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SEO Strategy: What CMOs need to know about SEO today

Search engine optimization is one of the core drivers of sales and growth for (almost) every business today. That’s why CMOs need to fully appreciate the value of SEO strategy. In this post, I’ll highlight the importance of SEO for strategic decision-making that will generate the tools for sustainable results.

How SEO strategy facilitates enterprise growth

Many omnichannel marketing strategies rely heavily on search engine success.

According to reports, 65% of website traffic and 67% of website sales come from paid and organic searches.

Studies also suggest, the conversion rate for organic search is 2.8% — making it the second-best marketing channel, ahead of e-mail and social media. Only paid search performs slightly better at 2.9%.

SEO strategy is also one of the best ways to gain new customers. Google logs 3.5 billion search queries each day. More than 60 percent of the global population are active web users. And an increasing number depend on information from search to inform their short-and long-term buying decisions.

Search data, on its own, provides valuable insights for making better strategic decisions for your business. Helping you gain more accurate answers to: Who exactly are your potential customers and what are they looking for? How are demand patterns changing? How are your competitors doing it? Who are your real competitors?

5 aspects of SEO strategy that growth-minded CMOs understand

SEO is more than just Google rankings and traffic. It’s at the heart of the work done by marketing teams. Growth-minded CMOs strategically regard the following SEO elements:

1. Intuitive algorithms
In the past, SEO was often a slapdash mix of generating landing pages for one keyword and building backlinks to those sites. Fortunately, those days are over because the algorithms that drive the search engines have become much smarter. Today, the content counts above all else. User-friendliness, or E-A-T (expertise, authority, trust), is what high-ranking content and SEO teams are focused on.

2. Google shakeups
Everyone’s heard the horror stories about how Google updates have made companies almost invisible overnight, causing a massive slump in traffic, leads and revenue. Today, it’s Google’s irregular Core Updates that shake up search results. Though overall losses are becoming less common, not least because SEO marketing is now geared far more toward developing content-based user expectations and clean optimization.

3. SEO embedded within content marketing
A modern SEO strategy must have a key focus on content marketing. Only content that is tailored to the needs and demands of users will produce good rankings, strong backlinks and relevant traffic from the SEO channel over the long term. Users should have a seamless and memorable experience when they visit your website. After all, the competition is only a click away.

4. Multi-channel SEO
No matter your industry, your CRO strategy can be improved, with marketing automation tools and SEO tactics. How can your team design landing pages so they offer the best chance of increasing pipeline and/or sales? Marketing automation also plays a key role in a winning SEO strategy. How often is your email team examining keywords and the language of high-performing content to understand the messaging that’s garnering the most attention among your audience?

5. Realistic timelines
According to Google, it can take between four and 12 months before seeing the fruits of your SEO labors. Developing organic traffic among your entire product mix for long-term business is more of a marathon than a sprint. Even when you have the foundation of your program implemented, constant optimization in line with your company’s goals and the requirements of the market — like user interests, demand patterns, and competitors — will dictate your success.

The ideal enterprise SEO equation

In-house SEO staff + (external content + seo consultants) = high rankings and business growth

Within Searchmetrics’ portfolio of enterprise clients, it’s becoming more understood that an external agency, coupled with the work of in-house SEO staff, leads to better outcomes than the efforts of an internal team alone.

These professionals are well versed in multiple industries and business cases. And their structured workflows garner work completion in a more limited time. This means you’ll receive an unbiased view of your content and SEO performance with actionable insights on how to improve. External consultants will conduct audits and develop strategies that can be used to better justify the expansion of SEO engagement to your organization’s senior management team.

Want to learn more about how SEO consultants help generate lasting growth? Chat with our Digital Strategies Group.

The evolution of search data

As mentioned, Google conducts 3.5 billion daily search queries, and the trend is only rising. As a result, search data that can tell you more about users and what they want is vital in making strategic business decisions. This market research, based on the search activities of web users, can help you adjust your own offerings and your company’s development to meet demand.

Searchmetrics offers enterprise solutions fueled by proprietary search data that helps with conducting market analysis and reporting. With Searchmetrics Insights, you can create bespoke, on-demand reports that informs business decisions.

Learn more: On-demand market analyses with Searchmetrics Insights.