SEO: What Type of Traffic does It Impact?
A decision on starting out with site SEO is usually connected with a strong desire for improving visibility and organic results. However, if you look at this process more broadly, it turns out that you can win much more. Traffic on a site can be acquired not only via Google but also Social Media, links from forums and blogs and direct visits.
What is SEO for your brand?
The complete SEO process consists of many elements, such as:
- optimizing content on the website,
- creating new, unique and valuable content,
- organizing the structure of the website,
- obtaining external links.
In order to increase the chances of success, SEO should start with an in-depth analysis of your website and observation of trends in the industry. Of course – the goal can only be one – improve visibility on Google. However, nothing prevents you from using the potential of the website and the entire brand in a valuable way, primarily for its users. By taking part in constructive discussions, by answering customer questions and providing them with useful information, you not only create external links but, above all, you can become an expert in your profession. So what type of traffic does SEO influence in such a wide approach? The answer to this question can be surprising!
The basic goal of SEO – organic search results
The most important item on the list of expectations of the SEO agency’s client. If you want to achieve your goal, which is currently the most profit from sales, the user should find your site when searching for products or services that interest him. The wide SEO process includes many keywords – from general ones, with large volumes, to very detailed ones. As work progresses, the positions of specific phrases improve and they start to generate impressions in search results and then clicks. Organic search is often the largest source of traffic on the site. It is not an advertisement, so it naturally encourages you to take advantage of the company’s services – since it is visible on the first page on Google, there is a good chance that its product will be of good quality.
Higher conversion potential, despite a lower number of searches, comes from detailed phrases. For example, looking for a light bulb for your lamp, the user usually knows exactly what he needs. In order to quickly find a product, they search for “e14 6w led bulbs” rather than just “led bulbs”. There are many such “searches” caring for high positions and good matching, long-tail answers to their specific needs. When traffic on the site increases, conversion does too. By optimizing a website for the SEO process, we first and foremost make it user-friendly. This is due to the way Google algorithms work, which highly value a large amount of valuable content.
Remember about usability!
At the moment when a user comes to your website, the main role is played by the intuitiveness of its use and the usefulness of the content. If the product description is exhaustive and the purchase process is easy and fast, the customer will go away satisfied and maybe even get to know the offer of a store better. They are also more likely to click a link to your website during subsequent purchases. In a word – he will come back. This is one of many ways to build brand recognition.
Another example is a blog. Continuing the topic of the aforementioned bulbs, the owner of the lighting store can start to create interesting guide articles regarding the selection of appropriate lamps, interesting arrangements, as well as the currently popular energy saving topic. Useful knowledge should go hand in hand with optimizing content for keywords searched by users. The number of impressions and clicks will increase. If you can use an appropriate internal linking structure to move to text-related products, perhaps the reader of the blog will become a customer. You may also want to share your interesting article further.
Referral – external links, not only from the SEO process
There are many ways to get links. You can approach this challenge with the old “on quantity” method, but it has not been satisfying for a long time. It is worth combining raising the profile of a domain with building an expert image. A link from a topic-related forum, where the discussion revolves around keywords matched to your website has a positive impact on its value assessed by search engine algorithms. As a professional in your field, you can actively participate in discussions on industry forums. When you give complex answers to their users, whilst directing to interesting articles and useful products on your site, profits will increase. Such forums, thanks to moderation, a wealth of valuable, current content and high traffic, often have high rates of domain authority. A link obtained this way also has a lot of potential for generating clicks.
Another way to create incoming links is to prepare content for external pages. This process can be implemented in various ways – on the basis of cooperation with industry sites, press offices or through publications on specially prepared microsites. If the prepared material contains valuable content, there is a good chance that the links included in it, in addition to a positive effect on the website’s authority, will also bring in traffic.
Analysis of keywords for the website and observation of search trends also help to find influencers who are willing to publish a sponsored entry or, long story short, to advertise the product. Such cooperation is primarily with a well-known figure in a wider circle, but can also be clickable links from valuable sources.
An increase in traffic from the referral source may also be the result of high positions in search results to some extent. In online discussions, frequently asked questions are those about recommended products or services. Forums for motoring enthusiasts and electronics may be a very good example, too. If you want to quickly give an example of a part used to repair a fault, then the user will readily refer to the history of their purchases or … Google. If he finds your site in one of these places – you get a link on an external site that will almost certainly be clicked.
Social – create your community!
Brand accounts on the most popular social networks are another element of a broad, conscious SEO strategy. Traffic from Social Media is directed to our website by creating links. If profiles and entries are properly optimized, they can act on your site – raising the already mentioned indicators of the website and domain authority.
While there are many ways to create links on forums, if we do not want to then we do not have to present ourselves as an expert. So on social networking sites, we often have to appear as our own brand. In addition to valuable links, we also build the company’s position and enable the creation of a community of its clients. Interesting content will definitely be read and a link to the page will generate traffic within the Social source. Posts can also be made available as part of a wider discussion. This phenomenon is conducive to a further increase in traffic. An account that was created as part of the SEO process, properly guided, will start to live its own life, showing your company in a positive light.
High visibility of the brand, an interesting blog, and especially convenient shopping, which do not require searching for information outside of your website, greatly affect the image of your brand. The more you are present on the Internet, the greater the chance that your product, store or service will become the subject of discussion. A process that began with the desire to improve the visibility of a site has far-reaching consequences. Good SEO process also affects your results on Social Media. At some point, links start to arise independently of yourself or the SEO agency and the SEO’s task is to maintain positive trends and even better match the content to customers’ needs.
SEO and Direct traffic – a regular customer is the best customer.
What other types of traffic does the SEO have? Direct traffic is the answer that comes last. However, it is worth asking a question – do you order every time you find a product you are interested in? Have you ever saved an address in bookmarks or returned to it using history? Certainly not once. This type of traffic, which is usually the result of a good position in the search engine – meaning effective SEO – will be classified as Direct.
The Google algorithms mean that SEO combines with UX issues in many areas. A well-optimized website encourages visits. If you build a positive brand image, some of your customers will remember it carefully and add your website address to their browser’s bookmarks. When looking for an assortment from your industry, you can immediately visit the website without using search engines – after all, it has used it a lot.
The impact of SEO on traffic from advertising
One of the ways to quickly promote an offer on the internet are PPC activities, implemented, for example, as paid search results. Google Ads puts a number of requirements to its clients, which should be met for a website to have a high ranking. On this basis, an ad will be displayed (or not) to the Google user. One of the elements of a website ranking is an evaluation of the landing page quality. The idea is that after clicking on an ad, the user finds pages in accordance with his expectations. The question then arises: what can you do to make an advertised site highly rated? Google suggests – the content on it should be original and useful and navigation convenient. Sounds familiar? Similar phrases have already been made in this text – when discussing the complete SEO process.
The statement that SEO affects traffic from Google Ads can be negatively considered as a wide range of myths. If you’re interested in this issue, read the article 16 Myths about Google Ads. SEO and PPC can co-exist and even complement each other.
Summary
The answer to the question asked in the title is not straightforward. It all depends on how far we reach the conventional boundary of the broad process. Effective cooperation of specialists from SEO and client agencies can bring interesting results in the form of traffic growth not only from organic search results but also from other channels. This also applies to ads.