Why Cyberspace demands a strong SEO game. Here are our top 9 picks

There are a ton of people who don't realise that search engine optimisation can be central to a successful digital marketing campaign.

If you have a website and people use search engines to research your product or service, then SEO can help you gain new customers and send your message directly to a targeted audience with an intent to buy. If this is your business, then SEO internet marketing services should be high on that priority list.

Let’s break it down. What do you need to know about it and what can SEO online marketing services do for your business?

1.   If you don't come up in the first page for your keywords, you are lost in Cyberspace. People rarely scroll past the first page.

2.   Organic leads from organic search are potential customers who have an intent to purchase. If they can't find you, you'll miss a good volume of primed-to-convert traffic to your website.

3.   Your competitors are there, you need to be too. A solid SEO strategy will include analysing your competitors and their backlinks.

4.   A strong SEO game requires on-page and off-page activities. If you don't invest in SEO strategy and activity for the long-term, you won't rank in directories like Google and Bing long enough for it to be of any use.

5.   Directories like Google measure your brand's authority by how it is written over the internet by other people and give preference to websites that have a high Domain Authority (DA) and pages with high Page Authority (PA). If you are not working on driving this, you lose out on strong organic leads. Driving your DA and PA is however a long game. You need to invest in outreaching activity to improve your backlink profile, driving good quality link-juice.  Link juice is the value or equity passed from one website to another. The value is passed through the hyperlink which you acquire through outreaching activities such as securing hosting of blog articles you may have written. Backlinks from a trusted source help increase the website's authority. Search engines see links as votes by other websites that your page is valuable and worth promoting.

6.   A website is more than a pretty exterior. It needs to be technically sound for search engines to love you. An SEO expert can do a thorough analysis of your website and code to find opportunities to make it more SEO friendly. These recommendations will help with the website's performance and experience. Regular page checks and monitoring by an SEO expert, will ensure you pick up any issues which need attention.

7.   Intensive keyword research, based on search trends, when implemented, will ensure you are ranking where you need to be, to drive the right traffic to your website. You will want to collect and define the most relevant keywords for your website's key pages and include them in tags and content to get your site ranking on those keywords.

8.   Don't forget Google My Business (GMB) as part of your SEO activities. GMB allows people to find your location and this little tool helps drive enquiries, location directions and increases your cyberspace visibility. Refreshing and optimising your GMB listing through new images and GMB posts helps you rank higher as part of an overall SEO strategy.

9.   A key part of a strong SEO game will include citation activities, making sure you are listed on platforms such as Google My Business, Bing Places, local directories such as YellowPages, Yelp etc. This will boost the locational visibility of the business. When a user searches for your services or products from a nearby area, it'll increase the probability you'll show up in search results

The great thing about SEO is that when you are ranking, you’re constantly visible to potential customers, able to receive traffic day and night, which can turn into leads/sales. A well-managed SEO channel is always your lead / sale generating force.

There are many other reasons why SEO is important and should be considered for most businesses. You could try to do it yourself or you could stick to your jam and hire a professional for your online seo marketing services. Partner with the right person and you won’t regret it.