How can I utilise SEO & Links to increase my website’s distinguishability?

In the growing Digital age, it is increasingly important for businesses to stand out in online search and website content. In total, 92 percent of Internet users search, with 59 percent doing so on a regular basis (Young et al., 2017). SEO and backlinks are common approaches to increasing traffic, but only when utilised effectively do they distinguish a business. This blog post aims to critically discuss how your website can distinguish itself online focusing on SEO and links.

Many websites use paid advertisements in an attempt to increase links/distinguishability; research has shown that only 6 per cent of people click on Google ads rather than ‘organic search’ results (Samuel, 2013). Organic search results are free and appear every time. Paid ads may make your website stand out in the short term but long term investment in SEO can lead to long term effects on ranking and distinguishability.

Building relationships, digital communities and effective PR, could ensure greater inbound links. Author Samuel (2013) states that the functionality of the internet is based on links between websites, therefore cementing the importance of developing links. An ‘inbound’ link from a very important website will be followed by Google’s robots more frequently than a link from a more obscure site as this shows Google that the website is interesting to a ‘trusted’ source (Samuel, 2013). Smaller website’s such as Online Squash Coaching Provider, SquashSkills.com, could look to establish links with large players in the sports industry such as clothing sponsors, affiliated governing bodies and professional athletes in order to build these links and distinguish their website from competitors.

Author Palmer (2011) discusses content and its importance in creating backlinks and digital word of mouth. It’s clear that building links through engaging content can lead to higher page rankings and stand out marketing campaigns. Link building is a key part of search engine optimization, because Google and other search engines count the number and the quality of all inbound links pointing to your website (WM Agency, 2017). Link bait is another approach websites are frequently using to build a network of links, involving ‘stand out’ content that is optimised to increase inbound links.

Search engines like to keep their SEO algorithms a secret in order to avoid abuse but some basic principles are certain. Google measures the importance or ‘trust’ by the number and type of inbound links, possibly taking into account some social signals, such as Facebook ‘likes’ of the page or number of Twitter followers (Samuel, 2013). Quality and quantity is also key when using backlinks in SEO. New York Times, which has an incredibly high ranking from Google, has exactly 91,978,629 inbound links from 98,518 different domains (WM Agency, 2017).

By targeting phrases based on both relevance and uniqueness, users are more likely to distinguish a website over a competitor’s. Samuel (2013) suggests including nicknames for your business or old names that people may be searching for in order to ensure visibility in search but remain unique in your field.

The “Fused SEO & Website Usability” model below looks at contradictions and considerations in SEO. The connecting red lines illustrate the contradictions between SEO and WU, the bottom of the figure illustrates the fused SEO and WU solution (Visser and Weideman, 2014).

Essentially, the contradictions between SEO and WU revolve around content, keywords and their presentation (Visser and Weideman, 2014). Personally, I feel the model fails to consider distinguishability and uniqueness when considering contradicting factors of SEO. Content and presentation is indicated by the authors in text, but a lack of attention is given to how these features could influence a SEO strategy.

In summary, SEO is an effective investment in time and money and can help to create long term visibility/distinguishability. Using unique, creative content that creates digital word of mouth will only increase a website’s success and ensure differentiation among competitors. The literature shows that links are crucial, particularly for small businesses, and the more relevant quality links a website can establish, the more traffic they are likely to reap.

For further information on SEO Theories and Models see Abedin & Sohrabi (2009) Graph theory application – https://tinyurl.com/l8ubpyf  

Check out my Twitter – @RyanDukeBBS

 

References:

Abedin, B, & Sohrabi, B 2009, ‘Graph theory application and web page ranking for website link structure improvement’, Behaviour & Information Technology, 28, 1, pp. 63-72, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 5 April 2017.

Level-Up Marketing, (2017). 5 Simple on site SEO tips. [image] Available at: http://levelupmarketing.co.uk/on-site-local-seo-tips/ [Accessed 5 Apr. 2017].

Palmer, A (2011). Principles of Services Marketing. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Education. p475.

Samuel, S. (2013). Search engine optimisation to improve your visibility online. In Practice, 35(6), pp.346-349.

Visser, E. and Weideman, M. (2014). Fusing website usability and search engine optimisation. SA Journal of Information Management, 16(1), p.6.

WM Agency. (2017).  Link Building – Will Marlow. [online] Available at: http://willmarlow.com/link-building/ [Accessed 5 Apr. 2017].

Young, R., Boyd, C., Boyd, C., Sentance, R. and Boyd, C. (2017). Who Uses Search Engines? 92% of Adult U.S. Internet Users [Study] | Search Engine Watch. [online] Searchenginewatch.com. Available at: https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/study/2101282/search-engines-92-adult-internet-users-study [Accessed 4 Apr. 2017].