Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is growing day by day in Kenya as businesses seek to boost their traffic in Search Engines.
Why does SEO matter for your business?
With more Kenyans shopping online than ever, SEO is critical for any business looking to get found online. If any part of your customer acquisition process involves a customer looking you up online, your SEO should be perfect.
What Exactly is Search Engine Optimization?
SEO refers to techniques that enable a website to be easily found on search engines such as Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo Search, Baidu, Yandex, etc.
In a broad sense, the technicalities involve optimizing key areas of your website: from titles to ensuring that your content features the right keywords.
Benefits of SEO marketing
- Acquiring leads with purchasing intent
- Increased traffic to your website
- Stand out from your competition
- Get found by buyers looking for exactly what you’re selling.
What SEO Means to the Kenyan Market
It is becoming more common for Kenyans to research a product/service online before purchasing, whether online or offline.
Moreover, with the prevalence of e-commerce, getting your online store found from a simple Google search is an opportunity that speaks for itself.
However, most of us only pay attention to the first page of Google’s results. And with so much chatter on the internet, getting your first page on Google can make a tremendous difference in your website traffic and, consequently, your bottom line.
Good SEO practices aim at dominating the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) so that your brand is easily found on Google.
SEO Techniques to Use in Nairobi, Kenya
First and foremost, understand that Search Engine Optimization is a complex process. The results are not always instant; it typically takes quite a lot of time (typically weeks or even months) before noticing any results.
Your SEO success will be determined by the efficacy of your SEO efforts and the level of competition in your niche/industry.
Avoid using black-hat SEO tactics as although you may receive tremendous results in a relatively short time, Google regularly updates its algorithm, and a future update may result in your website getting penalized for abuse.
Here are some techniques for effective SEO in Nairobi, Kenya.
1. Understand User Intent
A critical part of SEO is engineering the user’s process to find your website.
Since this process is guided by what they type into Google, understanding the users’ intent is essential to creating an effective SEO strategy.
Figure out what people are likely to search before posting your content. Search engines’ superpower is matching information to users’ needs.
2. Create Unique Content
For most niches in Kenya, SEO competition is shallow. The easiest way to impact is by implementing content marketing as part of your digital strategy.
Write engaging and compelling articles with relevant information to help your customers make better decisions.
With these, search engines will rank your content first, making potential customers find you.
Beyond that, post fresh content using short sentences and add a call to action if necessary.
3. Use SEO-Friendly URLs and Headlines
Headlines play a significant role in bringing more visitors to your site. A headline needs to be short and catchy enough to capture your audience’s attention.
Also, make sure that behind those catchy headlines is high-quality content that will satisfy visitors. You can be forgiven for clickbait-y headlines if the content matches users’ expectations, but failing to deliver is sacrilege.
Besides that, your article should have an SEO-friendly URL. The URL does not have to be the same as the headline but should be relevant to the page’s content and include the page’s keyword.
4. Keyword Research and Analysis
Keyword research and analysis are the foundation of all SEO techniques. Having proper keywords is crucial when you want to reach your target audience.
First, you need to consider the search volume and competition before picking a keyword. Keywords with the high competition are the hardest to rank, while those with a high volume are the best for targeting because they drive more traffic.
You can use tools designed for keyword research like Google Adwords for your SEO campaign. Another solution is to go for keywords relevant to your niche only to get the targeted traffic.
5. Link Building
Link building is a huge part of Search Engine Optimization in Kenya.
Search engines determine the strength of a web domain (called Domain Authority) of a page’s information using links. Websites that are linked are often considered valuable and hence ranked highly.
Popular link-building strategies include inbound links, guest posts, social media marketing, and infographics. Sites that do not have quality links risk losing search engine visibility.
On the flip side, avoid using spammy link-building methods to avoid getting penalized or blacklisted.
Final Thoughts
While SEO can be a tough nut to crack as a beginner, the time and resources spent on developing your web rankings can be pivotal to your success.
The earlier you start, the better.
We firmly believe that any business that considers online discovery to be of importance should use SEO to grow before their competition does.
Luckily, many SEO companies in Kenya, like ours, can help your business obtain better rankings.