at least 50% of your traffic. This makes it an indispensable channel to optimize.
4. Driving Targeted Traffic
SEO allows you to attract targeted traffic to your website. By positioning your website on specific requests or keywords, you can attract a particular audience. For instance, by using long tail keywords (keyword phrases with more than three words), you can attract a more targeted audience.
5. Enables Inbound Marketing
SEO enables Inbound Marketing, a strategy that aims to attract customers by meeting their needs. This strategy is divided into four stages: attract qualified visitors, convert visitors into leads, make a sale, and foster loyalty. SEO complements this strategy by attracting targeted traffic and providing content that adds value and enhances your site’s authority.
6. Lower Costs Compared to SEA
While SEA requires a direct payment to Google for positioning, SEO does not require continuous payment. It’s important to note that although SEO may involve costs such as time spent on content creation, optimization, results monitoring, and possibly the purchase of links or sponsored articles, in the long term, with an equal investment, SEO is more profitable than SEA.
7. Establishes Credibility and Trust
A high-ranking site in SEO is seen as credible and trustworthy by users, providing an additional level of confidence. Google’s ranking criteria consider factors like site performance, content quality, credibility of backlinks, and user behavior.
8. Enhances User Experience
Google considers user experience as one of the essential criteria for positioning pages in SERPs. Therefore, optimizing your SEO also means optimizing the user experience. This includes having a responsive website, ensuring quick loading times, providing quality content, and integrating user-friendly features.
9. Offers Business Opportunities
A well-optimized site provides various opportunities beyond traffic success. For instance, you could consider selling sponsored articles or backlinks on your website. Similarly, if you have a blog on a specific theme, affiliation can be an easy way to monetize your traffic.
