Search engine optimization (SEO) doesn’t only improve site visibility. It also delivers organic traffic–but what does this mean?
This post explains one of the most common industry terms, “organic traffic,” and what it entails for your business and online marketing efforts.
What Is Organic Traffic?
According to Digital Authority Partners (DAP), on-page SEO helps increase your rank. But you can’t talk about it without mentioning “organic traffic.” What is it?
Also referred to as natural traffic, organic traffic is the number of visitors who come to your site because of unpaid or “free” search engine results. To explain this properly, let’s touch on how search query works.
“Search query” is the term people use to refer to the keywords that they type into a search engine. For example, “men’s shoes size 10.”
When an Internet user keys in these words and presses Enter, Google or Bing scours its database for pages that match or answer them. The order of the results depends on many factors, but SEO can help you rank higher.
If your page matches a query, it will appear in the search engine results pages (SERPs). If the user finds yours interesting, they will click on it. And there goes your organic traffic.
Natural traffic is also different from other traffic types:
- Paid traffic. These are people who find your company when you buy and publish ads.
- Referral traffic. You generate referral traffic when a user clicks on a link from another site that directs them to yours.
- Social media traffic. This is the traffic that comes from sharing your page URL across social media platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter.
- Email marketing traffic. Usually, newsletters include website links that expound on the topics. Those who click on these URLs are now part of your email traffic.
How SEO Increases Organic Visitors
Generating massive natural web traffic doesn’t immediately mean huge revenues. Many factors impact sales. However, you can boost your conversion rate when more people visit your page. And to do that, you perform SEO.
In general, SEO is making your pages visible in the search results. It can also:
- Build brand awareness
- Foster relationships with prospects and customers
- Improve website usability
- Enhance customer experience
- Showcase your niche authority
- Help you rank higher
All these points work together to increase organic traffic. But there’s more. Take a look at how various SEO strategies contribute to this cause.
1. Publishing Keyword-Optimized Content Regularly
Google loves fresh and relevant content. In fact, many of its core updates, such as Panda and Hummingbird, were all about rewarding valuable, impactful pages.
But consistent publishing also works to your advantage. It invites search engine bots to visit your website often. In turn, it can look for and index more pages, increasing your visibility online.
Creating content all the time can be tedious. If you’re looking for a shortcut, try repurposing high-value copies. These are blog posts or pages with excellent web traffic and even conversions in the past. Updating them equates to minimal effort and better chances of replicating their success.
You can improve these old copies through:
- Format changes. For example, turn a blog article into an infographic or an e-book.
- New perspectives. Take another look at the topic and see if you can explore other angles.
- Up-to-date data. Since time flies fast in the online world, ensure the information is still accurate and relevant.
- Optimized headings and subheadings. These elements are essential in on-page SEO.
- Internal and external links. Find new sources to cite and update your old backlinks.
- Images, videos, and infographics. Visual content is more engaging than plain text.
2. Using On-Point Keywords
Keywords matter a lot in SEO, especially in attracting organic traffic. After all, these are the words they use to find your page.
Search engines don’t limit the number of keywords you can hit. In fact, it is beneficial to target as many long-tail and related keywords as possible. A single copy can also rank for various phrases.
But you have to watch out for keyword cannibalization. This is when you have multiple pages targeting the same keyword, which then compete with each other. Choose one main page and use that to target the primary keyword.
You can also:
- Select keywords according to user intent. Give searchers what they want, whether that’s an answer to their question or a solution to their problem.
- Diversify keywords to include medium- and long-tail ones. Don’t stop at high-volume, broad keywords. Bring more targeted traffic with three- or more-word phrases.
- Avoid relying so much on keyword suggestion tools. Manually researching for keywords helps you better understand user intent.
3. Optimizing Pages for Social Media
A well-optimized page brings you closer to social media users, while the likes of Twitter and Facebook help you sustain organic growth. They can:
- Build brand awareness and equity. People who recognize your name or logo are more likely to visit your website if it appears in the search results.
- Increase brand mentions. People talking about you signals to Google that you’re an authority in your industry. The search engine may give you better placement on the SERPs.
- Get quality backlinks. Google loves links, especially when they come from high-authority websites. Social media platforms bring you closer to influencers and content creators who can give you these links.
- Improve click-through rate (CTR). Social media has some of the highest engagements and active users, partly thanks to neuromarketing. You are more likely to get clicks when more people see your page.
4. Improving Crawlability and Indexing
Before you can even attract website visitors, your page has to be crawled and indexed. SEO plays a significant role in both processes:
- Site architecture. A straightforward structure with a clear hierarchy helps crawlers understand your site and index it faster.
- Robots.txt file. This text file tells Googlebot what to crawl and what not to. You can use it to hide certain pages, which can help keep your website’s crawl budget in check.
- Sitemap. An XML sitemap lists all your website pages and their respective metadata. It’s useful in helping Googlebot crawl and index your site, especially if it’s dynamic.
Final Words
SEO and organic traffic work to help you achieve digital marketing goals. Optimizing a page makes you visible to visitors. Meanwhile, growing your web search traffic helps you sustain engagement and conversions in the long run.
But SEO is not a one-time effort. You must monitor your website’s progress and adapt your strategies as needed. Just because you’re ranking on the first page today doesn’t mean you’ll still be there tomorrow. The goal is to maintain or improve your position to get organic traffic.
Don’t hesitate to contact a reliable digital marketing agency if you need help with your SEO campaigns. They can help you develop an effective strategy and track your progress over time.
