The problem with SEO…
Optimizing a website for search engines is an effective method of increasing visitor numbers. I am absolutely convinced that SEO is the most dependable way to generate visits to a website.
However, there are a few fundamental problems with SEO traffic:
1. SEO traffic is transient
By its very nature, SEO traffic is transient. Individuals come to your website as the result of typing a query into Google. Despite doing an exemplary job in resolving the user’s issue, the likelihood is that after procuring the solution, they will leave and never return.
An illustration: take a vegan sweet blog as an example. An individual may land on your website after performing an internet search for “simple vegan caramel sauce”. After people make the recipe, chances are they will no longer remain on your website. When looking for a different recipe, many will just go back to using Google for their search.
Don’t believe me? Look at your % returning visitors. For the majority of bloggers, the rate of success is surprisingly meager.
2. SEO traffic is inefficient
The impermanence of SEO makes it a very ineffective method to bring visitors to a website. You expend considerable effort to generate visitors to your website from Google, yet the bulk of that individual traffic will go to the page only once and then be lost forever!
I call this phenomenon ‘Leaky Bucket Syndrome’.
Your website is like a bucket with countless leaks. Every day Google provides a influx of visitors to your web page, but most days all of the traffic escapes easily through the large cracks.
3. SEO traffic is borrowed traffic
Although SEO delivers dependable, sustained traffic, it is still borrowed traffic. Traffic which is taken from a different business is referred to as borrowed traffic.
For illustration, Facebook users will come to your website due to activity and content on the Facebook platform, Pinterest users are acquired by posting on Pinterest and so forth. The majority of search engine (usually Google, with an 85% dominance in the sector) traffic is a result of optimal SEO techniques.
You have no control over borrowed traffic, as it is all dependent on the decisions of another company. One day, your site may be gathering good amounts of Google traffic, but then Google makes a large alteration to their system, bringing about a rapid decrease in your Google traffic to half what it had been.
Worse still, Google determines that you have breached one of their terms and conditions, resulting in a huge manual sanction and the loss of all your traffic from Google at once.
4. SEO is getting increasingly competitive
Blogging is becoming increasingly professional and savvy bloggers are taking advantage of SEO to make their search engine rankings more competitive. At the moment, in disciplines like recipe blogging, there is considerable rivalry.
Unless you have huge resources readily available to hire writers, photographers, designers, etc., or have identified an area of interest that nobody has noticed yet, it is increasingly tough to be successful.
5. SEO is less passive than it used to be
Due to the growing intensity of rivalry, SEO is transforming into a more active process. Currently, bloggers must produce a significant amount of fresh, superior content in order to remain competitive, in addition to revamping older posts and being aware of all the most current needs from Google (e.g. Core Web Vitals).
Those who have large financial resources may employ a staff to execute this profitably, creating multiple blog entries each week, while also following the changes to algorithms and taking the necessary precautions to keep current blog posts up-to-date.
Meanwhile, the average web log creator is wearing themselves out trying to stay informed!
How email marketing can improve your Google rankings
Moreover, email marketing has the potential to generate even more SEO traffic. Did you have any idea that utilizing email marketing can enhance your SEO endeavours and help you achieve lovelier positions on Google?
Here’s how…
1. Email Marketing improves brand recognition and trust
If you regularly provide valuable emails to your subscribers, you will create an impression on them and develop a greater sense of recognition, fondness and trust in you.
The next time people use Google in regards to your specific domain, they are much more likely to pick your link (due to their familiarity and trust with you) and even more likely to remain on your website for a more extended span and look through additional subsections (owing to their familiarity and trust with you).
By doing all the right things, it can cause Google to increase your standing in their search engine rankings, leading to more views and ultimately more site traffic.
2. Email Marketing increases branded searches
Faithful followers of your weekly emails who have become familiar with you may well do ‘branded searches’ – they could look up your blog by name (for example, ‘Easy Peasy Foodie’) or by its name plus a keyword (such as ‘Easy Peasy Foodie curry’).
It is very probable that searchers of a specific brand will click on the result from your website, which therefore gives positive feedback to Google.
Additionally, a search utilizing your company name gives Google positive signs, which can in turn improve your acknowledged expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
3. Email Marketing results in more social shares
Your devoted followers will spread the word of your website through social media, so if you succeed at email marketing, you should get plenty of social media promotion.
There is no straight line linking social media shares and search engine rankings, however it is generally accepted that social media may give a favorable boost to your presence in Google.
4. Email marketing results in more reviews
Through email marketing, you can easily request customer feedback, critiques, and assessments. Regular followers are more probable to post favorable remarks and reviews.
The production of material by users can have a beneficial outcome on your positioning in the search results.
