In the dynamic world of digital marketing, securing a prominent online presence is paramount to any business’s success. While multiple avenues exist to attract website traffic, discerning business owners understand why organic search engine traffic is important for long-term growth. Unlike paid advertising, which requires continuous investment, organic search traffic provides a sustainable and cost-effective means of reaching your target audience.
So, if you’re serious about establishing a robust online presence and driving substantial business outcomes, let’s explore the compelling reasons why prioritizing organic search engine traffic is non-negotiable.
Understanding Organic Search Engine Traffic
Organic search traffic refers to the visitors that land on your website through unpaid (or ‘natural’) search results on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. This means people are finding your website without you having to pay for each click.
They actively search for specific keywords related to your products, services, or content and, upon finding your website listed in the organic search results, click through to learn more.
Why Is Organic Search Engine Traffic Important?
Increased Website Traffic and Visibility
It’s pretty straightforward – the higher your website ranks on search engine result pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords, the more visible it becomes to potential customers. This increased visibility directly translates into higher website traffic because you’re capturing a larger portion of users actively searching for what you offer. This is why driving qualified prospects to your site via organic search traffic is key to long-term success.
Targeted and Qualified Prospects
Think about it this way: every time a user types a query into a search engine, they’re expressing a specific need or desire. When your website appears in the organic results for that search, you’re essentially connecting with potential customers who are already interested in what you offer.
They have a clear intent, making them far more likely to engage with your content, consider your products or services, and ultimately convert into paying customers. Having a high conversion rate from organic search traffic is a strong indicator that you’re reaching the right audience.
Enhanced Credibility and Trust
How often do you click on those paid ads at the top of a Google search results page? Research indicates that less than half of all Google searches result in a click and that clicks from organic search results are nearly ten times higher than paid search.
Internet users have become incredibly savvy at distinguishing between genuine content and promotional material.
Organically ranking high on SERPs instantly boosts your credibility and fosters a sense of trustworthiness. When they see your website listed among the top organic results, it signals that search engines consider your content valuable and authoritative, making potential customers more likely to trust your brand and engage with your offerings. Building this credibility can also lead to improved customer retention as users perceive your brand as reliable and trustworthy.
Cost-Effectiveness
While SEO does require an investment of time and resources, particularly if you enlist the help of a professional web design and development company like Shapes and Pages to elevate your online presence, it remains significantly more cost-effective than paid advertising, especially in the long run.
Unlike paid ads that stop showing as soon as you stop paying, organic search traffic continues to flow to your website as long as your content ranks well, delivering a remarkable return on investment. This consistent flow of free traffic is vital for businesses operating with limited budgets, allowing them to maximize their marketing reach without incurring hefty advertising expenses. It allows you to allocate those resources toward other areas of business growth.
Sustainability
Why is organic search engine traffic important from a long-term perspective? Building a sustainable online presence is essential for enduring success. While paid traffic disappears the moment you cease your ad spend, the fruits of organic search optimization (SEO) can be reaped long into the future.
The rankings and authority you gain organically tend to last longer, requiring only consistent effort to maintain rather than continuous expenditure. This makes organic search a much more stable and reliable source of traffic for sustainable growth, enabling you to build a solid online foundation that can weather changes in algorithms and user behavior over time.
