Online findability is about helping seekers, people who have a need for what you’re doing and are actively seeking out somebody who can provide that solution, that product, or that service, to find you through user searches.
This blog looks at three excellent examples of online findability, including website SEO, SEO content, and pay-per-click advertising.
How is your website found?
Let’s look at a website first. We need to explore more than just the web pages themselves; the technical search engine optimisation (SEO) behind a website enables an audience looking for a product or service to find it on the search engine results page (SERP).
A misconception with many different websites is that they automatically have good technical SEO behind them. Many websites may look very nice, very professional, polished, and well-finished.
Still, they often lack the technical SEO, such as website loading speed, mobile-friendliness, XML sitemaps, SSL security (HTTPS), structured data markup, optimising URL structure, canonical tags, robots.txt file, fixing broken links (404 errors), optimising metadata, optimising image alt text, and core web vitals.
Key ranking factors are necessary to ensure potential customers find the website in organic search results.
As a result, they perform poorly in driving traffic. However, a good website designed thoughtfully and with strategic SEO behind it enables an audience to find it, significantly improving its search engine ranking easily.
The importance of valuable and researched content
The second example is the power of regular high-quality content, such as blog posts or case studies.
Almost any landing page content is viable, and ensuring ongoing findability rankings is vital. But it’s essential to remember that it must not just be any old content but relevant, well-researched, and engaging keyword-rich content that effectively answers user searches.
If we consider Google the answer to people’s questions, your content has to answer those questions effectively.
You need to start by identifying popular searched terms and topics, determining what questions people frequently use on Google, and reverse engineering your content to answer those queries accurately using ranking keywords.
One of Google’s constant tasks is crawling every single website in the world. It evaluates many different SEO factors when deciding which content, page, or website to rank in what position. One crucial factor it looks for is what has changed since its last crawl of that website.
Therefore, it is essential to regularly update your site with relevant content that answers people’s questions. By doing so, you actively manage your online presence and ensure your site remains relevant and visible to your target audience. SEO tools can help research the right keywords and understand what your target audiences are searching for, empowering you to make informed content decisions.
Does creating content to improve findability need to go a step further?
Yes.
Firstly, we want to rank highly within Google listings, ideally appearing on page one of the engine results page (SERP) as close to the top as possible. We want to be found through our unique, well-researched content.
The content needs to answer user searches and be engaging enough to keep visitors on the page, thus improving conversion rates. Ideally, it should lead potential customers to the next step, such as making an enquiry or downloading additional relevant content, such as a data capture form.
What is data capture?
Data capture, a crucial aspect of online findability, involves providing something of added value on the page, relevant to the content that answers the searched terms.
This could be a downloadable resource, such as a guide or a whitepaper, that offers valuable insights or tips related to your product or service.
In exchange for this resource, visitors are asked to provide their contact details, allowing you to capture their information for future marketing efforts.
This helps visitors gain more knowledge about your offerings and aids their purchasing decisions, making it a win-win situation.
Getting pay-per-click advertising right
A third example of online findability is pay-per-click advertising, including platforms like Google and Bing, and social media advertising through Facebook and Instagram (Meta), LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok.
There’s a real science behind getting pay-per-click advertising right.
Many people fall into the trap of using Google directly to manage their PPC campaigns. Our agency knows that Google excels at getting businesses to spend more money, often increasing the budget unnecessarily. However, this is frequently not the correct approach.
When you get pay-per-click advertising right, it’s incredibly powerful because it’s highly forecastable and scalable. This predictability and scalability can provide a sense of reassurance and control over your marketing strategy, allowing you to plan and budget effectively.
Being in a position where you have a clear idea of how many enquiries you will receive each month before you even start your day is valuable. However, success in PPC campaigns must align with your conversion rates.
For instance, if one of our clients generally has a conversion rate of 25% on cold prospect enquiries from an ad campaign via their landing page or a contact form, they understand that they’ll typically need four enquiries to convert one new customer.
When you have this calculation, you know the average order value and your conversion rate during the sales process. Then, you can set up pay-per-click advertising in such a way that predictably generates enquiries. This clarifies how many new customers and orders you can expect, the level of return on investment, and the monthly financial revenue derived from that strategy.
Pay-per-click advertising is a highly effective method of targeting audiences and should be included in most marketing plans. The principle applies to advertising on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, LinkedIn, and TikTok. However, the platform chosen also depends on your customers’ demographics, age, B2B or B2C and location. Again, this is the science behind PPC advertising.
These three examples demonstrate how to improve online findability effectively. They focus on capturing the attention of an audience described as seekers; those who represent the ideal customer base; they have a need and seek someone to provide that product or service solution.
How can Growth by Design help?
Improving your online findability involves getting three vital areas right: technical website SEO, relevant and engaging content, and well-executed pay-per-click advertising.
Each of these strategies will ensure your business is genuinely visible to potential customers actively seeking your products or services online.
Want expert advice tailored to your website and marketing efforts?
Book time directly into one of our team’s diaries today and claim your complimentary 90-minute marketing or website review.
These engaging, insightful, and practical sessions are always popular, helping businesses clarify their marketing and improve their results.
Take the next step and ensure your prospects can find you easily online.
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FAQs
1. What is online findability, and why is it important?
Online findability refers to how easily potential customers can locate your business online when searching for products or services you offer, to attract the right audience, increase website traffic, and improve conversion rates.
2. How can SEO improve my website’s findability?
SEO enhances a website’s findability by optimising technical aspects such as website speed, mobile-friendliness, structured data, metadata, and keyword-rich content. These factors help search engines rank your site higher on search engine results pages (SERPs), making it more discoverable.
3. Why is high-quality content essential for online findability?
Well-researched, engaging, and keyword-rich content answers user searches effectively. Regularly updating content ensures that search engines frequently crawl your website, improving its relevance and ranking.
4. How does pay-per-click (PPC) advertising enhance online findability?
PPC advertising places your business in front of potential customers through targeted ads on search engines and social media platforms. When executed correctly, PPC is highly scalable and predictable, helping businesses generate inquiries and drive conversions efficiently.
5. What is data capture, and how does it contribute to online findability?
Data capture involves offering valuable downloadable content (e.g. guides) in exchange for a visitor’s contact details. This process helps businesses build a database of potential customers while providing users with relevant information to assist in their purchasing decisions