Before we even begin to dive into anymore of the technical ins and outs of SEO that contribute to an effective strategy, there is one thing you as the marketer must first understand: your audience. Once you know what makes them tick, together with the right SEO tools, you’ll be able to target and reach them much more successfully.

One clue we always repeat is “develop for users, not for search engines.” Generally speaking, there are three types of search queries:

• “Do” Queries (Transactional): I want to do something, like download an app, or purchase a ticket.
• “Know” Queries (Informational): I need details such as recipes needed for a Mediterranean diet, or where are the best restaurants in town.
• “Go” Queries (Navigational): I want to go to a website, like a betting site.

Think of it this way: everytime you type in a query, search engines are trying to answer a simple question; “If users are directed to this site, will what they find satisfy them?” The basic goal of search engines is to provide results that are relevant to the search queries of users. So, try to analyze your target customers’ needs and ensure your site serves them.

What SEO tools should we use then? It all begins with what is typed in the search box.

Over the years, the way we use search engines has changed, but there hasn’t been too much.

change to the principles of making the search itself. Most searches follow something along these lines

1. The need to find information, an answer, or a solution.
2. Construct the need into a simple set of words called “the query.”
3. Enter the query into the search box of a search engine.
4. Scan through the results.
5. Click on a result.
6. Scan for an answer or a link to the answer.
7. If unsatisfied, go back to the results page and click on another link OR.
8. Conduct another search with minor changes to the query.

So what makes SEO worth the time, effort, and resources? Here’s a few stats:

Google leads the way in a February 2016 study by comScore:

• Google led the U.S. core search market (Desktop only) in February with 64.0% percent of the searches conducted, followed by Microsoft with 21.4%, and Yahoo with 12.2%. ( Yahoo search is powered by Microsoft. Actually, a much higher percentage of traffic is seen by most webmasters from Google than these figures say.)
• Total search powered by Google properties equaled 64.0% of all desktop search queries, followed by Bing which powered 31.9 percent of all search.view

StatCounter Global Stats reports the top 5 search engines sending traffic worldwide in February 2019:

 

• Google sends 92.92% of traffic.

• Bing sends 2.38% of traffic.

• Yahoo! sends 1.79% of traffic.

• Baidu sends 1.03% of traffic.

• Yandex Ru sends 0.55% of traffic.

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Billions spent on online marketing from a 2017 Forrester report:

• Online marketing costs will approach $120 billion in 2021.

• Investment in paid search, display advertising, social media advertising, online video advertising and email marketing add up to 46% of all advertising.
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From the details above, we can learn a few things:

• Basically everyone uses search engines. Search engines are incredibly popular and their popularity only continues to increase, at a rate of about 20% each year, reaching almost all Americans online, and billions of people across the world.
• Search engines influence a huge amount of online and offline economic operations.
• To be very visible, ranking high and featuring in the first few results is vital.
• Featuring among the first few results does not only drive traffic, it makes consumers trust you, see your company or website as very relevant and important.

To achieve these goals, it is very important to understand the basics of SEO and the necessary SEO tools.

“To marketers, one of the vital means of reaching consumers and building a business is through the internet, and search engines, to be precise.”  

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