In our previous post, we discussed all about the basics of digital marketing, such as what it is, how it benefits small businesses, and the types of digital marketing. This section is a subset of the previous section, where we will discuss different types of digital marketing techniques through organic means i.e. Search Engine Optimization. It involves little to no investment, depending on the plan, strategy, and how you approach.
Let’s dive into organic digital marketing types, starting first off with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is the technique that aims to improve visibility on search engines by optimizing content, improving the structure of the website, handling technical aspects, and creating authority by building relevant backlinks.
The purpose of SEO is to gain exposure, traffic, clicks, and conversions through organic means. Unlike paid advertisement, SEO helps build the credibility of brands and small businesses on a permanent and long-term basis.
Once the right SEO approach and plan are implemented, the website can reap rewards for several years. For startups, small businesses, and agency owners, SEO gives the initial boost the company requires in order to gain traction among the target audience.
The key elements of SEO include:
Crawling & Indexing: Search engines use spiders to crawl the web, allowing them to discover, read, and index pages
On-Page Search Engine Optimization: One of the types of SEO is on-page SEO, which includes creating high-quality and relevant content optimized with keywords and improving meta tags and meta titles
Technical Search Engine Optimization: The technical SEO of a website involves improving the site’s overall performance, such as loading speed, making it responsive across devices, and getting it indexed and crawled by search engines.
Off-page Search Engine Optimization: The type of SEO technique that involves creating backlinks on relevant platforms, getting social signals, and improving the trustworthiness of the website.
Search Intent: Search intent is writing the content that matches the user’s intent and also provides the information they are searching for.
Reasons Why SEO is Important for Your Business
Search Engine Optimization in digital marketing is the backbone to gain visibility, improve ranking, and also build authority. When someone searches for a product or a service, the better the SEO, the higher it ranks on Google.
Whether you are a startup, a small online store, or need your service page to be on top, you can either hire a digital marketing agency to help you with Search Engine Optimization. Or you can take charge into your hands and get things done.
If you are new to the digital landscape, so, here are some of the important things to know about the importance of SEO in digital marketing.
Build Trust With Your Customers
The visibility of your website on top search results means people are likely to click on it and perform the desired action. It also contributes to establishing your authority in the specific niche. The visibility builds the trust of your brand among customers and is likely to convert them into customers.
A website ranked on the first page of Google also means more traffic, more clicks, more impressions, and more conversions. So, all of these factors depend on whether you are providing the visitors with what they are looking for.
In recent years, Google has also advised webmasters to focus more on the E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) principle and less on keyword stuffing. Thus, writing content with E-E-A-T principles in mind will help you rank several articles on top of the results
Whenever a user searches for different keywords on the same niche and finds your website on top, trust is built, and your website is considered the authority.
Increases Visibility and Exposure
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ongoing process that requires time, effort, and money. One of the reasons small businesses and big enterprises invest in SEO is that it improves their online ranking.
According to Search Engine Journal, more than 25% of people click the first search result they see.
The numbers say it all, and unless you are sitting on the 2nd page, your customers are hardly going to find you. However, if you are found on the first search result, your website will experience more traffic, get more clicks, and increase conversion like never before.
Qualified Traffic, More Leads, Better Conversions
The purpose of Search Engine Optimization is to bring qualified traffic to their websites through unpaid means. It involves several factors to gain traffic, such as quality content that is optimized with user-intent keywords, technical SEO to improve core web vitals (a leading factor in Google Ranking), and off-page SEO to spread the content on different platforms.
Search Engine Optimization Improves User Experience
Customers are looking for solutions that are quick to access and easy to navigate. If a person comes to an online store and it takes ages to load the website, it would result in a bad user experience, exiting the website instantly, and also buying it from the competitor.
Moreover, apart from ranking websites on top search results, SEO also enhances the user experience by offering seamless interaction on the website. From the website’s silo structure to navigation and technical aspects, SEO can make or break a website.
Dominating the Competitors
Competitors, whether big or small, might dominate the whole industry or a few parts of it. If you are not doing SEO for your business and your competitors are investing time and money to get the results, then the time is near; you are going to be forgotten by your customers.
However, on the contrary, if the competitors are taking SEO lightly, then you have the opportunity to dominate search results and your niche. Get ranked on several keywords that are highly searched by your target audience, adopt the right SEO strategies, and also stay above your competitors.
Help Prospects in their Buying Journey
Your prospects are in different phases, from recognizing the need to getting awareness. SEO supports prospects at every stage of their buying journey by helping them discover your brand when they search for problems or questions, guiding them with informative content during research, and influencing their decisions through optimized service pages, comparisons, and reviews. By matching content with search intent, SEO builds trust, improves brand visibility, shortens the sales cycle, and helps prospects feel confident.
Reduces Dependency on Paid Ads
Small businesses and startups are low on funds. With limited capital, spending on paid ads might drain their budget, which may end up hurting their business. However, by utilizing efforts and resources in SEO, the dependency on the paid ads decreases.
Moreover, SEO is more about continuous effort to bring the website to the top, increase exposure, and drive conversions. With little budget spent, organic traffic through SEO leads to long-term results.
What is the difference between Search Engine Optimization and SEM?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of improving a website so it appears higher in search engine results and gets more visitors.
While SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is the use of paid ads to promote a website and increase visibility on search engines.
