What is the Relationship Between SEO and Website Traffic? Importance of SEO and 7 Quick Actionable Tips

Are you wondering, “How much traffic can SEO generate?”

SEO is highly effective for web traffic generation and offers excellent cost-effectiveness compared to other methods.

That’s why we recommend SEO for those with a website or those wanting to get started with web marketing.

However, many people might still have questions, like “How effective is SEO in driving traffic?” or “Why is SEO so important?”

To answer these questions, this article explains the impact of SEO on website traffic and why it’s essential for growth.

If you’re unsure about how much traffic SEO can bring or if you’re deciding whether to invest in SEO, we hope you’ll find this guide helpful.

Why SEO Is Essential for Increasing Website Traffic

SEO is crucial for boosting website traffic, though the reasons for its importance are not often discussed.

Let’s start by understanding why SEO is so important for driving traffic.

In short, SEO is essential because it’s one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to attract web traffic.

While SEO focuses on bringing users to your website, there are actually only five main channels for web traffic:

Additionally, referrals and direct traffic are more challenging to control intentionally.

Thus, if you’re looking to significantly increase traffic, the focus is on SEO, ads, and social media.

Here are the characteristics of each approach:

With SEO, you can expect consistent traffic without advertising costs.

While SEO’s immediate reach might not match that of ads, it often offers better long-term ROI.

Ads can provide excellent reach and quick results, though maintaining them incurs ongoing costs.

Therefore, ads might not be the most cost-effective option for small businesses with limited budgets.

Social media can bring occasional surges in traffic and keep costs low if managed internally, though its impact is typically not as strong as SEO or ads.

In short, SEO offers a cost-effective way to drive traffic with lasting results, making it a highly valuable strategy.

How Much Traffic Can SEO Actually Generate?

Let’s take a closer look at how much traffic you can actually gain from SEO.

The number of visitors through SEO varies depending on the ranking position.

As you may know, the higher your position, the greater the traffic you’ll receive.

The table below shows the click-through rate (CTR) by ranking position in Google search results.

As seen from the table, a 1st position in Google’s search results achieves a CTR of 28.5%.

Furthermore, this CTR drops to 15.7% at the 2nd position.

This CTR data helps estimate the potential traffic you can gain from SEO efforts.

For example, if you rank 1st for a keyword with a monthly search volume of 10,000, approximately 2,850 users (28.5%) are likely to visit your website.

Thus, achieving a high ranking is essential to significantly impact traffic levels.

Increase Website Traffic with SEO! 7 Quick and Easy SEO Techniques

Now, let’s go over some ways to implement SEO strategies.

SEO strategies are generally divided into three categories, so here we’ll introduce 10 specific techniques grouped into these three categories.

Be sure to check these out to help increase traffic to your website.

SEO Strategy 1. On-Page Optimization

First, let’s go over on-page strategies.

On-page strategies aim to quickly and accurately communicate your website’s information to Google and readers alike.

Although SEO is said to be user-first, it’s essential to ensure that Google also quickly and accurately understands your website’s information to rank higher. Be sure to review this aspect.

On-page techniques vary, but here are three that can be implemented quickly.

1. Set Up Title Tags

Title tags are tags that represent the title of a webpage.

Titles set through title tags are prominently displayed on search engines, making them an essential SEO element.

When setting title tags, it’s crucial to include keywords you want to rank for.

Even a simple title tag change can significantly impact your ranking, so check your title tags and make changes if necessary.

2. Set Up Meta Descriptions

A meta description is a tag that briefly describes the page content in about 100 characters.

Like title tags, meta descriptions are displayed on search engines.

Although meta descriptions are said not to have a direct impact on SEO, Google does recommend setting them up.
Reference: Useful Search Snippets for Users

So, don’t forget to set up your meta descriptions as well.

In your meta description, include keywords and a brief summary of the page.

For example, if you want to rank the homepage of a dental clinic for “〇〇 Station Dentist,” a suitable description might be:

“The official website of 〇〇 Dental Clinic. Conveniently located within a 3-minute walk from 〇〇 Station, making it easily accessible for those in the 〇〇 area.”

In this way, set the meta description with information users are likely looking for along with relevant keywords.

3. Connect Pages Within Your Website Using Internal Links

Internal links connect pages within your own website.

Using internal links can increase both Google’s assessment of your site and user convenience.

As a result, you may rank higher on search engines, leading to more traffic.

Don’t add links randomly; make sure to link related pages to each other.

SEO Strategy 2. Off-Page Optimization

Next, let’s discuss off-page strategies.

Off-page optimization is more challenging as it’s not directly controllable, but it carries significant weight in SEO rankings, so it’s worth addressing as much as possible.

There are mainly two types of off-page optimization techniques.

Let’s break down each one.

