According to practitioners of SEO for online business in Indonesia, taking a business or trade online is a buzzword: a term that makes clear that any business in this millennial age needs an online presence to win a share of the existing market.
That market is the real world, made up of people and physical goods everywhere. Online business is the most effective way to reach it, through SEM (search engine marketing), done yourself, by a digital marketing agency or by relying on the expertise of an Indonesian SEO service.
This will become ever more embedded in daily life as communication devices, work tools and other devices connect and produce enormous amounts of data, also called big data.
But before we reach that near future, let's take a moment to look, from a business and technology perspective, at how today's online businesses can stand out and be easy to find on the internet.
With handheld devices now everywhere, information can be accessed anytime there is a data signal. One simple thing Google offers is a measure of how quickly a website loads on mobile, called Test My Site. With so many sources of information available, users won't wait patiently for a website to load fully.
Google Search Is the Main Source of Information in Indonesia and Worldwide
Where do online users look when they need information that is fast and easy to access? Plenty of data shows Google search is dominant compared with other, less popular sources such as Bing, Yandex and Baidu.
Page after page, Google shows links to the many online sources it has indexed. Microsoft's Bing is also a source of information online. The references found are used to compare and filter options and check how well they match the user's needs.
SEO Services Bring Relevant Information Closer to Consumers' Intent
Besides Google search, is there another source that can provide as much information? So far, nothing seems to rival it. SEO services are the link between online business owners and people searching for information. They understand and adapt to search engine algorithms.
The simplest and most visible example is search by keyword. Relevant information is shown when Google's crawler reads a particular keyword on a particular page of a website. Of course, many factors determine the quality of the information shown on the first page of results. Keywords apply not only to written content but also to images and video. In future, this identification will become even better and more precise.
With a website optimised by an SEO (search engine optimisation) service, information can be presented fully on the home page and other pages, as well as on third-party websites. On social media, the information shown is whatever is on each platform. Website updates can be published quickly on the social media accounts the business owns, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, and the other way round.
With SEO techniques, the various online channels act as connected nodes, so online users and consumers find the business on many fronts. A professional SEO provider's job is to make sure the links between relevant topics give readers a useful experience as they dig for information, presenting exactly what they need.
There are many companies and providers, and some amateurs, offering SEO services for online business in Indonesia. But their experience and ability differ. Successful SEO depends on several factors beginners rarely consider, including:
- Internal factors of the website itself, such as the domain name
- Reliable, quality hosting
- The level of online competition in the specific industry
- The target market: national, regional or global
- The quality of the content and good copywriting
- The existing digital footprint: positive, negative, neutral, spammy and so on
Working with an SEO provider and the internet tools they have can help you find market niches that still have potential. This kind of market test can be done with SEO rather than conventional methods that cost a lot of money and time without delivering long-term benefit.
Some types of business aren't a good fit for SEO, and this becomes clear when there is open discussion between the SEO provider and the business owner who wants to rely on the internet for marketing.
The explanations above about SEO for online business are only a big picture of current trends and how to anticipate them. Real, practical answers come when you sit down with an experienced SEO expert to discuss your business.
Besides search engine marketing, there are many other options for online promotion and marketing. Digital ads are very powerful and need a budget that matches your goals, for example Google Ads. You can also use Facebook Ads, Instagram (owned by Facebook) or Twitter Ads. If your KPI is likes or followers, search engine optimisation isn't the best choice.
Contact us to discuss which kind of online promotion is best for your business, whether retail, a social campaign or promoting an upcoming event such as an exhibition or seminar; each needs a very different approach.
