Organic search generates 53.3% of website traffic across all industries.
Moreover, 23.6% of all eCommerce orders start with an organic search query, and B2B and technology companies earn twice as much revenue from organic traffic as from any other type of traffic.
That’s just a small fraction of the evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of acquiring organic visitors through search engine optimization.
The catch?
For traffic to be organic, it has to come from unpaid sources. This means it won’t cost you anything, and if you’ve optimized your website for search engines like Google, you’ll continue to attract organic traffic for the long term.
But, to increase click-through rates and improve organic site traffic, you need to establish a robust and well-informed SEO strategy.
We’ve put together some straightforward SEO techniques to help you increase your organic traffic. Keep reading to discover how you can leverage organic search to improve your digital marketing strategy.
Benefits of Organic Search:
Organic traffic stands out as the most crucial kind of traffic your website can get, surpassing bought or social media traffic.
- It brings in highly qualified leads.
- Organic search proves its effectiveness over the long haul
- Improve customer trust levels
- Rooted in customer intent
- Offers cost-effective solutions
- Attracts highly engaged customers
- Fosters brand loyalty
- Provides a competitive and sustainable edge
- Yields ROI driven by customer intent
- Drives up conversion rates
Why Is Organic Traffic Important?
If you’ve already put a lot into PPC ads and social media traffic, you might wonder why organic traffic matters.
Well, organic traffic is actually the most valuable type for your website.
Why?
Because it’s targeted.
It all comes down to search engines’ core principle: connecting search queries with the most relevant content.
When someone searches, they have a goal. That could be to buy something or just to learn.
Matching that intent with your content makes it more likely to gain a follower, subscriber, or client.
For instance, say you’re learning guitar. You search ‘guitar basics’ on Google and find a blog with a video explaining it all.
You read, subscribe for updates, and soon buy your first guitar from their site.
This is why organic traffic matters for click-through rates and conversions. If you’re not using SEO yet, it’s never too late to start.
A sustainable, long-term approach
A strong SEO strategy keeps working for you even after it’s set up.
For example, if you rank #1 For certain long-tail keywords, you’ll keep getting organic traffic from them unless a competitor surpasses you. As your SEO efforts start showing results, you’ll enjoy a compounding impact.
Achieve thought leader status and build trust
Fostering customer loyalty is key for any business’s success.
Creating top-notch blog content that tackles common issues and provides solutions is a great way to accomplish this. It helps establish your authority in the industry, building trust and loyalty among your audience.
It’s cost-effective
Generally, increasing your organic traffic doesn’t mean you have to spend money. By applying some sought-after on-page SEO techniques alongside content marketing, you can get a significant return on investment without going over your budget.
It produces highly qualified leads
Paid ads and traffic are helpful, but they don’t always bring in top-notch leads. On the other hand, organic visitors often result in highly qualified leads because of the targeted approach of SEO.
Encourages customer engagement
Targeting an audience with keywords increases the chances of engagement with your content. This means more organic visitors will be eager to explore your website, products, and services.
As your organic search rankings improve, you’ll draw in targeted consumers within your niche. This is the key objective of any digital marketing campaign.
Understanding the Different Traffic Sources
Your website gets different types of traffic, and it’s important to understand each one to make the most of web traffic analysis tools.
Google Analytics and Google Search Console use algorithms and flow charts to categorize traffic sources. If you’re unsure about the difference between organic and direct traffic, it can be confusing.
Let’s break down the types of traffic sources you’ll see in your stats (excluding organic traffic).
Direct traffic
Direct traffic refers to when someone enters your URL directly into a browser or clicks on a saved link. But it’s more than just that.
Direct traffic also includes visits without a referring URL. For example:
- Internal employees: When employees visit your site internally, it’s counted as direct traffic. Exclude their IP addresses from analytics to get accurate data.
- Customer Portals: Logins from customer portals might appear as direct traffic. It’s wise to analyze this separately.
- Genuine Direct Traffic: Visitors who genuinely type your URL or click on a bookmarked link fall into this category.
- Customer Emails: If clients visit your site from an email, it may show as direct traffic. Check if direct traffic spikes after sending emails.
- Mobile Traffic: Analytics tools sometimes label mobile visitors as direct traffic due to difficulties in tracking.
- Clicks from software: Clicking on links during software use, like in Zoom calls, might not pass referral information, leading to direct traffic classification.
- Secure to non-secure: Moving from a secure (HTTPS) to non-secure (HTTP) site doesn’t transmit referral info, resulting in direct traffic.
Direct traffic analysis can get murky. Refer to this list if you notice an unexplained increase in direct traffic.
Paid search
This is the traffic you get from PPC ads on platforms like Google Ads. These ads show up at the top of the SERPs, even above organic search results.
When done right, PPC campaigns can bring in significant returns.
Email traffic
This category includes all the traffic that comes from your email marketing efforts. To make sure that everything shows up accurately in your reports, it’s important to tag them with an email parameter.