Impact on the Buyer’s Journey
The buyer’s journey, also known as the customer journey, outlines the process individuals go through before making a purchase. To say that the internet plays an enormous role in today’s buying journey is a profound understatement, as many of us conduct thorough online research, read product reviews, compare prices, and gather as much information as possible before purchasing. Understanding why organic search engine traffic is important in the context of a buyer’s journey involves recognizing the different stages involved and how organic search caters to each stage:
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| Awareness | The buyer recognizes a need or pain point. They might turn to search engines seeking information, solutions, or insights on a particular problem. They are not actively looking to buy just yet, making this the ideal time to educate and capture interest. This can be accomplished by providing high-quality, informative content like blog posts, articles, videos, or guides that address their pain points and position your business as a knowledgeable resource. |
| Consideration | The buyer defines their problem and is actively seeking potential solutions, comparing different products, brands, or services that can meet their specific needs. They are still in research mode but are now focused on identifying the right fit. This stage often involves comparing pricing, features, and benefits. It’s a prime opportunity for brands to leverage targeted organic content that highlights their unique value propositions and solutions. This can include comparison guides, case studies, webinars, or even free trials demonstrating the efficacy and superiority of your products or services compared to the competition. |
| Decision | The buyer has decided on their preferred solution and is now comparing vendors and prices before making a final purchase. At this point, users often use specific search terms to find the best deals. They need that final push, perhaps an offer or a discount code. |
It typically takes about six to eight interactions with a potential customer before they are ready to make a purchase. For example, one woman’s car buying odyssey involved 900 digital interactions spanning three months. By consistently showing up with relevant and valuable content across the entire buying journey, you establish brand familiarity, build trust, and increase your chances of securing that all-important sale when they’re finally ready to buy.
To say that a successful SEO strategy requires significant work is a monumental understatement, however organic search brings the best return on investment when compared to every other marketing channel. Despite this fact, it’s shocking to discover that 41% of businesses don’t track the ROI of their marketing endeavors, are incapable of calculating it, or just have no idea at all. But here’s why is organic search engine traffic important:
The Crucial Role of Google
Google, as the dominant search engine, plays a critical role in driving organic traffic to websites. With an astonishing share of search engine market share (as much as 92% as of July 2023), according to Statista. Ignoring Google would be a huge mistake. The sheer volume of searches happening on Google every single day is staggering. This search giant has developed sophisticated algorithms designed to provide the most accurate, relevant, and helpful search results based on search queries. Here are just a few essential elements to consider when trying to appear at the top of those Google search results:
Understanding Keywords
Before diving into anything else, conduct thorough keyword research. Identify the terms or phrases potential customers are using to search for information, products, or services like yours. For instance, if you sell handmade jewelry online, your keywords might include “handmade earrings,” “unique silver necklaces,” “boho-chic jewelry,” etc. There are an overwhelming number of available tools that make finding keywords more efficient. Incorporating transactional keywords into your content can further boost your chances of attracting users ready to make a purchase.
Creating High-Quality Content Marketing is Still Important
Content marketing reigns supreme. Google favors websites that consistently deliver valuable and engaging content to their audience. Create blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, or any other content format that caters to what your audience is interested in while incorporating relevant keywords in a natural and authentic way.
Remember that authenticity will always resonate more deeply. I think a good practice would be to ensure all written content contains at least 300 words. I recommend shooting for around 1000 though if you really want it to resonate.
The User Experience
Ensure your website is easy to use, engaging, and informative. Use a clean layout, a straightforward menu structure, and concise copy. Broken links or ones leading to 404 pages leave a negative impression.
Imagine visiting a physical store. What are your expectations? Now apply that same thought process to your website to elevate your user’s digital experience. Providing a positive user experience can significantly impact your search engine ranking and organic traffic.
Building Links is Critical
Search engines such as Google use backlinks from other reputable sites as votes of confidence in your website. A backlink is essentially a link from one website to yours. Aim to earn these backlinks from industry authorities, partners, or influencers. For instance, you could submit guest blog posts on relevant blogs within your niche. A well-structured content calendar would help you plan for that. Avoid engaging in practices considered ‘black-hat’ SEO such as link farming.
Google can quickly detect when things aren’t right. Your efforts should center on adding value to both your audience and the internet. High-quality backlinks not only drive referral traffic but also contribute to your site’s domain authority, further boosting your organic search rankings.
Claim Your Google Business Profile
If you’re targeting a local audience (think small brick-and-mortar stores), claim and optimize your Google Business Profile listing. It increases visibility on Google Search and Google Maps. Provide as much relevant information as possible. A complete and optimized Google Business Profile can significantly enhance your local SEO efforts and drive more foot traffic to your physical location.
