What is SEO and why does it matter?
When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, discovering the perfect keywords is a major route to success. Keywords are utilized by people and potential customers when they locate your site. Traffic is attracted to a site through keywords which introduce important information about customers to site owners.
There are 2 key graphs that describe SEO. The one is the Search Demand Curve and the other is Organic Ranking. On the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
The Search Demand Curve
The Search Demand Curve demonstrates that the small number of queries sending larger amounts of traffic alongside the volume of less-searched terms and phrases that bring the bulk of our search referrals.
Many tend to believe that it is best to have the top keywords that are most commonly searched and appear as popular searches, but “The Search Demand Curve” shows that less common searches that occur in the “Long Tail” of the curve tend to result in greater impact.
Search Intent
Ranking for longer tail keywords is also more important than short search phrases as with such a specific search, the searcher “practically has their wallet out,” while with the simple high ranking for “Cars,” the searcher is probably browsing, and not ready to buy. (Also read Search Intent)
The far left of the graph represents ‘FAT HEAD’ keywords, for example, the word “Cars”. These types of single-word searches account for a small percentage of all Google searches while ‘LONG-TAIL KEYWORDS’ e.g. “Cheapest cars near me” account for roughly 70% of all searches.
Long-tail keyword searches are hundreds of millions of unique multi-word searches that in some cases might be searched only a few times in a day, but when taken together, comprise the majority of the world’s search volume.
From an organic ranking perspective, long-tail keywords are not only easier to rank a website for (because they are less competitive), but they are also more specific to a person’s intent when searching for a particular product, service or information – for example: “Car prices” or “Cheapest cars near me”.
Search Engine Marketing
For search engine marketing e.g. Google Ads, bidding on long-tail keywords is an important strategy since the PPC (price-per-click) for an ad is typically lower, since there’s less competition. Bidding on long-tail keywords also allows advertisers to show ads for the exact keywords that customers are typing into Google to find their product or service.
Search Engine Results Page
A search engine results page (a SERP) is the list of results that a search engine returns in response to a specific word or phrase query which has 10 blue links and are the organic search results in a SERP and not the ones that have been paid for (PPC).
Click-Through Rate
The position on the page (also known as Organic Ranking) affects Click-Through Rate (CTR) which is the ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who view the SERP.
The graph below shows average click-through rates (in blue) for the first 2 search engine results pages, positions 1 – 20 (10 positions per page), as well as the increase in CTR (in red) from one page position to the next.
Search Engine Optimization Marketing
When investing in Search Engine Optimization, the frequent challenge is where to put your effort where it will make the most difference, or where you can expect the biggest increase in traffic for specific keywords.
Getting onto the first page is clearly important (it generates 96% of traffic) as are the top 3 positions (which generate 62% of traffic). However, position changes that will generate the biggest % increase in traffic, are not equally distributed.
- For e.g.,
- getting from position 6 to 5 will generate a 45% increase in baseline traffic,
- whereas moving from 5 to 4 will only increase baseline traffic by 9%.
A professional approach to SEO with a coherent SEO strategy, can play a major role in optimising generating more and better quality leads, therefore more business, much cheaper. SEO matters.
Click here to find out more about Search Engine Optimization from Vibe Marketing East Coast, or here to speak to one of the Vibe Marketing team.