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The web contains many claims that SEO is a dying strategy, but savvy digital marketers cannot underestimate its value in promotion. The correct statement would be: SEO has evolved, turning many mindsets and tactics obsolete.
Takeaways:
- It is not too late to start an SEO campaign in 2024.
- SEO largely influences other digital marketing channels.
- Search engine optimization alone will not help you achieve all marketing objectives.
- The majority of traffic on the web comes from search engines.
- By implementing SEO, the company can better understand its clients and business.
The Role of SEO in Digital Marketing
Search engine optimization has become so boundless today that ordinary people can tangle in all its objectives. Some of them are:
- Increasing Search Visibility
- Doubling Revenue and Conversions
- Improving Brand Awareness
What is the exact relationship between SEO and digital marketing? SEO is a subdiscipline of digital marketing, but it influences other online channels largely. Other digital marketing channels include:
- Social Media Advertising
- Search Advertising (SEA)
- Content Marketing
- Email Marketing
Now, we should look at how SEO Influences digital marketing.
It Can Lay a Foundation for Other Digital Marketing Channels
Mundane SEO tasks may include creating and maintaining a social media presence, crafting converting pages, and managing online reputation. SEO prepares for the following scenarios:
- A business needs a vivid social page with fresh and consistent posts to run an effective social media campaign.
- When using any paid medium, landing pages should be conversion-optimized and user-friendly.
- Finally, moving to or through the consideration stage of the marketing funnel requires positive reviews about the product, service, or business. Most customers perform some research before purchasing.
Understand Channels’ Performance and Discover New Opportunities
SEO is data-driven and thrives on monitoring and analytics. It is complex, and to gauge the effectiveness of SEO campaigns, we need to monitor any other channel bringing traffic and conversions to answer the following questions:
- What is the most contributing source to the campaign?
- How many interactions happened before the conversion?
We can compare performance across the channels, identify underperforming mediums, and discover promising ones.
It Can Balance Expenses on Online Promotion
SEO specialist does not charge you by the number of visitors or conversions. You typically pay monthly or per-project fees, and the results have a long-lasting and far-reaching effect on your company.
When combined with paid channels, SEO helps achieve marketing and budget objectives, having a stabilizing effect.
Why SEO is Important For Businesses: Top 5 Benefits
Source: Search Engine Journal
Although search engine optimization is not an optimal digital marketing strategy for every website, it brings various quantifiable and non-quantifiable benefits. The most prominent ones are below.
It is By Far the Largest Traffic Source on the Web
According to Ahrefs statistics, around 90% of global traffic comes from Google. It is unsurprising because Google provides the most sophisticated solution for finding something, and the recent advent of Search Generative Experience (SGE) will only continue the trend.
Magnet Prospects with Higher Intent
Imagine two scenarios:
- You are trying to sell unsolicitedly with cold emailing, social media banners, or video ads.
- The customer is already interested in a similar product or service you offer by searching for it. In this scenario, you are more likely to close a sale.
SEO is an inbound marketing strategy that targets relevant audiences with the intent to convert: purchase a product, order a service, or read a blog. It is vital in this heavy-advertising era when companies constantly bombard people with offers.
SEO is Cost-Effective
In paid advertising, we pay for every user interaction, such as a click, call, or form sign-up. With the average conversion rates for paid search and social advertising varying wildly, businesses must allocate meaningful budgets consistently to see the results.
Otherwise, the campaigns will be ineffective. Also, testing different marketing channels by trial and error is inevitable, which can further bloat the budget.
Gain Long-Term Momentum
Compared to other digital marketing means, SEO takes considerable time, but if done and maintained properly, prospects will keep coming after months and years.
Better still, you will experience a so-called snowball effect: the more organic traffic the site receives, the faster it grows organically. However, your site should satisfy users’ needs to achieve this effect.
Understand Your Users and Business with SEO
Nowadays, SEO is all about users: who they are and how they behave on the site. Businesses can only benefit from a deeper understanding of their audience, which can be done in various ways. Some of them are keyword research, analytics, surveys, and brand monitoring.
For example, by performing keyword research, we can find ideas for new products, diagnose trends and patterns, and identify problems. As a result, your company can launch new products, better prepare for seasonal spikes, and create solutions for potential problems.
User behavior monitoring helps uncover ideas for conversion rate optimization (CRO) and segment the audience meaningfully for the business.
How to Use SEO in Digital Marketing?
Your digital marketing strategy should include SEO, and you should start optimizing your site promptly. However, you should be patient because SEO is like wine: it improves with time.
Source: Ahrefs
Is SEO Enough for Digital Marketing?
No, SEO alone cannot help you achieve all marketing objectives. Digital marketers combine it with other promotion channels, such as paid search, display ads, email marketing, or content marketing.
Source: Moz
The converter path is complex and can include multiple channels and interactions. Different digital channels are needed to serve various audiences at different conversion stages. Otherwise, your business will miss valuable brand exposure that can lead to later conversions.
A Few Tips for Incorporating SEO in Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Before starting an SEO campaign, define the top marketing objectives and KPIs. Remember that marketing objectives must align with your business goals.
SEO should be consistent but flexible to adapt to fast algorithm changes and ever-evolving competition. Nurture monitoring, analytics, and testing culture to ensure long-term success for the company. Monitor your progress, run small-scale experiments, and turn the data into improvements, which can build a competitive edge.
Finally, your marketing team should analyze how SEO performs compared to other digital channels to ensure its effectiveness and value. Answer these questions:
- What are the direct and indirect impacts of SEO on your company?
- How does it assist other marketing channels?
- What are the channels SEO works best with?
Will SEO Continue to Play an Integral Part in Digital Marketing in 2024?
Regardless of SGE and other AI innovations in search, SEO will continue to play a central role in digital marketing. Starting or expanding the SEO campaign is not too late.
However, industry experts state that the way people search is changing drastically, as well as expectations for content. It means that SEOs and search engines will have to adapt to it.
Staying competitive requires businesses to integrate AI into their workflows more widely and use it accurately to avoid search engine penalties and user dissatisfaction.