Why Choose Organic Over Paid Search
We’ve touched upon why organic search engine traffic is important. Now, let’s compare it to its often-misunderstood counterpart, paid search, and discover why the former emerges victorious:
| Feature | Organic Search | Paid Search |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free; However, it requires a considerable investment of time, effort, and often financial resources. | Paid: Requires an upfront budget for running ad campaigns, often a pay-per-click model (PPC) where you are charged every time a user clicks on your ad. |
| Sustainability | Long-term and sustainable; results tend to last longer as long as effort is maintained to stay relevant | Short-term and finite; Traffic ceases once your advertising budget depletes. |
| Targeting | Highly-targeted, attracting users who are already actively searching for information related to your offering. | Offers targeting options based on demographics, location, interests, etc., but often targets a broader audience compared to organic search |
| Credibility | Perceived as more credible, as it implies inherent value to search engines and users seeking reliable information. | Often viewed with a degree of skepticism as users are acutely aware that businesses have paid for visibility. |
| Results | Results can be a bit slow initially, requiring patience, persistent effort, and a focus on continuous optimization as the website gradually gains visibility over several months. | Offers immediate visibility and rapid results; however, traffic stops as soon as the allocated budget depletes. |
While this doesn’t mean paid search advertising doesn’t serve a purpose – because it definitely does (and often forms an important part of a balanced digital marketing approach) – this article underscores why prioritizing an effective long-term organic SEO strategy is paramount.
How To Increase Your Website’s Organic Search Traffic
Understanding the reasons why organic search engine traffic is important is one thing, implementing strategies to get those top rankings for your website is another. Here are some practical tips to increase your organic traffic and enhance your brand awareness customer acquisition:
Leverage the Power of Keywords
Begin with keyword research to determine what your ideal clients are typing into search engines. Utilize both short-tail (e.g., “coffee maker”) and long-tail (e.g. “best cold brew coffee maker under $100) to optimize content accordingly. Incorporating those relevant keywords throughout your website content not only makes it clear what topics and themes your website covers but it helps your webpages appear on those crucial Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Use a combination of:
- Short-Tail Keywords
- Mid-Tail Keywords
- Long-Tail Keywords
For instance, sprinkle them organically in your page titles, headers, meta descriptions (these briefly describe your page’s content to users and search engines) image alt text (these help search engines comprehend what an image displays) and throughout your content. And while the amount of available data regarding keywords may feel overwhelming, tools like UberSuggest make the process a lot easier by giving monthly search volume so you know exactly which words to target.
Focus on Crafting Compelling, SEO-Optimized Content
Content is and will probably always be king when optimizing for organic search. But this is more than churning out words; it’s about providing authentic value to those visiting your website by using the right SEO keywords and search intent and then sharing information people truly find valuable. Creating informative and in-depth content can establish you as a thought leader in your industry, attracting more organic visitors.
Make Readability a Top Priority
Search engines favor those websites that make it easy for their audience to consume information. When readers find information presented clearly, accurately, and logically with images or videos to help clarify complex concepts or steps in a process they are more inclined to stay.
Pay Attention to Your On-Page SEO
Optimize those individual pages for both users and search engines by:
- Using short, descriptive URLs.
- Incorporating internal and external links to enhance credibility, authority, and the overall user experience
- Ensuring all images have alt-text and titles.
Focus On Your Backlinks
Backlinks serve as potent indicators of credibility and authority in the vast expanse of the web. Websites with numerous backlinks tend to achieve higher search rankings in those algorithms. A simple method to obtain more is to ask your customers for reviews and reach out to third-party review sites in your niche. By actively building high-quality backlinks, you can enhance your site’s domain authority and improve its overall organic search visibility.
Use Social Media To Promote
Don’t just let content sit there on the world wide web, use platforms like X, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. to get it out into the digital realm. Social media platforms won’t necessarily impact organic search rankings. It could help indirectly by amplifying brand reach and drawing visitors to your website who can potentially convert.
