Achieving search visibility (also referred to as SEO visibility) isn’t an instant guarantee that you’ll surpass all your SEO and digital marketing goals. But without visibility, you’ll be hard-pressed to achieve any level of measurable results.

If your target audience can’t find you on Google – or whatever search engine they’re using – even the highest-quality content, product selection, and service won’t get you very far. You can have a stellar business plan and a clearly-mapped path to success, but a lack of search visibility undermines it all. Ultimately, it’s virtually impossible to have a thriving and sustainable business if you haven’t secured a certain level of visibility in search results.

We’re going to talk about what SEO visibility means, how to measure SEO visibility, and which KPIs are the best indicator of your website’s overall SEO health. Plus, we’ll cover what it means to have a “good” SEO visibility score and give you five simple steps you can use to improve your search visibility today.

What is SEO Visibility?

In simplest terms, SEO visibility is how effectively your website is “being seen” by potential customers via search engine results. You already know how important it is to get your website in front of as many people as possible, specifically the right people at the right time. When an online user uses a search engine to look for your business, products, services, or any other information relevant to what your brand has to offer, SEO visibility is how you make sure they find you.

SEO visibility encompasses the size and strength of your website’s organic keyword “footprint,” based on your ranking level for specific target keywords.

The higher you rank for each of these keywords, the greater your SEO visibility.

• Zero SEO visibility would mean that you aren’t ranking for any of your selected target keywords.
• Maximum SEO visibility would mean that you’re ranking in the top position for every selected target keyword.

How to Measure Search Visibility

Measuring SEO visibility involves collecting and evaluating several data points, including:

• Search volume of relevant keywords
• Ranking positions/frequencies of a given domain’s URL

A domain will generally reach a higher level of SEO visibility if:

• Its URLs are able to rank higher on search results list(s)
• Multiple URLs of the domain are a part of Google’s index and have good rankings
• Its URLs maintain a good ranking for keywords that have a high search volume

How to Measure SEO

When you hear a marketer talking about “measuring SEO,” they’re often referring to the myriad of metrics used to assess the performance of an SEO strategy. There are 200-plus ranking factors used in the Google algorithm, but it’s generally best to choose just a few metrics to track consistently.

Some of the most common ways to measure SEO include:

• Organic traffic
• Keyword ranking
• SERP visibility (AKA search visibility, which we’re discussing here)
• Click-through rate
• Bounce rate
• Backlinks
• Website authority
• Conversion rate

As you can see, search visibility is just one of many performance indicators of SEO, albeit a very important one.

What’s the Difference Between Organic Search Visibility & Traffic?

SEO visibility, or organic search visibility, is a relative value. It’s typically represented as a percentage, used to estimate the likelihood that your website will attract traffic via a specific set of target keywords (based on the ranking for each keyword).

SEO traffic, in contrast, is an absolute value that equates to the estimated number of website visitors (clicks) that your site will receive via organic search results. This value is based on your ranking for each keyword, the estimated monthly searches, and the estimated click-through rate.

Here’s the key takeaway:

Organic traffic losses/gains aren’t necessarily always related to changes in visibility. However, changes in visibility will always affect organic traffic.

How Do You Track SEO Visibility?

Various SEO tools are used to track visibility, each basing its evaluation on certain metrics and methodologies. Ideally, you’ll select one SEO tool that best suits your needs, then use it to track search visibility over time.

Some online tools for tracking SEO visibility include:

• SEMrush
• Moz Pro
• SEOmonitor
• Ahref

For many businesses, it actually makes the most sense to hire a skilled SEO team to manage all tracking efforts. Because an SEO expert has the skill and expertise to accurately track and interpret key SEO metrics, it can often be far more effective than trying to tackle it on your own.

Why Does SEO Visibility Matter?

SEO visibility provides you with a “big picture” perspective of your overall SEO success.

Staying on top of SEO visibility will help you:

• Understand how different web pages on your website rank in comparison to each other: When you can pinpoint the web pages that are falling short on performance, you can make targeted improvements to maximize ROI.
• See how your website’s visibility stacks up against your competitors: You don’t just need to know how your website is doing; you should also be aware of how (and what) your competitors are doing as well. Discover hidden opportunities and unexpected threats so you can close the gap between your website and top-performing competitor sites.
• Measure the impact of an SEO campaign: Evaluating your visibility before and after an SEO campaign is a great way to see if and how your efforts paid off.

How Do SERP Rankings Relate to Search Visibility?

Improved SERP rankings should be a positive result, not the only goal, of a well-thought SEO campaign. With effective SEO efforts, positive changes in rankings will happen. However, tracking search visibility focuses on the more sustainable goal of moving a business forward using converting traffic.

What’s a “Good” SEO Visibility Score?

It’s easy to assume that the best cannabis SEO strategies aim for an SEO visibility score of 100%. However, that “perfect score” isn’t really achievable, even under the best conditions.

Instead, a good score for SEO visibility tends to hover in the mid-40s.

Why Measure SEO Visibility?

The bottom line is that SEO visibility is what makes it possible for you to reach any number of SEO goals, including:

• Improved brand awareness
• Increased site traffic
• Increased engagement
• Increased sales
• Lead generation

SEO Experts Give Tips to Improve SEO Visibility

Here are our top five tips for improving cannabusiness SEO visibility using practical strategies that actually work.

Do a Site Audit

Learn how to do an SEO site audit – or better yet, have an SEO agency do one for you. An audit gives you an honest assessment of the most critical obstacles standing between your website and your target customers, so you can prioritize improvements to achieve the most significant impact.

Have a Sitemap

Create an XML sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console so that search engines know which of your pages to crawl, interpret, and index. Gaps or errors in your sitemap can seriously weaken all SEO efforts, so make sure yours is in tip-top shape.

Be Mobile Friendly

Google’s index relies on the mobile version of the website content, both for indexing and ranking. So, if you haven’t yet made your website mobile-friendly, you’re losing out on rankings and mobile user traffic alike.

Use Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are the key to finding more targeted, less competitive avenues to being found via search. Instead of relying on a highly-competitive keyword like “Colorado dispensaries,” implement a long-tail keyword like “Denver recreational cannabis dispensaries with THC edibles.” You’ll be able to hone in on your niche market more effectively, both in search traffic and physical foot traffic.

Create Search Optimized Content

High-quality, relevant content that has been optimized for search will ensure that your website shows up for search users that have questions or needs you can answer. Investing in SEO-friendly content will open the door to increased visibility and other benefits across the board.

Optimize Your SEO Visibility and Support Your Business Goals

Your SEO strategy plays a pivotal role in the success of your online presence, impacting everything from brand awareness to your day-to-day profits. Without an SEO plan, your digital marketing efforts can easily fall flat – so, the time to prioritize SEO is now.

Learn more about how to increase SEO visibility in a way that serves your goals when you contact the Marijuana Marketing Xperts team today. We can help make your CannaBusiness more visible!

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