“The success of every website now depends on search engine optimisation and digital marketing strategy. If you are on the first page of all major search engines, then you are ahead among your competitors in terms of online sales.” –  Dr Christopher Dayagdag

We are currently living in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the post-digital age, and an era where the Internet (or World Wide Web) has become the first port of call for many when looking for information about random topics and purchasing goods and services online.

Statistics show that 63.4% of the global population has access to the Internet through one or more mobile device. It is estimated that the world’s population is currently 7.7 billion people. Thus, circa 4.93 billion people across the globe have access to the Internet.  

Furthermore, the total number of websites available for public consumption is listed by InternetLiveStats.com as 1.5 billion. Therefore, these figures translate into the fact that there is about one-fifth of a website per person living across the world today.

Because of consumer demand for information accessible online, and the high number of websites available to browse through, it is easy for content to get lost “in the crowd”, as it were.

Search Engine Optimisation: The components of a robust strategy

Therefore, the question that must be asked and answered is: “How does a brand get its content noticed by its target audience? “

The succinct answer to this question is that brand marketers must use the latest search engine optimisation methodologies to drive traffic to the brand. Increased traffic will, in turn push the brand website and social media up the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) until it is in the top three-pack. 

Essentially, a website needs to rank in the top three to five results on the SERP for it to be noticed by its target audience. Googlers typically do not look at websites ranked below the top five results. 

Before we look at what comprises a SEO strategy, let’s look at a succinct definition of Search Engine Optimisation.

Moz.com defines SEO as the “practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.”

Based on this information, the next question that begs is what the elements of a successful SEO strategy are. By way of answering this question, here is a list of the main components of the SEO model:

Keyword analysis

Brands are typically linked with relevant keywords or phrases that, when searched for by the consumer, will return a link to the brand’s website.  Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that an in-depth analysis has done on the keywords needed before money is spent on linking the brand to its related keywords.

There are essentially two types of keywords: 

  • Exact match or short-tail keywords: These are words that are the exact brand descriptors. They are typically three words or less, and they include the brand name. These keywords are targeted at the onset of a new SEO strategy.
  • Long-tail keywords: These keyword phrases consist of more than three words. They also tend to be descriptive phrases of the different products or services that are linked to the brand. Once the brand has been linked with the short-tail keywords, it’s time to link long-tail keywords to the brand. 

Content marketing

The old adage “content is king” is particularly relevant in this scenario. Informative, quality content is used a primary driver of brand traffic. It is vital to emphasise the importance of writing and publishing high-quality content that is relevant to the brand. 

Google, as the most-used Search Engine, has implemented search algorithms that have the ability to detect spun, poorly written, or duplicate content. When Google finds substandard content, it punishes the brand by knocking it right down the SERP. It takes ages, if at all, to rebuild the brand’s reputation. 

It must also be noted that good content is also well-paid content. And, while it might be cheaper to pay less, it is not worth running the risk of being punished for spam.

Final thoughts

This article touches the tip of the iceberg in terms of the size and scope of search engine optimisation. However, it provides the essence of the two most important components of a robust SEO strategy.