In a&nbsp;digital marketing strategy framework, SEO is what makes your brand visible in this chaotic world of Search. With the countless sites put up every day in Google, SEO sifts the gold from the dirt to give users the exact relevant information they're looking for.

Why does your business need SEO?

SEO can be overwhelming for the uninitiated.To save you the trouble, we’ve mapped out our full SEO process to help you understand it better and apply it to your business.

The SEO Process

Keyword research&nbsp;is the process of gathering and discovering keywords, phrases, and queries that people use or type in search engines with the ultimate goal of optimizing content around those terms and ranking them for those terms in search engines. It lets you gain insight to what users are searching for, and what are their thoughts, fears, and desires of your target market. Keyword Research is the meat and potato of SEO.

Keyword Research

SEO is a complex set of skill, but once acquired your business can get a lot of clicks on GOOGLE. Hiring an SEO consultant or agency will definitely help your sales to skyrocket.

SEO Consultant

Puzzled with SEO? Here’s an ultimate guide to understanding SEO in 2021 and why you need it for your business. Read the full guide here!

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<a href="https://propelrr.com/">Home </a>SEO in 2021: Your Ultimate Guide To Understanding SEO

Users today make decisions based on Google Search.

These "micro-moments," as Google calls them, reflect the nature of people to become dependent on online searches in making informed decisions, whether it's answering a query or purchasing a product.

With a daily average of 7 billion searches on Google, one of those is bound to look for your business. If they saw you on search, then you're one step closer to making a sale. But if not, well you just missed your chance on an interested customer.

Each business needs a variety of <a href="https://propelrr.com/services/seo">SEO services </a>to improve their overall performance, especially on digital. Mainly, implementing SEO can cause a waterfall of results for your business, like better website ranking and organic traffic to name a few.

This will enable you to create a list of loyal readers and users that you can contact as leads and convert as customers.

There's a whole complex process involved in SEO that quite frankly isn't easy to explain. Add to that the fast-paced evolution of technology and search engines that are changing the marketing landscape today as we know it. Traditional marketing is becoming obsolete. You need to keep up.

Don't get left out.  Buckle up and get ready to understand SEO like never before.

Before we tackle the 'What' and 'How' of SEO let's zero in first on the "Why?"

In a <a href="https://propelrr.com/digital-marketing-strategy-framework">digital marketing strategy framework </a>, SEO is what makes your brand visible in this chaotic world of Search. With the countless sites put up every day in Google, SEO sifts the gold from the dirt to give users the exact relevant information they're looking for.

Here we'll give you an in-depth explanation as to why you need SEO for your business along with the advantages of having it in your arsenal.

If you really want to succeed in digital, you have to do SEO.

SEO creates a robust and user-centered website that rank higher in search engines, build brand awareness, and bring in relevant traffic that translates to better lead generation and conversions.

Here's why your business needs SEO:

SEO fulfills a crucial stage of the Customer Journey (Search)

Technology has allowed people to get instant information with just a quick search.

In 2019, Google received a rough total of 2.3 trillion searches—proving that people always search online before going somewhere or before doing anything in particular. That's why SEO can fill the gap in your Customer Journey as Search is becoming the user's primary source of information today.

Humans are naturally and innately information seekers. The graphic below highlights the relationship between search activity and the customer journey.

Search engines today aren't only used to grow traffic; they're also utilized for conversion and revenue. That is why Search is no longer a subset of your customer journey; it's now the main channel for further growth of your business.

Jumping of <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/service/seo-analytics-customer-journey">Gary Viray’s article on Hubspot </a>; Search algorithms are getting more sophisticated—from a mere Q&A platform to a more journey-focused search engine that takes into consideration your recent search activity, location, and interactions to determine your needs as a searcher accurately.

One key factor that can "crack the code" on using Search as your main customer journey channel is <a href="https://propelrr.com/blog/search-intent-guide">understanding the user's search intent </a>to create content that matches their level of interest at each stage. Addressing those micro-moments of truth is key to your success in Google Search.

You can classify search intent into different types:

<ul><li>Informational Intent - The user looks for specific information and answers queries on a particular subject. </li><li>Navigational Intent - The user searches for a specific location or shop, wants to go somewhere, or visit a specific website. This includes Local Intent , where the user is searching for services in a specific geographical location, or somewhere near his/her current location. </li><li>Transactional Intent - The user wants to transact, purchase a product, use a service, or compare items with commercial purposes now or in the future. </li> </ul>

After identifying your user's level of intent, you can map specific keywords and target pages—both existing pages and those you want to create. The idea is to produce pages that address every relevant stage of your customers' journey and find gaps within that journey that your content can address effectively.

