Digital marketing is a beast - A beast whose current worth in the U.S. alone is estimated at $460 million. SEO in digital marketing combines the best of both worlds: Focused on organic growth and on-page optimization, SEO can leverage your digital marketing efforts like paid search never could.
But what kind of return are you seeing on ad spend if the results only last you as long as the paid campaign?
As an online business owner, you're looking for sustainable growth that ensures your business a bright future to come. Keep reading to learn about all the ways SEO offers these deliverables and more.
See Related: What Is E-A-T And How Can It Help You Master SEO?
If you've already made your way to this blog, then you probably know what digital marketing is. But, in order to understand the importance of SEO in digital marketing, we need to start with the basics.
In short, digital marketing is an online marketing strategy that seeks to promote online businesses while magnifying their overall impact to reach potential customers. A digital marketing strategy can be carried out through a variety of forms including blogs, videos, social media ads, display ads, and more.
The benefits of digital marketing can be anything from increasing website traffic to boosting a web page on Google's search engine results page to getting listed in business local directories online.
The U.S. digital marketing market alone is currently estimated at $460 billion. And the compound annual growth rate of digital marketing from 2020-2026 is projected at 9%.
Suffice it to say that digital marketing is an industry that will only keep growing from here. But what's making this industry all the more lucrative is utilizing SEO digital marketing strategies. So let's take a look at what search engine optimization on its own has to offer.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is not necessarily digital marketing (although some may argue that's exactly what SEM, or search engine marketing, is). But SEO remains a crucial tool that can enhance digital marketing efforts across online marketing platforms.
The primary goals of search engine optimization include:
From these benefits alone, it's clear to see how the right SEO tactics can drastically improve your overall digital marketing strategy. But the right SEO efforts can do more than garner you a good search engine ranking.
49% of businesses say that organic search brings them the best marketing ROI. That's why big companies are willing to spend anywhere from $10,000-$20,000 on SEO per month.
But before these numbers give you a headache, let's break down every part of how SEO works and how SEO in digital marketing can leverage better results for your search rankings, brand awareness, and more.
SEO in digital marketing pinpoints exactly what search engines want to see. And the better your SEO, the more search engines will reward you for your efforts to optimize.
You may have heard some cynics out there saying that SEO is dead. But consider this statistic for a moment:
53.3% of all website traffic comes from organic search.
That means you have a better chance of boosting your rank in the search results with SEO than with paid search ads. This kind of organic visibility not only places your web pages right in front of potential customers.
But it also improves your click-through rate dramatically.
The #1 spot on Google search engine result page gets nearly 32% of clicks, and moving up just one spot in search engine results can increase CTR by 30.8%.
SEO works first by getting improving your website's visibility. Then, once they click through, on-page SEO gets to work optimizing your on-site user experience.
Search engines will reward you for your optimization efforts which run the gamut of everything from producing valuable content to optimizing title tags and meta tags. But one of the SEO elements that can't go ignored is the optimization of site speed.
The average load speed for top-ranking sites is 1.9 seconds.
When people search for something, they want quick answers. And SEO helps them to receive that immediate gratification.
Furthermore, 75% of users will not scroll past the first page of Google search results.
That's why your website's ranking on desktop and mobile devices is so important. Those coveted top 10 results are often as far as people are willing to search.
So you'll want to prove to them that you not only deserve to be within those top 10 search results but that you have the answers they're looking for.
How much faith do you have in a website whose mobile display is janky at best? Not much. And you're not alone.
51% of consumers trust a site that has been optimized for mobile search.
Again, that's because users are looking for quick answers to their queries. When you have quick site speed and display your services online in an easy-to-find fashion, you automatically develop trust and credibility with potential customers.
When people search on Google, they're quick to follow their gut. Luckily, SEO ensures that you make the experience as seamless as possible for the user.
If you're an online business, then you're already looking to alleviate customers' pain points. So don't add to their pain by making your website difficult to use!
Even a 1-second delay in mobile load times can reduce conversion rates by up to 20%.
This kind of lacking user experience not only turns customers off to your business. But it also costs you a loss when they decide there are other businesses with better user experiences to offer.
As we said earlier, people like immediate gratification. And while paid search ads can garner immediate results, those types of results won't last.
On the other hand, SEO sets you up on a sustainable foundation for long-term growth. Take our proof of results as an SEO company, for example.
From 2020-2021, we managed to 35x one luxury beauty company's organic visitor growth, resulting in 605 unique organic sales in 10 months and ranking them for 6,500 keywords in Google's Top 100 results.
Through SEO best practices, we managed to maintain that growth while continually optimizing their website according to Google's shifting standards. SEO best practices are continually evolving.
But by keeping our finger on the pulse and responding to these changes in real time, our SEO company has managed to give clients the type of results they desire and deserve.
Bonus: A Step-By-Step Guide To Developing A Content Marketing Strategy
As a leading SEO company in Los Angeles, we follow these core SEO elements to ensure the success of your SEO campaign.
Performing keyword research is an easy way to identify what people are searching for within your niche field. And you might be surprised to find that the more specific queries are the ones that see the best results.
Long-tail keyword searches have a click-through rate that's 3-5% higher than generic searches.
For context, a generic search would be something like "SEO company" whereas a long-tail keyword search would be "best SEO company in Los Angeles." The more specific you can get with your keywords without keyword-stuffing your content, the more likely you are to increase your CTR.
There is an overload of content on the Internet. But only a fraction of that content is truly valuable to readers and customers.
That's why SEO prioritizes content as one of its main ranking factors.
In fact, the number one on-page SEO factor is quality content.
Churning out content with value not only gets you recognized by Google. But it also helps you establish trust with your readers as they view you as a reliable source of information.
On-page optimization covers everything that's live on the website. This involves adding relevant and local keywords, creating location-specific pages, making sure all title tags and meta tags are optimized, and ensuring that all content marketing on the website is value-driven.
This strategy gets applied to every single page on the website - not just a blog post or two. With proper on-page optimization, your website will be easier for Google to crawl, increasing your chances of ranking higher on Google's page 1.
Off-page SEO optimization has to do with everything off-site. This includes backlink building and promoting your content on other platforms and forums where users are active.
High-quality backlink-building accounts for 30% of your overall page score in Google.
So while Google is crawling each page of your website, it's also looking for any other trace of your SEO footprint.
SEO and digital marketing go hand in hand. But unfortunately, many underestimate the true benefits SEO has to offer.
If you want to maximize your digital marketing strategies once and for all, consider investing in an SEO company that will help you achieve your SEO goals and more.
Keep Reading: The Importance Of Blogging When Running A Business
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Up Inc. eCommerce Agency is a digital marketing agency based in Los Angeles, CA. Founded in 2021, Up Inc. specializes in eCommerce, generating growth for brands by focusing on visibility, customer loyalty, and digital revenue. For more SEO tips and industry insights, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
