Connect SEO with Business Objectives: Simplify Key Concepts like Page Speed and Link Building for Executives
Businesses often overlook optimizing organic traffic due to stakeholders’ lack of understanding of how it works and its impact on company goals.
Please continue reading to discover how to translate SEO concepts into business terms. This will help you engage your business partners and gain their support for organic initiatives.
Improving Customer Experience
Customer experience is universally recognized as crucial for business success, especially when 52% of customers say they’ll switch to a competitor after just one negative experience.
But how do SEO factors impact customer experience?
1. Broken Pages and Redirects
Broken pages, like 404 or 500 errors, and improper redirects can become significant business concerns. Stakeholders, who are also online users, are likely to encounter these issues and understand their frustration.
While broken pages are noticeable, excessive redirects often go unnoticed by users but can harm a website’s performance. Redirects use up search engines’ crawl budget, dilute page authority, and negatively impact site speed.
To explain this in business terms, consider a scenario where you have a shopping list, but upon arriving at a grocery store, you find it’s relocated, adding 20 extra minutes to your trip. Although you’re “redirected” to the new location, the additional step is frustrating.
Similarly, search engine bots encountering too many redirects can experience frustration, which may negatively impact your site’s ranking—just like a negative review can deter potential customers.
2. On-Page SEO
On-page SEO involves optimizing individual webpages to rank higher and attract more relevant traffic. It’s akin to merchandising in physical stores, keeping users and bots engaged with your content.
Engagement lowers bounce rates, which could improve rankings—a concept supported by recent Google documentation leaks. By engaging users, you increase their time on a page and the visibility of critical elements like CTAs.
Consider placing essential items, like bread, at the back of a supermarket to encourage customers to see other products. Similarly, effective on-page optimization can lead to increased leads and a healthier sales pipeline.
3. Page Speed
Page speed is very important for both SEO and user experience. Slow-loading pages usually result in higher bounce rates as users will likely abandon sites that take too long to load.
Imagine walking into a coffee shop on a busy street. If your order takes too long, you’ll choose another shop next time. Similarly, a fast-loading website keeps visitors engaged and more likely to return.
Search engine bots, like discerning customers, won’t tolerate slow service. Optimizing page speed can enhance loyalty from both human visitors and bots, potentially leading to higher rankings and increased sales.
Enhancing Lead Quality and Conversion Rates
Achieving business success goes beyond providing a good customer experience. It’s also essential to attract the right customers—those with the highest potential to convert—and give them compelling reasons to do so.
On the online front, several SEO strategies can aid in this effort.
4. Meta Titles and Descriptions
First impressions matter in both business and online settings. Your meta titles and descriptions are crucial in how search engines and users perceive your webpages.
The title tag acts as your digital business card, so it should be concise, clear, and immediately convey the value of your page. The meta description functions as your elevator pitch, offering a summary that forces users to click on your result.
Just as a well-designed shop window can attract customers, well-crafted meta titles and descriptions enhance click-through rates and improve search engine visibility. They set the right expectations, which can boost lead conversion rates. Effective meta tags can also increase the number of completed transactions in B2C sectors where purchase decisions are quicker and more emotional.
Creating impactful meta titles and descriptions requires thorough preliminary research to ensure they align with user intent.
5. Topic Research and Content Strategy
Understanding market trends and customer needs is vital, and it often begins with a thorough research phase. For instance, a discovery phase helps clarify details and align the offering with customer demand when launching a new product or service.
Similarly, you must conduct topic and keyword research for your online presence to inform your content strategy. By understanding what audience searches for, you can create content that addresses your own audience’s needs and interests.
Compelling topic and keyword research enhances traffic quality, boosts conversion rates and MQLs, and nurtures leads through the sales funnel.
6. Structured Data
Structured data is a powerful SEO tool that can improve lead quality and conversion rates. Though not directly visible to users, structured data provides search engines with detailed, specific information about your website’s content, akin to nutritional labels on food products.
This additional information helps search engines display richer and more relevant search results, including enhanced snippets, product details, and review stars. These elements make your results more attractive to users, leading to higher click-through and better conversion rates.
Building Brand Reputation
While improving lead quality and customer experience is essential for day-to-day business survival, investing in building your brand reputation is important for long-term success. The reason is apparent: 63% of consumers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by a company’s reputation, according to Qualtrics.
7. Internal and External Links
Effective usage of internal and external links is vital for your website’s SEO and brand reputation. Internal links help structure information, guiding users and search engines through your content. This is similar to 360-degree reviews, which help managers make informed decisions about promotions by providing a comprehensive view of employee performance.
Similarly, search engines like Google aim to organize information and present the best results. With a clear structure, search results would be manageable and valuable.
External links, on the other hand, signal your site’s credibility. They act as professional endorsements, akin to positive customer reviews or media mentions that validate your business’s reliability. Building a network of credible external links enhances your site’s trustworthiness, leading to growth opportunities, a more substantial brand reputation, and improved deal sizes and sales pipeline.
8. Anchor Texts
Anchor texts—the clickable words in a hyperlink—play a significant role in establishing your site’s trustworthiness. They function like a good introduction at a networking event, setting the tone for the interaction.
Well-chosen anchor texts guide users and search engine bots in understanding the context of linked content. Just as a handshake can influence the perception of a business relationship, descriptive and relevant anchor texts help users smoothly transition to linked pages.
Proper use of anchor texts can improve the relevance of your pages for specific terms and serve as authority signals on a webpage level. By setting the right expectations and naturally building trust, anchor texts enhance your brand’s online reputation.
Simplifying SEO Speak for Business Stakeholders
SEO can often seem like a complex and enigmatic field dominated by jargon about Google’s algorithms. To many business stakeholders, it may appear as a black box where funds are invested with unclear outcomes.
Translating SEO concepts into business terms is essential for demonstrating its impact on growth and success. By clarifying how SEO contributes to business objectives, you can secure more significant support and resources for your optimization efforts.
If you need help with SEO, which is challenging and confusing, consider exploring our monthly SEO packages. Our experts can provide the guidance and support you need.
