As the media environment has transformed and become more fragmented, this has brought about enormous challenges for businesses to attract customers. People are now searching and sourcing all the information they require on the internet, facilitated by ‘Search Engines’. There are numerous search engine such as Bing, Yahoo, etc. However, Google is currently the dominating platform with over 80% of the global marketing share. Google has access to an enormous quantity of data from its own platforms and tools, which it uses to analyse users’ behaviour/intent.
A functioning website is one of the principal means by which any company communicates and carries out its business as it allows for its information. However, having a website does not necessarily mean the same as having a web presence; to be successful requires time, effort and resources and a thorough understanding of your business’s primary goals and objectives if you are to maximise the usefulness and reach of your website. Many websites exist, but because of poor content, infrequent updating, and bad practices, they may never be found.
There are specific marketing strategies and best practices that must be implemented, both internally and externally, to ensure that a website increases its chances of being successful and have products/services in front of potential customers ahead of competitors.
The primary aim of a business online is to attain a high ranking in the search engine results page (SERP), as this is crucial for attracting traffic to a website. In general, the higher up and more frequently a site appears in SERP’s, the more visitors it will receive and it is this that gives a website a good web presence. Search engine optimisation (SEO) contributes to improving the visibility of a website via the organic (natural) or un-paid search results. The main goal of SEO is to create relevant content that is targeted towards specific user intent.
Other forms include paid advertising, such as Google Adwords and Display, which can also increase a company’s visibility in search results.
Google’s analytical tools (which are free!) will help you understand the performance of your website content, which of it is leading to conversions and the behaviours behind it, as well as whether the marketing ads or campaigns are converting or not.