Stay Up-To-Date with the Evolving SEO Landscape
Search algorithms undergo continuous changes. Stay informed by keeping a close eye on algorithm updates, best practices in content creation, keyword research trends and search engine guidelines to stay one step ahead. Using the easy-to-set-up Google Alerts is one way to stay in the know. Now, the real question becomes, how do you effectively assess the performance of your SEO efforts?
Traffic Analytics and Tools: A Goldmine of Insight
Thankfully we live in a world where data reigns. Tools such as Google Analytics, for instance, reveal the percentage of your website traffic is driven by those organic search efforts. Understanding this data lets you understand why organic search engine traffic is important to achieve overall objectives and allocate your precious budget accordingly. They also reveal the geographic location of site visitors which may be beneficial if you ship internationally.
The Takeaway
Prioritizing and harnessing the power of organic search engine traffic is crucial to establish a commanding online presence and ensure success in an incredibly competitive landscape. Now you’re not just hoping to reach your target audience but attracting potential buyers seeking what you’re offering, organically growing a flourishing business one visitor at a time. As technology continues its relentless march forward, it’s critical to stay informed and continually evolve to achieve optimal results. It takes work but in the long run, you’ll quickly realize that it’s all been entirely worth it.
FAQs about Why is organic search engine traffic important
What is organic traffic in digital marketing?
In a nutshell, organic traffic, in the digital marketing sense, refers to unpaid website visits arising from clicks on search engine results pages. They find you organically by typing a query into Google or another search engine without you having to pay. It differs from referral traffic (click-throughs from other sites) and doesn’t involve any payment exchange for those clicks.
What is considered a good amount of organic traffic?
What is considered a ‘good’ amount will depend on factors such as:
- Niche (some niches receive more traffic than others)
- Website age
- Domain authority (older sites that have been around for years with numerous backlinks tend to rank higher organically)
- Content quality, value and SEO efforts
A ‘good’ amount depends on how effectively your organic strategy aligns with business objectives and resonates with the target market. Focusing on creating high-quality content that satisfies search intent is crucial for attracting and maintaining a steady stream of organic traffic.
What are the benefits of organic traffic to a website?
There are many advantages to organic search. The major one though is trust. Visitors to those organically ranked websites inherently see them as more authoritative, trustworthy and relevant to their needs. Plus organic traffic provides a sustainable and consistent means of reaching your target audience because once you rank, traffic should continue without interruption. That’s the key difference between organic traffic and paid, that as soon as you stop paying – it stops.
Why is organic traffic important for SEO?
SEO and organic search go together. Search engines, especially Google, look for several key things before ranking a web page. Some examples include website and page authority, relevance, backlinks, high-quality user-focused content and several other behind-the-scenes technical SEO criteria. Think of it this way – effective SEO leads to increased organic visibility, boosting traffic, and enhancing your chances of getting to that coveted first page of the search results for specific search queries. And isn’t that what it’s really all about in today’s market?
Ultimately though the success of your SEO is measured by how successfully you attract those qualified organic leads and seamlessly guide them towards taking some kind of desired action. By understanding the principles of SEO and implementing them effectively, you can improve your website’s ranking in organic search results and drive more qualified traffic to your site.
You need Organic Traffic
With a keen eye on search intent, a treasure trove of data, and the right optimization techniques, you’ll realize why organic search engine traffic is important for reaching those ambitious objectives. There is no magic formula to increase your organic traffic. Shapes and Pages is expert at navigating Google search, and writing content that will get you noticed by both human visitors and the Google bot. However, remember that this involves more than blindly checking things off a list – the heart of SEO lies in providing exceptional value for those landing on your website. Be original, and let a expert Digital Marketing Agency like ours build your website into a trusted authority to secure long-term growth in your niche. Let Shapes and Pages make your business stand out from the rest.
