Why SEO should stand for Search Engine Ownership!

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is defined as the practice of optimising website content in order to be discovered through a search engine’s organic search results.

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To better understand SEO and why we believe it should now stand for Search Engine Ownership, we need to take a brief look at the history of SEO, and how it has evolved into what we know it as today.

A Brief History of SEO

Many professionals will tell you that SEO was created in 1991 but this is up for debate. During this era, the world’s first website was launched and one website quickly turned into many, and a crowded internet was born. Because of this, there was a massive need for online structure and accessibility and the world's first search engine came into existence.

In 1993 a platform called Excite revolutionised how information was categorised online, and in 1994, Alta Vista, Yahoo, and a range of other companies joined the search engine scene.

However, it was not until 1996 that Search Engine Optimisation really took off and this happened with Larry Page and Sergey Brin launching a company called BackRub, and this oddly named company would go on to be renamed Google in 1997.

In the Beginning

In the early days of SEO, anything went. The rules were loose and fast and marketers could spam their websites with keywords and unnecessary links in order to rank higher in search results. They also made use of hacking practices to do so and this became known as black hat SEO.

The Evolution

Google saw an opportunity to do something that all other search engines were not doing. They began working on algorithm updates that were designed to reward high quality and relevant content to connect users to the kind of information they were searching for.

From then until now, there have been hundreds of algorithm changes and with these changes, SEO has evolved dramatically. The history of SEO teaches us that the best way to prepare for the future of search engine visibility is to use ethical publishing and optimisation techniques that hold real value for your visitors and in turn, value for your business.

As it stands, the ultimate goal for Search Engine Optimisation is for a business to rank higher than its competitors in the search engine results related to its business offerings. So, instead of simply optimising a website for ranking purposes, why not optimise a website to OWN the search engine results. This is why we believe Search Engine Optimisation should now be called Search Engine Ownership.

It is time look at SEO differently

Search Engine Optimisation needs to be looked at differently if you want your business to gain long-term benefits. Businesses should no longer simply want their website optimised for the search engines, they should put a strategy in place that helps them OWN the search engine results.

At Nexa, we are here to help you own the search results. We know that SEO is not easy and that it takes a considerable amount of time and effort for it to work effectively, and this is why we believe that the first step to Search Engine Ownership lies in explaining to our clients just how SEO works and why it works. Without an understanding of the process, a business will never reach its full online potential and on the back of this, opportunities will be lost.

So, what is the truth about SEO and what does it take to own the search engine results?

The Truth About SEO

As stated previously, the primary goal of SEO is for a business to rank higher than its competitors on search engine results such as Google. Sounds simple enough, right? That is because it is that simple. However, what gets a business to that point is not as simple but we can try to simplify it in 2 main points.

The technical quality of your website needs to be up to standard.
There needs to be high quality and consistent content on your website.

To put it as simply as possible, if you have a technically sound website that is consistently populated with high quality content, you will eventually rank higher than your competitors. There is no secret here, this is the basis of SEO and how a digital agency will get you to the top of the search engine ranks - and outranking all your competitors will get you to OWN the search engine result pages.

Outranking your Competitors for Search Engine Ownership

With search engine ownership, we don’t want to simply optimise your page and get you to the first page of the search results. We want to get you to outrank all of your competitors. This kind of strategy is an investment, one that adds value to your business and betters your bottom line.

If your website outranks your competitors websites you will experience the following benefits:

More traffic to your website then they will receive
More conversions or leads then they will get
You will build tangible value to your business and your SEO will be an asset of value.

So, if you are considering SEO for your business, you need to ask yourself whether you want your website to simply be optimised correctly, or if you want to own the search engine results relevant to your business - and outrank your competitors in the process.

The Search Engine Ownership Process

Our Search Engine Ownership approach focuses on three main areas that are important for any business.

Your company’s search visibility
Your search visibility in relation to your competitors
The VALUE of your organic traffic in actual currency

If you have ever searched for a service or product on a search engine such as Google, you will be taken to a page that ranks websites for you to help you find what you are looking for. Have you ever Googled your products and services and checked to see if your business appears on the first page of the search results? This is vital and this is what is known as search visibility.

Search Visibility is an actual metric that can measure how visible your company is across every search term related to your business and industry and the traffic your website is likely to generate from this.

Below, we will take a look at the Search Visibility of Nexa and how having a strong search visibility is an asset to a business:

From a extensive set of 400 keywords and key-phrases based on Nexa's service offering, Nexa’s search visibility score is at 75.1% for desktop and laptop searches, and is at 75.9% for mobile searches based on June 2020 data. What that means is that for any of those 400 search terms, irrespective of volume, Nexa is likely to convert 75% of these types of searches into traffic onto our website or blog.

Search Visibility in Relation to Competitors

When it comes to Search Engine Ownership, a key metric to consider is where your business ranks in comparison to your competitors. As stated previously, ranking higher than your competitors will get you more leads, make you more sales driven from greater brand awareness.

Here, we take a look at Nexa’s search visibility in comparison to its competitors. As outlined above, Nexa has a search visibility score of 75.1% and based on the exact same set of 400 keywords and key phrases, our closest competitor’s score sits at 33.7%.

Now, how does this convert into website traffic? As of June 2020, our Search Engine Visibility drove 7,469 visitors to our website, and all of these visitors came from organic search (search that was not paid for). For the same set of keywords and key-phrases, our competitor only received 2,453 visits in the same time period. This means that we get 3 x more visits than our closest competitor.

And this number can be converted into monetary value.

Building Tangible Value with Search Engine Ownership

When it comes to Search Engine Ownership, we want to show our clients the value of the service. As opposed to regular Search Engine Optimisation services, we want to provide our clients with insight and show them just how much they can gain from owning the search engine results.

Building Tangible Value with Search Engine Ownership

When it comes to Search Engine Ownership, we want to show our clients the value of the service. As opposed to regular Search Engine Optimisation services, we want to provide our clients with insight and show them just how much they can gain from owning the search engine results.

So, how much is the 3 x more visits to our website worth? If a new competitor came into the market they would need to invest in Google advertising to achieve the same traffic that Nexa is achieving, and Nexa is achieving this traffic organically! In this case, a new company would need to spend US$53,086 per month to achieve the same kind of traffic as Nexa. Over a 12 month period this equates to US$637,032.

This is the equivalent value of Nexa’s Search Engine Ownership every year.

In Conclusion

Based on the above, it is clear that Nexa has achieved what we call Search Engine Ownership and the value of this means that our investment in lead generation activities such as Google AdWords is unnecessary, after all, our search visibility guarantees that we get a large share of traffic, larger than any of our competitors.

In business terms, achieving Search Engine Ownership status allows you to invest your marketing budget in other areas, and this saves you time and money. So now ask yourself, would you like your website optimised for search engines, or would you like to OWN the search engine results?

If you are looking to own the search engine results pages for your business, we are the growth agency for you and your company. We focus on improving your search visibility, your search visibility in comparison to your competitors, and the value of your organic ranking in real currency.

If you are looking to implement successful Search Engine Ownership for your business, Nexa is here to help. Contact us today for all your Search Engine Ownership requirements and get ranking.