Organic (online) findability

The importance of organic findability (also known as SEO or online findability) is growing. Search engines are the most important tools for Internet users to find information. After typing in a search term, you always get to see the sponsored results first. A list of websites then appears, which, based on their content, match the search term. These are the organically findable websites.

Any Web site on the Internet can basically rank in the organic search results, but in practice it is quite difficult to rank high in this list. An advised way to get higher in Google is to get started with SEO outsourcing with an SEO specialist (or agency).

What is organic findability?

There is no need to pay to appear in this listing. How high you rank in search results is called organic findability. In addition to site content, the use of search terms plays a role in ranking.(1)

Benefits of organic findability

When working on good organic findability, your target audience is the focus. So make sure you know who they are and how they communicate. Use the terms they often use, for example on social media, as search terms in your own content. The chances of there being a 100 percent match between a typed search term and the keywords you use are then the highest.

Specifically, these are the benefits of good organic findability:

1. Your target audience is looking for you. And not the other way around. This provides a number of advantages.
   • The conversations you have are a lot more fun and interesting than when it comes to outbound marketing.
   • You do not detract from your branding (by being heavily involved in outbound marketing, perhaps even in the form of cold acquisition).
2. Good organic findability exudes confidence toward those searching for your brand.
3. The predictability of organic findability is relatively high. Navigating Google’s updates is predictable even with a sustainable SEO strategy.
4. Organic findability increases the intrinsic value of a business. Everything you invest in SEO pays off when you sell the business.
5. Organic findability is more often than not the channel with the highest conversion rate (after all, that’s what it’s all about in the end).

In addition: organic findability leads to the quality of content going up. The better this is done the more likely visitors within your target audience will land on your site.

Tips for improved online findability

Keep in mind that SEO is a complex field and the specific needs, resources and implementation time can vary greatly depending on the specific site situation.

Component for organic findability	Required resources/people	Priority (1-100)	Time period for implementation (1-100)
Keyword research(2)	SEO specialist, market researcher	90	70
Creating high-quality content	Content writer, SEO specialist	95	85
Technical SEO (including load time and mobile-friendliness)	Web developer, SEO specialist	85	80
Link building (monthly)	SEO specialist, PR team	80	90
Optimizing meta tags	SEO specialist, web developer	70	30
Social media integration	Social media manager, SEO specialist	60	40
Local SEO (for local businesses)	SEO specialist, local market researcher	75	70
SEO analysis and reporting	SEO specialist, data analyst	80	60

Both priority and duration are relative measurements. It is important to remember that SEO is an ongoing process, and it takes time to see results. You can’t do everything at once, and it’s important to adjust your strategy based on the results you get.

Local findability plays an important role in this

When you want to improve the organic findability of a website, it is crucial to create brand awareness while developing the company’s local SEO. The first thing that is important: create a Google My Business profile. Through this platform of Google, you can manage and customize the company’s listing on the SERP.(3)

Consider optimizing online findability for search terms such as “Buy Shoes in Rotterdam” or “Restaurant Zuid-Holland.” These are search terms with local intent, where with a good strategy a lot of relevant traffic can be obtained to local pages.

What components does online/organic findability consist of?

Improving the online findability of a website consists of three major components. Content, technical SEO and link building. Below is my take on these components.

Optimization of content for online findability

In essence, optimizing content for online findability is all about relevance and value. It is crucial to understand the questions and needs of your target audience and develop content that not only provides answers, but also additional value.

This means going beyond offering superficial answers, providing measurable value and creating an experience that motivates visitors to possibly convert or purchase something. When optimizing content for online readability, I find the following important:

• Integration of keywords: Smooth and natural integration of keywords into content.
• Relevance: Develop content that closely matches the search intentions of the target audience.
• Quality: Creating in-depth, informative and valuable content.
• Readability: Ensuring that the text is easy to read and understand for all users.
• Uniqueness: Develop original content that stands out from competitors.
• Multimedia use: Integrate images, videos and infographics to reinforce the message.
• Call-to-action: Insert clear and attractive calls to action.
• Internal links: Smart and strategic internal link structure to guide users and search engines through the site.
• Use of headings and on-page: Effective use of H1, H2, page titles and meta descriptions for organic findability.
• Timeliness: Ensuring that content is up-to-date.

