How to Use SEO and Online Search Strategies: A Digital Marketing Guide for Business

This article has been updated to incorporate newer and more in-depth information on this topic, as well as the latest data and research. Additional content has been included to help the reader understand how SEO works in marketing.

Putting a digital marketing strategy in place for your business isn’t easy.

Sure, you can have an awesome website, but do you have the right copy? Is your social messaging helping drive sales, or is it just collecting likes? Are you selling to the right customer and using the right channels?

There are a lot of moving parts you need to balance.

That includes SEO (Search Engine Optimization). You can have the best content, award-winning videos, and a brilliant call-to-action, but if you don’t have an SEO strategy, your best prospects may never get a chance to experience that content.  You’ll never have a chance to make a sale. Many marketing leaders say that to succeed in 2022 and beyond, you need an SEO strategy.

What is SEO?

Today, when someone has a problem, they turn to the Internet. They use search engines like Google, Bing, or Safari to find a solution and get the answers they need.

According to Internet Live Stats, a data company, Google manages more than 40,000 searches per second. This means there are more than 3.5 billion daily searches on Google and more than 1.2 trillion searches a year worldwide.

As a business, your goal is to be seen as the solution for the prospects looking for answers. That’s where SEO can help.

SEO includes techniques that increase traffic to your website through organic search results.

Search engines use programs known as bots to catalog the information on the Internet. The better you can design your website and copy to answer the searches of your prospects, the easier it is for bots to catalog. The better you can rank in search results

Crafting a Digital Marketing SEO Strategy for your Business

According to many experts, crafting a successful SEO strategy is both an art and a science. While we can’t guarantee success, we’ve collected a few insider tips that will jumpstart your SEO strategy.

Finding the Right Keywords for your Business

There are certain words, or word combinations, that will be used in the searches you want to rank for. These are known as keywords and should be the focus of your strategy.

• Consult your Personas: You should have a buyer persona for your business – a research-based profile of your target. Brainstorm how your persona will look for a solution. Create a list of questions they may use, then find keywords or phrases that will be included in a search. Still struggling? Look at your competitors to see how they are targeting prospects.

Here's an excellent guide from Threecolts on Buyer Personas, with an in-depth look at how they work in marketing. Also, check out online tools like Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest. They can help you find additional keywords.

• Create a Content Strategy: With a list of questions and your keywords, you should be able to determine how you can best answer the questions your prospects have as they look online for a solution. Your goal should be to create the best, most authoritative answers for prospects utilizing the keywords.
• Building your Website: Your website should be where you answer your prospect’s questions. It shouldn’t just highlight your business or the products you sell but help your prospects solve a problem. It should give them the answers they are looking for. The answers and solutions should be the focus of your web and SEO strategy.

Search engines give preference to websites that are easy to use. That means the site is mobile-responsive and the pages load quickly. Users should be able to find the answers they need quickly.

Many businesses are already using a strategy similar to this to build out their marketing, but SEO shifts to focus to the prospect – your buyer persona.

Implementing your Keyword Strategy

Implementing an SEO strategy for your business shouldn’t be an event but a process. The goal is to optimize your content continually.

As you learn more about your prospects and as web and search habits change, you should continue to adjust your SEO strategy. Regularly schedule a time to review and update the content on your website with the goal of improving your search ranking.

This is just the first step in an overall SEO strategy. It is a good first step, but additional work can quickly pay dividends in your digital marketing plan.

Keep in mind that keywords and SEO should be part of your overall search strategy, but it's not the only part. Google and other search engines look at other factors when ranking websites. This includes your Core Web Vitals, which measures the user experience on your web page using factors such as page load speed and browser response.

Backlinks and links to and from your site are another factor in your ranking on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). A page with high-quality links from similar sites shows Google and other search engines that the information on your site will be valuable to users.

If you’re ready to move forward with a new, or expanded, SEO strategy, then call the experts at GO2 to see how they can help. With a complete marketing execution team available as needed, GO2 can help not only with the strategy but also the implementation of your digital marketing – delivering the turnkey solution many businesses are looking for.