When you think about SEO, what comes to mind? Chances are, you think about optimizing your website and content for Google search. But what about word of mouth? How does it factor into your SEO strategy? In this blog post, we’ll explore the relationship between word of mouth and SEO marketing and discuss how you can use them together to drive more traffic to your website. Stay tuned!
It’s no secret that the public have become extremely cautious of any form of advertisements. A study conducted in 2021 by Campaign and YouGov revealed that almost half of the respondents do not trust any form of advertising, be it traditional or in digital form.
[Image credit: campaignasia.com]
When traditional advertising has becomes increasingly ineffective, companies need to find new methods to attract new customers. The question now becomes what can advertisers do? In this new age where people are reluctant to even take their time to read a newspaper or watch TV news, how can you get your brand’s name out there in an effective manner?
One of the best strategies that we can think of SEO marketing and word-of-mouth marketing since they’re also provides to benefit consumers, not just the brands itself.
Whatever brands are involved, the goal of Google is to deliver only the best and relevant results to the user. Occasionally, consumers leave reviews to assist other potential buyers in making an informed selection by providing them with more information.
The most important thing that connects both channels of marketing is the organic and natural decision-making sensation that customers experience. However, it can be challenging for businesses to determine which approach is the best fit for them.
With good SEO, you can help your target audience locate you
Did you know around 67.6 percent of the clicks comes from the top five results in Google. And 53% of all trackable traffic is organically generated. This is an enormous proportion of the market that you might be gaining over your competitors by placing more emphasis on SEO for organic search.
Brand visibility is among the most significant benefits of SEO. In contrast to word-of-mouth, you’re not relying on the word of mouth of others to spread the word about your company. Google is often the first thing people look up when they’re looking for a service or product and. Therefore, the higher you rank in Google SERPs, the more people will be drawn to your website. This can translate into increased in the number of leads and potential sales for your company.
One of the most essential aspects Google’s ranking is a website’s user experience, which is why improving your site UX to ensure that your visitors have pleasant visits to your site, which may influence conversion rates indirectly.
SEO is one of the way to build brand awareness in its most effective form as, if you have an effective SEO campaign in place, your site will show up for users who have the right intent to buy. The higher you rank, the higher chances your target audiences will come across your website. This is why SEO an extremely useful tool in the digital world.
Organic SEO establishes consumer confidence and trust
One of the most important things to keep in mind about organic SEO – which is both a benefit and a drawback result is that it is not immediate. It takes time. However, once you’re ranked well, it’s will be tough and challenging for your competitors outrank you and claim your organic ranking position.
Organic SEO can build a great deal of trust because they know that it is in Google’s best interest to provide them with the most relevant results for that particular search intent. A good search ranking helps to find your company in a speedy and organic manner, without feeling as though they’re being sold to.
Let your happy customers do the talking about your brand
There are many kinds of advertising that is based on words of mouth. In essence, anything that results in consumers talking about your brand is word of mouth. This could include reviews from customers, influencer marketing or even traditional conversation with friends.
Similar to search engine optimization, statistics on word-of-mouth advertising is quite convincing. 74% of people consider the influence of word-of-mouth in their purchase decision. 85% of visitors to websites consider visual user-generated content to be more effective than just having your brand images or videos.
Reviews are among the most effective methods of implementing a word-of-mouth marketing strategy, particularly when you’re inviting your customers to write a reviews each time a purchase or transaction is made. The mix of customer reviews will be a true reflection of the way your customers feel about your products or services.
The most significant benefit of gathering reviews is ability to showcase them throughout the customer’s decision making journey and therefore it will significantly help in improving the conversion rate. Reviews provide valuable insights to potential customers and it’s a great way to establish your brand’s trustworthiness and online presence.
SEO and Word-of-mouth marketing are closely linked
Reviews can actually help improve your SEO. While these two strategies might not appear to have anything on the same level, both are much more related than you think.
One of the most significant effects reviews can influence SEO is the ability to qualify your site for rich snippets of the search results by including reviews on your website. Rich snippets of content don’t only make your website look good in search results – they can help to boost the click-through rate (CTR) to your website.
The power of word of mouth can strengthen your marketing and advertising
Both SEO and word-of-mouth aid in building trust and confidence on your brand for potential customers more effectively than typical advertising. If you’ve been wondering whether word-of-mouth is more effective than SEO – to establish trust with your customers, SEO and word-of mouth actually are best when they work hand-in-hand.
For the majority of brands, it’s worth considering these two strategies rather than funneling all your marketing budget into advertisements that may appear to be – just this. It’s tempting to view this with a skeptical eye and view both SEO and word-of-mouth as being no superior to other advertising means. After all, the best marketing strategies are the one that bring you sales and sell your products and services.
Focusing on these two strategies requires you to understand what your customers want and “helping” Google to present your brand to these people seeking for your product and services, and ensuring your customer experience is so good that the customers reviews can bring in new customers.
