In 2019, there are over 4.4 billion Internet users around the world. Retail stores and standing businesses have never before had the opportunity to reach so many customers. Not to mention capitalize off of them by converting sales.

Making it as an online business hinges on your ability to actually reach the people who will buy your products or services. With so many retailers already taking up digital real estate, though, how can you possibly stand out?

If you want to waste money and see minimal results, pay for an ad campaign on Google or social media. But if you want to grow an audience that will actually value your brand and become lifelong fans, you need organic SEO services.

Want to learn how search engine optimization (SEO) can help improve your brand’s online marketing strategy? Keep reading for a full breakdown of what organic SEO is, why it’s important, and how to start using it today.

What is Organic SEO?

When you type a question in the search box on Google and hit enter, you’ll see two kinds of results:

Paid advertisements usually show up as the first few and last few results on a given page. You pay per click (PPC) to have your website show up in the search results.

Organically ranking results, on the other hand, are pages and websites that show up on the front page of Google because of organic SEO.

Now you may be wondering: there are other search engines out there so why all this talk about Google? Other search engines like Yahoo matter, but it’s probably best to focus your efforts on Google search engine results.

What is Meant by Organic?

“Organic” may seem an out of place term when talking about the Internet. Organic means of or relating to an organism. That is, a living creature.

That’s because websites using organic SEO techniques are set up to grow, change, and evolve as the Internet and its global audiences do.

White Hat vs Black Hat Organic SEO

A few years ago, a website owner could get their pages to rank simply by stuffing as many keywords into their articles as possible. These so-called “black hat” search engine optimizers also used a technique called link farming to boost their rankings.

Black hat SEO is still in practice around the web. But this method is slowly being ferreted out by the Google algorithm. With each new update, Google executives are taking steps to eliminate black hat SEO altogether.

This means your website can be taken down or penalized for using black hat techniques.

White hat SEO, on the other hand, is the SEO practice of the future. Focusing on keyword boosting, backlinking, and creating high-quality content, this form of SEO can help you improve your ranking without receiving penalties from the algorithm.

If you want your audience to recognize your brand’s quality and want a leg up on the competition, white hat SEO is the best strategy in the long run.

Why Search Engine Optimization is Important

With 85% of people admitting they only look at the first page of search results, getting ranked in the top ten has some amazing benefits.

Yeah, you can pay for ads, but that’s going to cost your small business a fortune. Instead, you can get ranked on the first page of Google with a cheap, long term strategy that works and will keep working for years to come. And it’s called SEO.

Just look at the numbers. It’s clear that SEO can help increase revenues, heighten user experience, make a high ROI, and up conversion rates.

If these numbers haven’t convinced you that SEO is worth your attention, here are three more reasons you need organic SEO services.

Save Money

Ad campaigns through social media can cost you anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000,000 depending on the length of time it runs for and the number of ads you purchase.

That’s a pretty large chunk of change. Especially for startups, individual entrepreneurs, and small business that don’t have much to spare.

Paid ads work on their own complex algorithm anyway. And while you can pay for them, this doesn’t guarantee you a spot on the front page. You can’t always pay for a top ranking spot but with organic SEO, you can earn a spot virtually for free.

Get More Traffic

The more traffic you have, the more sales you make. But how are you going to make the sale if no one knows about your brand?

An excellent organic SEO campaign can get you ranked on the first page of search results. This doesn’t just guarantee you traffic.

It also means you get traffic from people who are already interested in your product or service. If they weren’t already interested then they wouldn’t be typing their question in the search box.

Improve Sales

When your customers find you on the front page of their search results, they’re more likely to trust you than a lower ranked competitor.

Making an online sale often hinges upon being a credible brand. That’s why so many marketers focus on building authority within their niche. Part of this is building trust with your niche audience.

When you look credible enough to pop up on the first page of Google results, customers are more likely to trust you. And when you’re already building a trustworthy brand, your services and products will start flying off the shelf.

