It’s time to make SEO a priority
SEO plays a pivotal role in shaping a brand’s online presence. An effective search strategy can drive high-quality visitors and fuel your marketing funnel, attracting potential customers at every buying stage. We all know this.
In fact, according to Ahrefs, SEO drives 1,000%+ more traffic than organic social media.
Why? Simply because it taps into our innate need to search, to discover and to learn.
But even with this knowledge, many marketing leaders struggle to allocate sufficient resources to SEO initiatives, leaving it lost amidst other pressing 'to-dos'.
Building a robust SEO strategy
The foundation of a strong SEO strategy lies in data and analytics. It’s about knowing where you shine and where there’s room to grow. As Sam commented, “The first step for any SEO strategy is understanding what your strengths and weaknesses are, and that comes from data. It comes from understanding your website, understanding the tactics you're using, what's working well and what's not.”
Starting with this evaluation and distilling where you’re performing strongest, where you can get the most “quick wins” and proof of ROI, will help you receive more buy-in from key stakeholders, and ultimately ensure you can secure the additional resource and expertise you need. To do this initial analysis, the panel of experts recommend tools such as SEMrush and SEO Monitor to empower you to understand your online performance, track key metrics, and forecast future results.
Demonstrating ROI
For those in the trenches trying to make a case for SEO or facing a wall of scepticism, it's all about the numbers – proving that SEO isn’t just a line item but a major revenue driver.
To do this, the expert panel recommend investing in attribution – a model that assesses the financial impact of different touchpoints or marketing channels in a customer's journey.
Sam warns, however, “When you’re looking at these kinds of methods, it’s important to understand what the specific tool is claiming it can do, and whether that meets your requirements. Many of these tools claim they can attribute the impact of all marketing activity, like SEO, to revenue targets, but they’re only examining last-click touchpoints. You’ll need to investigate different models based on your marketing mix, how you engage with your customers and how long that journey is. It’s rarely a one-size-fits-all approach. Jaywing has a data science and modelling team that does this in-house and builds bespoke solutions for brands.”
The SEO ecosystem in 2024
Modern SEO goes beyond keyword ranking. it's crucial to build a best-in-class website with a focus on user experience (UX) that caters to the entire customer journey, from initial search to conversion and beyond. This holistic approach ensures your website not only ranks well but also keeps visitors engaged and seamlessly moving through the marketing funnel.
As Sam says, "SEO has to be integrated to work now." This means aligning SEO goals with your overall business objectives, leveraging data to inform content strategy, and working hand-in-hand with other teams such as PR. Digital PR, in particular, plays a vital role by building brand authority through high-quality content, which naturally attracts links and boosts your SEO performance.
Staying Ahead of the Curve
Just like the digital world, SEO doesn’t stand still. It’s about keeping your ear to the ground and being ready to pivot when the next big thing (like SGE, the Search Generative Experience) comes around the corner.