5. Email marketing gives E-A-T a boost
The concept of E-A-T (which stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust) is quickly gaining ground in search engine optimization (SEO). E-mail campaigning can be utilized to construct Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, which can result in enhanced search engine rankings from Google.
If an individual has written a book or developed an online course, their credibility is often bolstered. Utilising email marketing along with a digital product will only enhance this reputation and make them appear more authoritative.
5 Ways Email Marketing Can Help Your SEO Efforts
1. Drive Qualified Traffic to Your Website
An unmistakable advantage of an email campaign is that it can bring visitors to your website.
The priority should be placed on bringing in traffic that is likely to be converted in some way once it arrives.
A great strategy for achieving this is to customize.
The probable motive for marketing personalization of emails is more than any other channel.
Customers anticipate that the email communications and material they obtain will be adapted to match their preferences.
If you satisfy this requirement, you can trust that your email advertisements will not only bring people to your webpage, but also those that are interested in your products and more likely to make a purchase.
The purpose of any SEO strategy is to draw in clients and profits, which makes it an incredibly advantageous endeavor.
Luckily, if you have yet to start sending emails that are customized to the requirements of your recipients, setting up your messages doesn’t have to be difficult.
2. Improve On-Site Engagement
Bringing in visitors who are likely to interact with certain resources and materials on your website has the benefit of encouraging them to stay on your website longer.
This means that you can strive to boost the amount of time visitors spend on your website while also lowering the amount of people who leave without taking any action.
What’s the biggest benefit of this?
The more time a user spends exploring your website and engaging with its content, the more likely it is for them to eventually become a successful customer.
On-site interactions can also help improve your SEO performance.
There is no definite answer as to whether time on site and bounce rate specifically impact search rankings, however, analysis has shown that there is a connection between high rankings and these metrics.
3. Develop a More Targeted Content Strategy
Experienced email marketers typically test and assess several facets in every email they dispatch.
Seventy percent of advertisers report that they regularly analyze subject lines when sending out promotional content.
As a typical email marketer, you probably possess a copious amount of information related to the items you experiment with. This information can provide you with significant understanding which you can apply to other facets of your advertising approach – like your website enhancement.
Ultimately, if you have compiled a successful email list, each of the individuals included belong to your intended group of people.
The choices of the customers can be utilized to make informed decisions concerning your website and other mediums.
4. Turn High-Performing Emails into New Site Content
Different methods exist for developing newsletters and email campaigns.
Coming up with ideas that are specifically designed for your followers and centering them around their interests and requirements is one of the best ways to engage with them.
United Capital, a finance-based life management company, first launched a newsletter that had articles sourced from other publications pertinent to the people they were aiming to reach. This was achieved by utilizing a third-party content curation service.
In order to boost its effectiveness as a way to obtain leads, they chose to modify their methodology and generate new email content that was not only pertinent to the recipients, but concentrated on fiscal issues that other outlets had not yet looked into.
Christina Martin, who serves as United Capital’s Vice President of Digital Marketing, articulated that the tactic made it possible for them to “enlarge the discourse with both curated and fresh material that traverses topics like earning, working and spending.”
Following the inclusion of extra exclusive material, United Capital experienced a boost of over two and a half times in their newsletter involvement.
The mean opening rate was lifted from 21 percent to 26 percent and what was even more remarkable was that the click-through rate raised from 10 percent to 17 percent.
You might be questioning whether it is worth expending the extra effort to compose new material rather than just gathering a few links to pre-existing content. Are the higher rates of involvement this effort yields justified?
Personally, I think it is.
Think about it–if you are uncertain this concept is worthwhile, remember that the material you make for your initiatives does not only have to be used for emails.
As an alternative, you can get the most out of each newsletter by sharing them on your website or blog. This way, you will enjoy the SEO advantages that come with having great content.
5. Encourage Social Shares
You create the possibility of heightened visibility of your content by providing it to a select group of people instead of a general crowd. This could lead to increased shares on various social networking sites.
If you urge your followers to disseminate your material through their own online networks, then you will gain increased exposure.
But is this really connected to your SEO strategy?
Google has stated emphatically that social media engagement does not have a direct impact on search rankings.
But increased social visibility can still boost your SEO.
Indirectly, you can use it to:
- Find link opportunities.
- Increase positive brand mentions.
- Build valuable partnerships.
Studies have indicated that if a piece of content is shared on social media, it can showcase improved visibility in search results.
In one Hootsuite experiment, the company selected 90 pieces of content to test during a two-week period:
- 30 of these articles (the control) were not shared on social platforms at all.
- 30 were only shared organically.
- 30 were boosted for two days with a budget of $100 each.
This suggests that gaining approval from the public can be helpful for you – and few tactics are more successful for achieving this than delivering your material straight to individuals who have a strong probability of benefiting from it.
