What is #SEO?
#Search Engine Optimization abbreviated as SEO, is a member in the family of Search Marketing. As opposed to SEM which is advertising to bid ad rank on the paid Search section on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) triggered by search queries in the search box, SEO is to boost rankings in the organic Search section without resorting to advertising on Search Engines (i.e. SEM).
In 2007, Google launched the “Universal Search” which is a system to decide the content type on the organic search results. With the Google Universal Search, Google blend listings from its news, video, images, local and book search engines, and Knowledge Graph among those it gathers from crawling web pages.
Refer to Image 1.1 showcasing Universal Search influencing the Google Organic Search Results.
Why SEO?
As 81% of online shoppers research online before buying and 60% among them start their research from search engines1, it is important to boost your organic web rankings to maximize your search engine visibility especially from popular search queries.
Although you can achieve your search engine visibility through SEM, CPC (Cost Per Click) inflation rate is getting higher and higher over years which meant the cost of keeping your search engine visibility getting higher, not to say the continuous investment in sustaining this visibility.
Moreover organic search listing are more trustworthy than advertised (paid) listing to internet shoppers.
For some industries bounded by legal regulations, any form of advertising including SEM is restricted. These industries are mostly but not limited to Medical field, pharmaceuticals, etc.
Who does SEO for you
If you don’t have an in-house expert, you have to source an agency or SEO consultant to help with this. There are a long list of criteria of evaluating your SEO agency or consultant. However among these, the most important criteria is to make sure they are applying white hat SEO tactics. In upcoming articles, we shall explain more black hat Vs white hat SEO tactics, as well as steps to evaluate your SEO agency and consultant. Stay tuned or subscribe below to make sure you receive our eNewsletter