Influencing User Behaviour through Search Engine Optimisation Techniques
Benefits
Branding
One way of attracting customers and therefore optimising the number of clients that visit a website is building a strong online brand. Rob Frankel, described as the top branding expert on the planet, describes branding as not about getting your prospect to choose you over your competition; but about getting your prospect to see you as the only solution (Gerhart, 2002). A high ranking in a search engine means there is a higher chance that clients get to see the product a company is selling even if they do not buy it. In fact, twice as many consumers are likely to recognise a business ranked in the top 3 of a search engine result than those appearing in prominent banner space (Vertexera Inc.). Not only is online marketing a lot less expensive than offline marketing, it also exposes the product a company is selling to a huge market.
By using techniques like predictive heatmaps and keyword manipulation, a brand is bound to appear at the top of the search engine results. The main benefits of this are:
- When a brand appears near the top of search engine results, more people are bound to see it and therefore build an association between the brand and certain needs. For example, if clients are looking places to buy ceramic cups online, the keywords they are likely to search are ‘cups', ‘ceramic' and possibly ‘home delivery' or ‘cheapest'. By optimising their website to have these keywords captured by search engines and have their brand appear first on the search engine, companies will have internet users who search frequently for these products online know the following about their brand.
- The company has best ceramic cups in the market.
- These ceramic cups are most likely relatively well priced compared to other cups in the market.
- The company offers extra services like home delivery and any other service the company may have.
- Once clients are aware of these facts, they are most likely to click the company's website when searching for this product and as a result are more likely to visit the website. It is important for websites to also improve the ease with which customers can navigate their websites as this improves the relationship customers will have with the company's website. Having websites that are full of graphics and are therefore hard to navigate, or having websites that do not have an adequate number of inbound links would quickly discourage clients from ever visiting the website (King, 2008).
Direct target
Another benefit of SEO is increased direct target traffic. By optimising a website by using certain keywords, the website targets certain customers only by ‘weeding out' online users not interested in the product. A website selling sports shoes only, for example, will have keywords like ‘sport shoes', therefore getting rid of untargeted clients like those looking for leather shoes, sandals, sneakers, loafers etc.
High Return on Investment
SEO services are often provided by companies that help websites optimise their websites for business. Unlike using banner ads, research shows that SEO costs a lot less yet increase the number of clients almost exponentially (Enge, Spencer, Fishkin, & Stricchiola, 2009). Research done by Vertexera Inc. has shown that banner ads cost between $2,500 and $35,000 while SEO costs about $1,000. However, as discussed in the previous section on branding, clients are more likely to notice results of a company on a search engine than banner ads. A gastric bypass surgeon who optimised his website for search engines had the number of clients he generated from his website increase from 2-3 per week to 50-70.
Long term visibility
Banner ads are usually placed on websites and online advertising spaces for a certain period of time, with that period paid for by the company. Once that time is done, the advertisement is pulled down unless the company pays more to have it kept up. This means therefore that if a company depletes its marketing budget, the ad will no longer be available for clients to see. On the other hand, if a company maintains good SEO practices and makes sure its website's content remains relevant and up-to-date, the chances of having it appearing among the top 5 results for a search on any search engine could remain high for as long as possible.
Combining usability and SEO
Website usability
Usability refers to the way one uses or experiences a website (Clay & Esparza, 2009). A good website is supposed to be usable to a large part of the online population, with clear links and a well-done layout. The following are ways in which a website can be tweaked to improve its usability.
- Simple navigation system - the navigation system of a website has to be simple to navigate, with appropriate text links, consistent menus and a search box.
- Clear content - content of a website should be clear to read or even just scan. There is a reason accessing the internet is called ‘browsing'. Most internet users hardly spend time reading content of a website. Content should be kept minimal and colour contrast should be kept neutral to avoid tiring the visitors of the website easily.
- Support the brand - it is important to make the website about the brand, not the company/individual. A website is supposed to promote brand purchase intent since it is the purchase intent that is supposed to link the brand and the response (Jaffe, 2003).
- Provide client feedback channels - this is probably the most important step. Clients should be able to provide the company with feedback regarding the website since they are the ultimate deciders on the success of the site. It is important for clients to advise the company how they find the websites ability to aid with decision making, its shopping cart limitations and abilities and how it stimulates them to buy the product. Testing the site on real people before launching it could help improve these features of the website a great deal.
Combining with SEO
Up until recently, most web developers and users never saw the link between search engine optimisation and usability. The goal of building any website is making sure it is simple to use for all users and it gets as much traffic as possible. Many scholars, however, argue about which is more important, improving usability or improving SEO. The truth is that a balance of both works best. In fact, if cleverly done, improving usability has the potential to go a long way in improving SEO. The first step is to find out what SEO and usability have in common then put them into balance. The key to creating a useful SEO is not just having keywords showing in your website but having keywords that are relevant to the content of the website.
The table below shows how improving website usability often improves the SEO of the website as well.
Usability improvement
SEO benefit
Researching to find out where clients are looking for the company.
Combines with keyword search.
Building a network of links coming from external web pages to increase the number of people that can find the company's website
Gives search engines the perception that the website is an expert website therefore increasing link equity.
Improving the usability of the site.
Helps search engine spiders find keywords of the site easily.
Writing clear pages on what the site is offering
Helps search engines determine what the site is about
Uploading the site to fast reliable servers to provide good site performance to users
Improves the speed at which search engine spiders access the website.
