4 ways SEO can lead business growth during the COVID-19 pandemic
With the pandemic affecting businesses and the livelihood of millions, the demand-supply chain has been severely affected. That said, despite the inclement situations, there is still a way out for the companies that are looking to grow even when the chips are down. Although survival and recovery are the only aspects businesses are considering at the moment, there are still several possibilities for growth and making profits during these challenging times.
The first strategy towards growth is to take the operations online. Digital identity is going to revolutionize the entrepreneurial ventures of an organization. Furthermore, if you are seriously looking towards an online future, productive and functional Search Engine Optimization techniques can lead the way. SEO techniques, if and when, implemented with precision, have the potential to become growth drivers. However, before considering the SEO techniques in the existing times, it is necessary to take a look at a few important pointers.
- Ecommerce essentials and online retail stores are gaining predominance
- Remote working conditions are being monitored
- Almost 75 percent of regular business customers are trying out the social interfaces
- 4 percent of customers are staying away from brand advertisements
- Almost 46 percent of all online searches are local
- 88 percent of businesses have local-SEO strategies in play receive calls in less than 24 hours
Based on the statistics, it is necessary to bring forth non-coercive SEO strategies for catering to a wider customer base. With physical stores getting minimal traffic despite government lifting lockdown restrictions, the possibilities are endless for businesses that are looking to move online.
Here are the 4 ways SEO can help business grow without having to resort to unprecedented capital infusion, Moreover, with almost 70 percent of online marketers considering SEO as a better sales driver than PPC, the discussion is all the more relevant.
Increased Online Searches
Digital searching habits of the customers play a major role in determining the SEO tactics. With the entire world restricted in terms of free-willed movements, it is important to consider the potential of online searches. SEO, as expected, can drive traffic to the websites and the existing scenario is extremely relevant to this kind of business approach.
Research figures reveal the ‘Search’ is an oversized activity with almost 53 percent of website traffic coming from organic searches. SEO tactics helps brands get to the top of the page and at present you must even consider strategic paid promotions to empower traffic generation further. Paid campaigns and organic traffic can work together to help the business reach newer heights.
Use Case: Amazon is sponsoring several posts by running paid campaigns. The company isn’t leaving any stone unturned to gain traffic and increases sales figures. While it already gets a lot of organic searches, it is scaling above any competition in case of newer products like PPE kits, sanitizers, and more by opting for paid and sponsored campaigns.
Improved Traffic Equity
Needless to say, while the pandemic is a trend, SEO is a consistent approach that evolves but stays. Therefore, investing in SEO during the testing times can help businesses build exceptional traffic equity, especially going into the future. Investing in relevant keyword research, ideating about the relevant niches, and making a digital move are expected to pay rich dividends even after the economic structure solidifies, again.
The best approaches to get hold of SEO traffic equity is by contemplating short-term and even long-term goals. Long form website content and keyword specific, niche-centric insights are some of the better tools to improve the website traffic equity.
Use Case: A popular insurance company has moved online with its wide-range of inexpensive senior life insurance. Check the page and understand how the services and products are aligned for the company to build a presence for the future and even getting a few sales in the meantime. The brand also talks about the importance of insurance and why senior citizens require the same in the form of informative blogs. This approach helps build trust and eventually improve traffic equity.
Improved UX
User-experience is to be prioritized. Therefore, the best SEO practices for achieving the same is to opt for responsive themes and make sure that interface is fluidic and in sync with user requirements. Every website element, starting from design to UX, including on-page content and optimization, play an important role in amplifying the outreach of the business.
A well-designed website has a better chance of moving up the rankings. The concept of user experience also extends to mobile interfaces and websites that have dedicated, well-managed mobile apps, usually rank better. Improved UX lower bounce rates and improve the time spent on the websites, thereby increasing the chances of better revenue.
Use Case: Netflix is one streaming platform that concentrates on better UX, CMS, metatags placement, and other aspects related to use experience and website design. However, there are several other streaming platforms that do not have the same interface quality. This limiting factor keeps subscriptions and sales to a minimum.
Amplified Outreach
SEO is an all-encompassing solution for online businesses. For physically existent businesses, local SEO can be a productive strategy to consider. Individuals will refrain from travelling outside their areas if the issues related to the pandemic aren’t addressed permanently. Therefore, in order to make the local business more identifiable, it is necessary to concentrate on local SEO.
This approach includes adding relevant local news, local keywords, reviews, and mobile optimization strategies into the mix. Moreover, if the local business also exports essential commodities across states or provides online services to the local clientele, global SEO can increase revenue generation. The approaches in this case include website optimization, UX optimization, keyword optimization, generating backlinks, and more. Therefore, depending on the nature of the business, the proper amalgamation of local and global SEO strategies can reap rich dividends.
Use case: Blink Fitness has a local clientele who will soon be visiting the gym once the government lifts restrictions. However, the fitness center has an audience across the globe, with trainers offering online training to clients, even in Europe and Asia, via websites that are optimized via sitemaps, backlinks, and more. Therefore, this business makes the best use of local and global SEO strategies and is still generating substantial revenue when much of the competition is finding it hard to even survive. The company also has a massive social media outreach that also helps optimize the brand in general.
This article was written by Anand Srivastava from Business2Community and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.
