Search engine optimization is a subset of digital marketing that involves optimizing websites and web pages for major search engines. With the rise of search engines, various practices have emerged to improve the visibility of organizations’ digital assets.
Search engine optimization (SEO) combines internal and external tactics. For ranking pages within search results, each search engine has its own formula or “secret sauce.” Technically called algorithms, these formulas are closely guarded trade secrets protected by major search engines.
Over time, marketing SEO experts reverse engineer aspects of these algorithms to isolate best practices for search engine marketing. It is possible for organizations to improve their visibility and ranking within the major search engines by utilizing tried and true SEO tactics.
SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
The modern world relies heavily on technology, and search engines play a key role in that. A search engine query is performed every second by thousands of users. From a marketing perspective, that is a huge and constantly replenished audience.
Marketing SEO proves to be an extremely powerful tool when you dig a little deeper into the data.
- Every second, 67,000 users perform a Google search.
- The majority of online endeavors begin with a search engine query.
- Paid advertisements in search results are ignored by 80 percent of searchers.
- Mobile devices account for 58 percent of online searches.
- Local and geographical searches account for 46 percent of Google searches.
- Approximately 39 percent of eCommerce website traffic comes from search engines.
As a whole, search engines provide a vast pipeline of potential customers for marketing purposes. Moreover, SEO marketing strategies tend to have a much higher conversion rate than traditional marketing or advertising. It is therefore risky for organizations to ignore search engine marketing.
Marketing SEO benefits can be maximized by understanding the inner workings of two major categories – On-page SEO and Off-Page SEO.
WAIT, DOESN’T SEO MARKETING CHANGE CONSTANTLY?
There is no doubt that major search engines update their algorithms frequently. The general approach of search engines is constantly being refined to provide the most relevant results for each query. Our ultimate goal is to provide the best answer to a search user as soon as possible.
Major search engines have to minimize actors who artificially improve their results in order to provide users with top-notch results. Due to this reality, search engines regularly update their algorithms to penalize black hat SEO and reward white hat SEO.
A black hat SEO actor employs shifty tactics to artificially increase their search engine rankings without engaging in established SEO strategies. Often, these actors post a lot of content, keywords, and links with little value, emphasizing quantity over quality. Despite short-term results, search engines learn quickly and close these loopholes quickly.
As opposed to black hat SEO, white hat SEO builds trustworthy and authoritative digital assets. By using on-page and off-page SEO techniques, creating high-value content, optimizing pages, and building quality links, these actors achieve high rankings. Organizations that follow the white hat SEO approach are less likely to suffer when search engines update their algorithms.