If you turn every relevant search query into a meaningful experience on your website, you'll bring your customers to the next stage of their journey almost effortlessly.

An optimized website loads faster, is easier to read, can be browsed thoroughly, and displays images properly regardless of screen or device. Websites that are easy to read and navigate are more likely to grab your readers' attention. Making them hooked on your website can turn them into loyal customers and returning visitors, which rakes in more qualified potential customers and consequently increases conversion rates.

Don’t believe us? Here are case studies that prove there is conversion in SEO:

Our team is always thinking, researching, tinkering on the next best thing we can do to drive digital differently. We deliver outstanding results to our clients, and it's just but right for us to benefit from our own expertise.

We brought in all our team experts from all our <a href="https://propelrr.com/services">digital marketing services </a>, and experimented with increasing ranking, traffic, and even link acquisition and lead generation, essentially improving our overall website performance.

SEO + UX + Content = FTW!

<ul><li>Migrated the website from a heavy Custom CMS to a lighter CMS removing critical rendering path issues </li><li>Cleaned-up Google Search Console (GSC) issues </li><li>Redesigned the website from horizontal to vertical navigation and orientation </li><li>Performed Advanced Keyword Research and Mapping </li><li>Fixed Internal Links and Information Architecture </li><li>Aligned the website copies and content to search intent </li><li>Implemented Structured Data and Schema </li><li>Content-based and relationship-driven Link Building </li> </ul>

<ul><li>1,638.56% increase in organic search impressions compared to the same month of the previous year (May 2020). </li><li>747.02% increase in the monthly running average search impressions compared to 2019 (12 months of 2019 versus 5 months of 2020). </li> </ul>

One of our SEO success stories involves how we managed a <a href="https://propelrr.com/featured-works/google-penalty">Google Penalty recovery </a>and bounced back from it.

A well-known e-commerce store approached us because of a Google Penalty. Link penalties from Google are costly disadvantages that affect your ranking, performance, and especially sales for an e-commerce website.

With a minimal budget, we were asked to remove the link penalty, steadily grow their traffic, and increase their online sales month-to-month.

The client's organic traffic from 2013:

<ul><li>Decreased by 10.28% in 2014 </li><li>Decreased by 29.55% in 2015 </li><li>Decreased by 42.08% in 2016 </li><li>Increased by 23.22% in 2017 </li><li>Increased by 154.93% in 2018 </li><li>Increased by 215.15% in 2019 </li><li>Increased by 215.44% as of May 2020 </li> </ul>

One of the country’s most reliable car selling and buying websites approached us to help increase and engage more car dealers by providing them quality leads through their platform.

<ul><li>Advanced Keyword Research and Mapping </li><li>Analytics </li><li>Structured Data </li><li>SEO Consultation </li> </ul>

The client's organic traffic from 2016 to 2019:

<ul><li>Increased by 74.36% in 6 months </li><li>Increased by 220.94% in 1 year </li><li>Increased by 425.12% in 2 years </li><li>Increased by 528.26% in 3 years </li><li>Increased by 536.50% as of July 2019 </li> </ul>

<ul><li>#1 Automotive website in 2018 </li><li>39.5% increase in new cars sold in 2018 </li><li>21,002 unit cars sold </li><li>67% of conversion came from organic </li> </ul>

Those are just a few of the case studies on search engine optimization. But we’re not the only ones bringing in conversions with the use of search. According to the <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-101/seo-statistics/">Search Engine Journal statistics </a>, leads brought by organic SEO traffic have a 14.6% conversion rate—which is 800% more than the other outbound leads.

Imagine all the <a href="https://propelrr.com/featured-works/increased-palawan-pawnshop-organic-traffic">organic traffic we garnered for our clients </a>and how they could all have possibly converted throughout optimization efforts. Crazy results, don't you think?

In this day and age, why wouldn't you be encouraged to convert online? There's no need to go outside the house to buy something or inquire about a service you need. You can browse through the website and learn everything you need to know before taking that trip downtown.

The future is online; it wouldn't hurt if you take a deep dive through digital with SEO.

SEO is long-term and sticky strategy (when done right)

Search is an online marketing channel that pays dividends over time if done correctly.

