Have you heard of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)? If you need a quick introduction to this term, please read on – otherwise, skip to the next heading!

An example of a search engine is Google; a tool that trawls the internet and delivers results when you want to know something. The optimisation part of SEO refers to the process of ‘optimising’ or improving your overall rank on the results produced by a search engine like Google.

If you are ranking high up on Google’s search results, then it stands to reason that more people will click on your business, because they trust Google’s results.

In short: SEO makes people click on your business because you appear higher up on Google’s search results.

But how does SEO improve your business brand? After all, branding is the process of making your business identifiable through certain imagery, logos, colours and styling. SEO is a digital marketing tactic where curated content is written with appropriate keywords included and relevant information that answers pertinent questions asked by your users.

There is plenty of literature about branding being something that needs to be developed over time, and while we don’t disagree with the fact that you can (and should) invest time and energy into building your business’ brand over a number of years, we know that effective SEO can help with branding in the shorter term as well.

SEO for branding works in the short term

Let’s take a look at an example – 

Lucy is at home with the kids when she notices that there are some mouse scats on the floor. Alarmed, she immediately pulls out her phone and searches for pest control in Bardon. Within seconds she is calling the top hit on the search results – No More Mister Mice Guy – and a pest control person is out to her home within the hour. She is delighted with the service and pleased with the end result.

Note that Lucy had never heard of No More Mister Mice Guy before getting onto her phone and searching – but within an hour she had not only found, but completed a transaction with a new company.

Now, the reason why this is valuable for your brand is because within moments you can cater to someone as and when they need you, which means that you will be more likely to become a preferred brand.

And this is all from a customer who had NO IDEA that you existed prior to having a problem and turning to their mobile to solve it.

Top takeaway: A successful brand is one that meets a customer or user’s expectations as and when they are looking for something.
SEO puts you front and centre.

Why SEO is important for your business

We’re going to keep this simple and we made an easy-to-read list, so this information is super digestible. Here are the top reasons why SEO is important for your business – 

1. Organic search (that is, people typing a search query into Google and hitting enter and then clicking on the first result – as opposed to clicking on an ad that has been paid to appear) is a critical part of acquiring new customers. Being highly visible through SEO efforts means that more people will see your business appear and thus, you get more business.
2. SEO efforts make your business more trusted online. How? Through ensuring you have a beautiful and fast website. In fact, the goal of an SEO service provider is to deliver a user-friendly and highly rankable website that is easy to find, use, and experience. At KDM we do exactly that.
3. High quality SEO means that your users have a positive user experience. A positive user experience comes when everything is intuitively where you expect it to be, the page loads quickly, and you find information that seems written specifically for you.
4. Local SEO is vital for increased engagement and traffic (and conversions). When you have SEO in place – local SEO – you’re going to benefit from content that is focused on your surrounding area. A good SEO agency will be working on your Google My Business listing as well as producing content which relates to and targets local suburbs and areas.
5. SEO has an impact on the buying cycle. In case you’re not familiar with the buying cycle here’s a quick refresher:

Top takeaway: The way in which SEO has an impact on your buying cycle is by providing detailed information on the solutions your business provides, and by helping customers and nurturing them at every stage.

The bottom line is, without solid SEO behind your business’ marketing strategy, your brand is going to suffer. Your brand is built using a combination of visual strategy, and written content. SEO helps by meeting the need of your users quickly and in a way that appeals to the stage of the buying cycle that they are at.

KDM is here to assist you no matter what stage your business is at – whether you are looking to expand and are hoping to grow quickly, or if you are starting out and want to build a solid foundation to improve upon. Call us today on 1300 596 636.