Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Definition:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving a particular website to increase and maximize its ranking and visibility on the list of results returned by a search engine.

Want to know more? Keep reading.

Market Opportunity:

SEO continues to be a rapidly growing industry transforming how businesses market their products and services. From small startups to large enterprise organizations, more companies are utilizing SEO strategies to gain an edge in their respective markets. According to Statista, the global SEO services market size was estimated at US$72 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach US$79.27 billion by 2023. This growth can be attributed to an increasing number of online businesses, rising competition among companies, and an ever-increasing demand for online content.

The benefits of SEO:

SEO has proven to be an invaluable tool for all types of businesses. It can boost traffic to your website and provide more opportunities to convert leads into customers. Optimizing content and website structure can deliver a better customer experience, leading to increased revenues. And with personalization capabilities, such as local SEO and voice search optimization, you can further customize how your web traffic is driven, leading to even more significant business outcomes. While it may be time-consuming to implement SEO strategies effectively, the long-term rewards are definitely worth the effort.

Roadmap to a successful SEO Strategy:

From the brands I've met throughout the years, an effective SEO strategy always begins by understanding your target audience, analyzing their search intent, and researching relevant industry topics and trends. Once this initial research is complete, content can be developed around these topics, and keywords can be strategically inserted.

SEO is a dynamic industry; many technologies exist today to help companies optimize and accelerate their SEO strategy. When selecting SEO technologies, consider the essential capabilities to look for, including the following:

1. Technical SEO. You'll need to look for capabilities to support data structure analysis and optimization, page speed and HTML structure, crawlability assessment, and server log review.
2. Content SEO. Look for capabilities to help you in keyword research and assist with relevant content targeting users and search engine crawlers.
3. Link Building. The technology you select should also help you with actionable recommendations for getting other websites to link to pages on your website. These recommendations will inform your action plan to boost the "authority" of your website to increase its visibility on search engines.  
4. Going beyond websites. Search engine optimization (SEO) has evolved immensely over the years and now encompasses far more than just optimizing websites. With voice search on the rise, voice commands given through voice assistants like Amazon's Alexa now require SEO considerations. Social media platforms are also an important source of organic traffic and require specific strategies to rank together with other webpages. To stay competitive in today's ever-changing digital marketplace, it is essential for businesses to incorporate SEO into all aspects of their online presence - from websites to audio to social media - in order to keep up with growing demand. Make sure you look for a "holistic" or a "360" SEO capability coverage as you select your SEO technology solutions.
5. Closing the Data loop. The audiences you're trying to attract are People and more than just screens. In order to provide the personalized experience they're looking for, you'll need to bridge your SEO strategy with the customer data you already have. Make sure the SEO technologies you retain have capabilities to integrate with your customer data platform (CDP) and SEO platform to contribute to an accurate unified customer view, which will power the personalized experiences your customers expect.
6. Revenue attribution and ROI. At the end of the day, if you can't prove your SEO's contribution to the bottom line, chances are that your efforts will run short, and you will be on a hot seat during those c-level conversations where budgets are defined and allocated. It's essential to have an understanding of revenue attribution strategies and the ability to track ROI from investments in SEO technologies.
   

Online resources to learn even more about Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

• SEO research & data for all by Moz‍
• The Forrester Wave™: SEO Platforms, Q3 2020
  

Join the conversation and share your views and experiences around Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by leaving a comment below.