SEO is a long-term strategy that can take months to see optimal changes and rankings. However, once you are in the top positions with solid and ethical practices, you can make an impact that lasts several years.

The SEO scientists over at Ahrefs analyzed and pulled data from over 2 million keywords and analyzed the Top 10 ranking pages. Results on their ‘<a href="https://ahrefs.com/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-rank/">How long does it take to rank in Google </a>’ study showed that the number one spot on Google SERP is a website that is almost two and a half years old.

Their study also shows that there is only a 22% chance that your year-old or under website shows up on the top 10 search results. Whoever’s been telling you that you can land on Google’s first page within 6 months is either crazy good at SEO, or is lying. You choose.

So how long does SEO really take to kick in? According to Ahrefs, it takes about six to 12 months for your optimizations to start seeing results. But only if you’re 100% dedicated to optimizing your website.

SEO is not a game of chance or luck. By committing more time, effort, and budget to SEO, the better and longer a website stands to be a worthy contender in its market.

If you ask us, the average is 6 to 12 months minimum depending on the competitiveness of your industry. What should be clear is that SEO is a long-term strategy that should never be missing in action throughout your digital marketing campaign.

Google continuously updates its algorithm to ensure users are provided with the best possible results and experience. Each algorithm update has been geared towards delivering more user-focused and user-friendly results. These range from knowledge panel and rich snippets to focusing on natural human language for more accurate search results.

One major Google algorithm update was <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-algorithm-history/rankbrain/">RankBrain </a>in 2015, driven by behavior metrics, including pages per session, bounce rate, dwell time, and organic CTR to inform the search engine if users enjoyed their experience on a particular website.

Enter <a href="https://propelrr.com/services/ux-design">UX design </a>and SEO. Both disciplines share a common goal of providing searchers with relevant information that answers their queries and meaningful experiences on the website.

There are many ways you can improve your website and maximize user experience. This includes providing correct, and well-researched information, placing related photos or videos to support text, fast page load time, better information architecture, and easy-to-navigate web pages or a mobile-friendly website configuration.

Doing these <a href="https://propelrr.com/blog/user-experience-guide">UX fundamentals </a>can result in more clicks, more leads, better brand recall, and higher conversion rates. This is what search engines are looking for, thus improving your search ranking.

Encourages Physical Store Visits After Search

Searching before you buy has become a practice your users live by.

As mentioned earlier, human beings are curious information seekers—always demanding information as soon as possible with a quick search.

Think with Google provided relevant data that proves how search-savvy people really are:

Consumers are smart nowadays. Their first reflex before purchasing is a quick Google search. If the user is satisfied with the results, that's the only time they would buy the product either online or through physical stores.

SEO compliments your paid advertising efforts, vice versa

SEO and SEM of <a href="https://propelrr.com/services/pay-per-click">PPC Management </a>may be different digital marketing channels, as the former aims for organic traffic, while the latter for paid results. However, both use keywords to reach your target audience.

You can complement and improve the exposure and SERP results of your website if you combine SEO and paid advertising correctly. Your SEO efforts can reward you with organic results. At the same time, SEM helps you create a more effective and targeted advertising campaign for keywords that are difficult to rank organically in your website.

SEO and SEM work stronger together. But more importantly, both channels should provide quality user experiences like easy website navigation and relevant page content. If your website doesn't meet Google standards, then don't expect it to yield good results.

It is never too late to combine SEO and PPC to achieve better website visibility. However, having them both in your initial marketing strategy is the best approach.

The benefits of SEO are endless. It's a long-term asset to your business because your audience will always be online which is an opportunity to generate traffic, leads, and conversions. If you want to grow your business without any "push" advertising, invest in an SEO campaign today.

SEO can be overwhelming for the uninitiated.

To save you the trouble, we’ve mapped out our full SEO process to help you understand it better and apply it to your business.

Get ready, it's going to be a long but worthwhile ride.

You might have heard that <a href="https://propelrr.com/blog/the-meat-potato-of-every-seo-and-sem-is-keyword-research">keyword research is the meat and potato of SEO </a>. In essence, it's one of the solid bases of all your succeeding SEO initiatives as your keyword research impacts every other SEO task we perform, including finding optimization opportunities, content development ideas, and outreach or promotion strategies.

SEO in 2020: Your Ultimate Guide To Understanding SEO

Why does your business need SEO?

The SEO Process

Keyword Research

SEO Consultant

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