Technical aspects of online findability

A website’s technical infrastructure is the foundation of all efforts aimed at organic findability. The goal is to create a good experience for both search engines and visitors. Technology can often be the most complex part of an online findability project, but it is essential to its success.

When it comes to the technical aspects of online findability, I always initially focus on aspects that promote not only organic findability, but also the customer journey. Also see my technical roadmap for more details. Some of the things I consider in the technical aspects of online findability are:

• Website speed: Optimizing load times to improve user experience and performance in Google.
• Mobile Optimization: Ensuring that the website functions properly and is user-friendly on mobile devices.
• Crawlability: Guarantee that search engines can effectively crawl and index the Web site.
• Website architecture: Develop a logical, user-friendly structure.
• HTTPS: Implement an SSL certificate for a secure user connection.
• Duplicate content: identifying and resolving problems with duplicate content.
• XML sitemap: Create and maintain an up-to-date XML sitemap.
• Robots.txt: Correctly configure the Robots.txt file.
• Structured data: Implementing structured data.
• 404 and redirects: Managing 404 errors and setting up redirects correctly.

Read source(4) for an explanation from Google around how Google itself works.

Link Building

Link building, the symbolic engine behind a campaign for online findability, is all about getting backlinks from other websites to your own site. In essence, the more quality links point to your website, the more authority search engines assign to your website.

This process helps improve a website’s online visibility by ranking higher in the search results of search engines such as Google. But it’s not just about gathering as many links as possible; the quality, relevance and context of these links are key.

An effective link building strategy requires planning, research and strategic execution to ensure that the links you obtain contribute to your overall goals and strategy for online findability. It is an ongoing activity and must be executed consistently and with integrity to ensure sustainable results. Also refer to my roadmap for off-page organic findability for more details.(5)

What steps do I go through?

Improving the organic findability of websites is never a standard course. Keeping in mind difference in market, industry and geographical location, I go through the steps below.

1. I map out the company’s objectives. An important component here is, are the goals a match with the resources the company has?
2. What is the competitor doing? What does the market look like? Thorough market research is important in improving organic findability.
3. With the external research done, I focus on creating the content strategy and a technical website analysis. Because of this foundation, we can focus only on the work with the highest impact later in the process.
4. The monthly SEO strategy: with all the research out of the way, I get to work on the monthly SEO strategy. Because of the research, I know exactly what needs to be done.
5. Monitor, perform work and report. In consultation with the client, I work structurally to improve organic findability. I do this in a transparent and sustainable way that focuses on results.

Monthly work on online findability

Each pathway to improve online findability differs. Customization is always important. Below, I have laid out an overall schedule for a course of action to improve online findability.

Month	Activities	Estimated cost (€)
1	SEO audit and website analysis; define target groups and objectives; Set up basic SEO (on-page); start content strategy.	900 – 2,700
2	Develop SEO-optimized content; improve meta tags and website structure; technical SEO improvements.	1,350 – 3,600
3	start link building strategy; activate social media marketing; Analyze backlink profile.	1,800 – 4,500
4	publish advanced content; Further technical SEO optimizations; use analysis tools for in-depth insights.	2,250 – 5,400
5	Optimize landing pages for conversion; perform A/B testing; customize content and SEO strategies.	1,800 – 4,500
6	expand content types (video, podcasts); diversify link building sources; Scaling SEO and content strategies.	2,700 – 6,300

This table lists the monthly activities and estimates the cost of outsourcing these activities to an SEO specialist or agency. Prices are estimates and may vary depending on the complexity of your website and the market.

My advice

Organic findability is important. You can optimize them by knowing your target audience, analyzing their language and tailoring keywords accordingly. When producing content, focus on content quality and use enough relevant keywords.

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