Search Engine Optimization VS SEM: Features Comparison
| SEO | SEM |
| Organic (free) traffic | Paid advertising on search engines |
| On page optimization (content, keywords, meta tags) | Google Ads and Bing Ads campaigns |
| High quality content creation | Keyword based paid targeting |
| Technical SEO (site speed, mobile friendliness, indexing) | Ad copy creation and extensions |
| Keyword research and search intent targeting | Audience targeting and remarketing |
| Long term results and sustainability | Immediate traffic and fast results |
| Local SEO and Google Business Profile optimization | Pay Per Click (PPC) model |
| Backlink building and authority growth | Conversion tracking and analytics |
| Improves website trust and credibility | Budget control and bid management |
List of Industries and Businesses who need Search Engine Optimization?
SEO is dominating like never before due to its importance, benefits, and long-term ROI. Moreover, businesses that have decided to go online and dominate the search results invest heavily in SEO to convert visitors into long-term customers.
Here’s a list of industries and businesses that need SEO to dominate, compete, and also grow.
| Type of Business | How SEO Helps? |
| Local Businesses | Helps customers find nearby services through local searches. |
| Ecommerce Stores | Drives organic product traffic and increases online sales. |
| Real Estate Companies | Attracts buyers and sellers searching for properties and agents. |
| Healthcare Providers | Helps patients discover clinics, doctors, and medical services. |
| Law Firms | Captures high-intent searches for legal advice and consultations. |
| Education & Training Institutes | Reaches students searching for courses and certifications. |
| SaaS & Tech Companies | Generates qualified leads through solution-based searches. |
| Digital Marketing Agencies | Builds authority and attracts businesses needing growth services. |
| Restaurants & Cafes | Improves local visibility, menu discovery, and reservations. |
| Travel & Tourism | Attracts travelers researching destinations and bookings. |
| Construction & Contractors | Helps homeowners find builders and renovation experts. |
| Automotive Businesses | Drives traffic for car sales, rentals, and repairs. |
| Manufacturing Companies | Generates B2B leads through product and supplier searches. |
| Startups & New Businesses | Builds online presence and long-term brand growth. |
| Professional Services | Increases visibility for consultants, coaches, and advisors. |
| Fashion & Apparel Brands | Boosts product discovery and brand awareness. |
| Home Services | Supports electricians, HVAC, cleaning, and pest control businesses. |
Which Search Engine Optimization Metrics are Important to Track?
Planning, strategizing, and deploying without tracking performance and results is totally waste of time. The same applies to SEO, where you need to know the important metrics that define SEO’s success or failure. Here are some of the key SEO metrics that are important to track for businesses.
Performance Metrics SEO
Some of the performance metrics of SEO include
Organic Traffic: Total number of visitors coming to your website
Conversions: How many leads, sales, or goals were completed as a result of organic traffic
Keyword Ranking: Position of keywords in the top 10 search results
Organic CTR: Number of visitors who clicked on your website from search results
Impressions: Number of times your website appears on the SERP
Search Visibility: Overall strength and consistency of keyword rankings.
Engagement Metrics SEO
Bounce Rate: Percentage of visitors who left your website just after viewing only one page
Avg Session Duration: The amount of time a user spends on your website
Pages per Session: The number of pages viewed on each session
Exit Pages: Pages where visitors most commonly leave your website
Technical and Authority Metrics SEO
Backlinks: Number of quality and relevant links pointing to your website
Domain Authority: An estimated figure about the quality, strength, and authority of the website.
Core Web Vitals: Page speed, interactivity, and visual stability metrics (LCP, FID, CLS).
Indexed Pages: Number of pages indexed by Google
Website Health Score: Overall technical SEO performance and site health status.
How AI is Changing SEO: Is SEO Dead?
Artificial intelligence is gaining all the attention, and most of the high-skilled workers are worried about whether AI will replace them completely or not. As far as SEO is concerned, many people ask, Is SEO Dead with AI?
The simple answer is “No.”
However, it has evolved and become more complex than before. Let’s take a brief overview of how AI is changing SEO and also what major differences are being observed by experts.
SEO is Evolving, Not Dying: Traditional SEO has become more than just ranking number one on Google search results. The modern SEO is less about ranking on Google’s top results and more about getting cited by AI models and AI overviews
Intent Based Searches Instead of Keywords: If you think you can dominate search results just by stuffing keywords, you are wrong. AI models and Google both prioritize search intent instead of keyword stuffing.
Zero Clicks, Dominating Search: Zero clicks were frowned upon back in the days when AI wasn’t prevalent. Presently, AI-generated answers directly address the queries, resulting in a decline in CTR, making brand visibility more effective than traffic.
Optimizing for Almost Everything: SEO nowadays means to optimize it for every platform and model, such as text, voice, and image.
Goal of SEO: The goal of SEO hasn’t changed with the evolution of AI. The core purpose is to get found by the target audience, requiring a blend of SEO with AI to dominate AI models and search engines.
Where to Get Affordable SEO Services for Small Businesses?
SEO for small businesses can develop a strong online presence that can even compete with the brand giants. Whether it be boosting local business from scratch, scaling up an existing service business, or launching a new e-commerce store, SEO needs to be part of your strategy.
However, the majority of small businesses don’t even know where to start, how to plan, or when to deploy.
Dev Souls, a leading digital marketing agency offering a range of affordable SEO services for small businesses to get visibility, rank on Google, and build a strong online presence. Whether you are running your plumbing business in your location, operating a small e-commerce store, or selling services as a freelancer, we have got you covered from A-Z.
We know the challenges of every business are unique, and not one solution fits all. That is why our SEO experts devise a unique plan for each business to improve visibility, enhance brand identity, and increase conversions.
From strategizing keywords to optimizing content and doing local, off-page, and on-page SEO, our SEO services come in an affordable pack.
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