Referral traffic
When people click on a link to your website, like a backlink, it gets counted as referral traffic. This type of traffic covers all links that don’t come from search engines.
Social media traffic
Do you see lots of visitors coming from Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram? If you do, they’ll show up in this section in GSC and Google Analytics. Here, you can check all the traffic you get from social media platforms.
How to Grow Your Organic Traffic With SEO
Got it! Now that you know the importance of organic traffic, let’s delve into some effective strategies for increasing it on your website.
Prioritize your buyer persona
Creating content solely based on Google’s criteria isn’t sufficient. Remember, your audience consists of real people, so it’s essential to consider their needs and preferences.
Take time to understand your ideal customer. Identify their desires and challenges, and tailor your content accordingly to resonate with them effectively. This personalized approach ensures that your material aligns with their interests and objectives.
Use keywords in the right places
To begin, conduct thorough keyword research to uncover the top queries your audience is searching for on Google. Utilize a keyword research tool for this task.
This research will help you pinpoint keywords with high search traffic and minimal competition. Prioritize these terms as they offer the best opportunity for ranking success.
After identifying your keywords, it’s crucial to know how to use them effectively.
Remember to include your target keywords in three key places:
- Title tag
- Meta description
- Naturally within the body of the content, repeating them 3-7 times.
When Googlebot checks out your website, it spots the title tag and meta description right away. That’s why it’s important to include your target keyword in these key spots. This simple step can increase your rankings and attract more organic traffic, especially if your site pages aren’t optimized yet.
Publish relevant content that answers questions and solves problems
To effectively engage users, you must offer them top-notch content. Whether it’s a blog post, a YouTube video, or an infographic, your page needs something valuable for visitors to enjoy once they arrive.
Understanding your target audience is key. By knowing their interests, needs, and concerns, you can tailor your content accordingly.
This means delving into extensive keyword and niche research. It’s about knowing what topics your audience is most eager to explore.
A useful tactic is to browse platforms like Reddit. By observing discussions relevant to your niche, you can uncover valuable insights. For instance, if you specialize in health and wellness, engaging with online forums frequented by your audience can spark ideas for blog posts, videos, and even new products.
Always stay on the lookout for link-building opportunities
If link-building isn’t currently a key component of your SEO strategy, it should be. While it’s normal to pay for backlinks, there are ways to get them for free.
Is there another blog in your niche that generates a lot of traffic and interest? If so, you can take advantage of this by contacting them and offering to write a guest blog article. You can also invite them to publish a guest article on your blog.
That way, you both have the opportunity to backlink to your blogs and, hopefully, attract some new prospects with your content.
Another option is the skyscraper method. It’s a little more involved, but the benefits can be well worth it.
It involves conducting a Google search in your industry and then reviewing the top results (the skyscrapers). Find a post with a good backlink profile, and then outperform it.
How do you do this?
For starters, you can increase the word count by going into greater depth about the issue. If you can include a relevant video, that would be even better. Also, seek ways to incorporate high-resolution photographs (as long as they are relevant to the subject) and infographics (ideally with statistics).
Once you’ve improved your post by tenfold, contact them for backlinks. Inform them politely that you have a more recent, in-depth piece than the original and request that they link to your article instead. If your content is truly superior, they will most likely make the transition.
Craft evergreen content
Evergreen content is content that remains valuable and relevant to your audience for an extended period, often for years.
To produce evergreen content, focus on timeless topics, essential principles, and subjects that don’t quickly go out of date. Examples include “how-to” guides, in-depth tutorials, and thorough explanations of fundamental concepts.
In fact, the article you’re reading right now serves as an example of evergreen content.
When crafting evergreen material, steer clear of mentioning specific dates or events that might become outdated. Instead, emphasize foundational information and ideas that remain relevant over time.
By consistently creating evergreen content, you can attract organic traffic indefinitely, as readers will find value in your content long after its initial publication.
Regularly update and refresh content
Organic traffic thrives on fresh, relevant content. To maintain the relevance and value of your existing material, make it a habit to revisit and update it regularly.
Search engines love content that’s up-to-date and informative.
By consistently refreshing and maintaining your content, you can keep attracting organic visitors long after its initial publication, turning it into a valuable asset for your website or blog.
Start by identifying articles or pages that are outdated or could benefit from new information. Check the content for accuracy, relevance, and any changes in industry trends or data. Update statistics, examples, and any outdated material to ensure they’re still valid. Consider adding new sections, insights, or case studies to provide additional value to your audience.
Once you’ve made these changes, don’t forget to update the publication date to show the latest updates, signaling to search engines that your content is fresh. Lastly, promote the updated content through your marketing channels to reach both new and existing readers.
Final Thoughts
Organic traffic is incredibly valuable, so it’s crucial not to underestimate its importance. To boost your organic traffic, focusing on improving your SEO is key.
This means ranking well for relevant keywords, strategically using them, and crafting top-notch content tailored to your audience.