The Power Of Google Search For Your Business, Part 1: Organic Search And Traffic

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As a business owner, chances are you’ve heard about the importance of optimizing your website for Google search. 

But the truth is, there are multiple search engines out there. Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo just to name a few.

So why is Google in particular so important for your business? 

The answer is pretty simple – Google is the biggest search engine. By a long shot. 

And, it’s arguably also the best.

According to Yell Business, 

“Google’s search algorithm (the set of rules by which it orders search results) is incredibly useful for searchers. It’s in Google’s own financial and reputational interests to provide a good experience and to help those using its search engine get to where they need to be as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

At Littejohn’s Web Shop, we love to harness the power of Google for our clients every day. 

In this three part series, we will talk about how you as a business owner can also tap into the power of Google to grow your business. 
And today we cover one of the most important facets of Google: organic search and traffic.

Why Invest Time Into Organic Search And Traffic?

Organic traffic to your website occurs when a visitor reaches your site as a result of typing an inquiry into a search engine – like Google. 

They have not been referred by another website and they did not find you because of a paid advertisement. 

As a business owner, you should care about organic traffic for a couple of reasons:

1. Organic Traffic Is Free

Unlike paid ads, with a little leg work and time you can get traffic to your website for free with organic traffic. 

2. Organic Traffic Is Targeted

A user typing a query into Google has a very specific goal in mind. If your business can provide them with a solution, you will be much more likely to gain them as a client or customer. 

Web users are also more likely to trust your brand if you show up organically vs if you pop up because you’ve paid for an ad.

3. Organic Traffic is Sticky 

Organic traffic sticks to search results. When you’re ranking on the first page of Google, you tend to stick and stay there when you are consistent with your marketing efforts. 

Unlike paid ads when you only appear in Google Search based on your budget, organic traffic is more likely to result in consistent and longer term rankings. 

How To Get Started With Organic Search And Traffic 

If you want your business to show up to your prospects organically, you need to understand one term: SEO.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of increasing both the quality and quantity of your website traffic with organic search results. 

The good news is, there are a multitude of ways you can do this. If your business is new to SEO, you can try tackling 1-2 methods per month until you have a great SEO process in place.

The term “process” is not used accidentally when it comes to SEO.

An SEO plan does not get instant results the way paid ads do. It will take time and consistency to rank well with organic traffic – but the quality of customers that organic traffic can result in makes the process well worth it. 

First thing you need to do is optimize your website for new customers who use Google Search. Here’s how:  

1. Identify What Your Customers Are Actually Searching For With Keyword Research

Thorough keyword research is a critical step your business must take, and it’s the first one I recommend to my clients. 

To perform your own keyword research:

• List out all relevant terms you believe your prospects are probably typing into a search bar based on what you know about your business
• Use a keyword research tool like this one to help you see which keywords and keyword phrases you should target.

The “key” here is to target keywords that are relevant to your brand, authoritative, and have a high search volume. You can then base your content off of your keyword research.

2. Link To Other Quality Websites In Your Niche

Great sites typically link to other great sites, and if you want to rank well and be seen as an authoritative website – both to search engines and to your visitors – strategically linking to other websites is a great move. 

According to Neil Patel, “To most people, linking out to relevant and authoritative content pages is bad because it takes people off your page. 

But, I don’t think so. Link building remains a fundamental part of smart search engine optimization strategy. I link out to tons of high-quality sites and sources, including my direct competition. 

Why? Because it helps you, my reader.”

3. Add Plenty Of Internal Links

Internal linking (adding links between pages on your own website) also helps increase your SEO and fosters in more organic traffic. 

Google bots crawl your website so they know how relevant your content is. This helps Google know how to rank you, and with the right internal links you can help direct Google (and your visitors!) to your most important and relevant web pages. 

4. Write Content Your Visitors Care About

Posting consistent, relevant content on your website is one of the most important SEO moves you can make. 

Websites that don’t update keywords, blog posts, or web pages for long periods of time become stagnant and lose their ranking. 

One of the best ways to keep your content fresh is by coming up with a content strategy and making it a consistent part of your marketing plan. 

At Littlejohn’s Web Shop, we create content and blog for our clients just like you on a monthly basis in our Ultimate Monthly Plan.

5. Watch Your Load Time

While most people wouldn’t consider a slow loading website an SEO issue, it absolutely is. If your page is full of broken links, error pages, or doesn’t load in a timely manner, Google notices and ranks you lower.

An easy fix? Get rid of any non essential elements that slow your site down. We use http://gtmetrix.com/ to monitor page speed and make adjustments to give our client the best results.

Tune in next time when we share everything you need to know about Google ads…

And for help creating your organic traffic strategy, contact us at Littlejohn’s Web Shop today!