5 DIY Organic SEO Techniques

A fully optimized website is a fete rarely taken on by beginners. But there are a few things you can do to improve your on-site optimization yourself.

1. Do Keyword Research

You can DIY keyword research for your content. Keywords are the phrases you want to rank for. Your keywords should always be relevant and trending.

For example, if your business sells vegan dog food, you would want to rank for the keyword “vegan dog food” or maybe “buy vegan dog food online.” These keywords are relevant to your products. And 72% of marketers say being relevant is the most important aspect of SEO.

You want to use trending keywords like “bulletproof coffee” or “CBD oil” because people are actually searching these phrases. Using out of date keywords or keywords that get little to no search volume will do nothing for your traffic.

2. Trial and Error

That’s why most marketers spend the weeks and months before SEO starts working to run A/B tests. An A/B test is a way to discover the kinds of content, CTAs, and topics your audience responds to.

For example, an A/B test might consist of writing blog articles in two different styles. The first might be a review-style blog while the second is a how-to blog. Test to see which format converts the most customers or generates the most engagement.

But don’t give up on trial and error when your SEO results start rolling in. Keep A/B testing your marketing strategies for the best results.

3. Include Internal and External Links

Indexing is like adding your website to the Internet’s table of contents. And the more often your pages are indexed, the more likely Google is to rank you higher.

You won’t necessarily want to include external links (links to other websites) in your copy, but make sure to link to your site’s most important content on the homepage. For instance, you could link to your products, services, or most popular blogs.

4. Create High-Quality Content

Whether you’re writing an article to attract prospects to your blog or drafting the perfect About page copy, make sure you’re writing high-quality stuff.

The majority of online businesses have some kind of blog presence. That’s because content generates triple the number of leads traditional marketing can. It also costs 62% less.

Making sure you’re putting out valuable content also contributes to your audiences’ ability to trust you. Building trust takes time. But high-quality content can help speed up the process.

5. Make an Amazing User Experience

From your clean and structured design to the crisp and clear images, your website should be beautiful and easy to navigate.

This may not seem relevant to SEO. But while SEO gets people to visit your page, amazing user experience will keep them there. The Google algorithm rewards pages with lots of engagement. And it rewards websites that people spend time on.

When you’re coming up with keywords you want to rank for, consider how the user would search for your page. Voice search is more common now than ever. And 46% of searches these days are local searches.

Who Needs Organic SEO Services?

If you aren’t using organic search engine optimization then you’re already a step behind your competitors. Because with the popularity of optimization strategies, your competitors are already using SEO tactics.

But that doesn’t mean you should rely on SEO alone. There are some benefits to supplementing SEO with PPC ads.

Supplementing Organic SEO with Paid Ads

As we’ve said before, SEO takes time to show results. But in business, time is money so don’t just sit around waiting for the results and the customers to start rolling in.

We’ve already mentioned that you should be running A/B tests. But how will you actually test your options without an audience to respond to them?

For instance, using Google Adwords is an excellent option. Adwords produces targetted advertisements that aren’t as expensive as some paid ads.

Adwords has no minimum purchase amount, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, and you can actually set the maximum amount of clicks you want to purchase per day.

While SEO services are certainly much cheaper than paid ads, you can supplement with PPC Google Adwords as necessary. In fact, marketers who use a combination of SEO and PPC see 27% more sales than those who use only one strategy.

SEO Services in California

If you’ve made it to the end of this guide, pat yourself on the back because you are now ready to move on from the basics of organic SEO.

So you get the basics and now you want to use them to SEO your website. Now what? You can either DIY your SEO or hire a company to do it for you.

Local Finder is a California based company providing organic SEO services for your growing business. If you want fast services that actually provide results, get in touch with us to find out what we can do for your brand.

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Organic SEO Services: What Is Organic SEO and Why Is It Important?