1. Acquire Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are links from external sites to your website.

If you can acquire quality backlinks, your SEO ranking can improve, potentially placing your site higher in search results.

Quality backlinks come from sites within the same genre or from official institutions.

Here are some ways to acquire backlinks:

There are many ways to obtain backlinks.

Please note that social media links do not impact SEO directly, so it’s not advisable to try and increase backlinks through social media.

However, social media still has a positive effect on SEO, which we’ll cover in the next section.

2. Acquire Citations

Citations refer to mentions or reviews without a direct link.

Translated directly, citation means “mention” or “reference.”

On X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, people might post about a product or company without including a link.

This is a citation.

Google includes citations in SEO evaluations.

Therefore, encouraging users to post about your products or company on social media can have a positive effect on SEO.

Since citations are hard to control directly, you can make it easier for users to post by promoting sharing on your website and adding social media buttons.

SEO Measure 3: Content SEO

Next, we will introduce strategies for Content SEO.

As the name implies, Content SEO involves creating content pages within a website and optimizing them to rank higher in search results, thus increasing website traffic.

The main methods of Content SEO are as follows:

These are strategies you can implement immediately, so please refer to them as needed.

1. Start by Targeting Keywords with Low Monthly Search Volumes

When starting to create content, aim for keywords with low monthly search volumes initially.

This is because keywords with high monthly search volumes are highly competitive, making it difficult to rank highly.

For example, if a law firm is beginning Content SEO, it may be challenging to rank highly for keywords like “claim for damages” (5,400 searches per month) or “corporate attorney” (2,900 searches per month).

In SEO, factors such as website comprehensiveness and the number of backlinks are evaluated, making some keywords harder to rank for if you’re late to the game.

Thus, a recommended strategy is to initially rank for less competitive (easier-to-rank) keywords to increase traffic.

However, if the monthly search volume is too low, the impact on traffic will be minimal even if you rank highly, so aim for keywords with 100-1,000 searches.

You can check keyword search volumes using tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest.

2. Create High-Quality Content that Meets Reader Needs

To rank highly in search engines, you need high-quality content that meets reader needs.

Google also strives to provide information that benefits its users.

Google always aims to provide users with valuable and relevant information.

Source: How Google Search Works | Putting Users First

Additionally, Google emphasizes user convenience in its “Ten Things We Know to Be True.”

Focusing on the user benefits everything else in the long run.

Source: Google’s Ten Things We Know to Be True

This philosophy underpins Google’s service offerings.

Therefore, to rank highly in Google Search, you must create content based on the same philosophy.

Clarify the issues and desired solutions of users searching for your target keywords, then create content accordingly.

3. Use Keywords Appropriately

Incorporate target keywords and related keywords within your content.

Including keywords helps Google better recognize the relevance of the content to the search terms, which can improve SEO evaluation.

Specifically, include the following keywords in the title, headings, and body content:

Be careful not to overuse keywords, as excessive use can result in penalties, causing your site to disappear from search results.

We’ve introduced seven specific SEO measures, but there are also actions you should avoid in SEO.

Understanding these will help you avoid penalties, which could otherwise lead to zero search-driven traffic.

Three Things to Avoid When Increasing Traffic

When traffic isn’t increasing, it’s tempting to try various methods.

However, some actions can be considered penalizing, and in the worst case, your website could be removed from search results.

If your website disappears from search results, SEO traffic could drop to zero, so be careful.

Some main actions to avoid are as follows:

Let’s explain each in detail.

1. Creating Pages Without Original Content

Creating pages without original content can lead to penalties.

Original content includes perspectives and examples unique to your company.

Non-original content, on the other hand, includes “copied content from other sources” or content overly reliant on quoted information.

Google evaluates originality in content for SEO, so pages without original content may receive low SEO scores or even penalties.

2. Adding a Large Number of Low-Quality Backlinks

Quality backlinks are beneficial for SEO, but low-quality backlinks can lead to penalties.

Low-quality backlinks include links from link-only pages or purchased links.

A small number of low-quality links won’t necessarily lead to penalties.

Google considers link quality, assessing penalties based on the balance between good and bad links. Avoid buying links or creating link-only pages.

3. Excessive Use of Irrelevant Keywords

Overusing irrelevant keywords can also result in penalties.

A high volume of unrelated keywords may indicate a lack of relevance, failing to benefit search users.

Though it’s impossible to judge “irrelevant” keywords, if your content aims to resolve user concerns, it shouldn’t contain many unrelated keywords.

[Summary] SEO Measures Significantly Impact Traffic Growth

SEO measures have a major impact on increasing website traffic.

While there are many ways to attract web traffic, none offer the same level of cost-effective results as SEO.

Therefore, we believe all businesses with a website should undertake SEO initiatives.

As we have shown, SEO measures can be divided into three strategies, making it somewhat complex.

However, if you start with what you can manage in your current situation, it will be effective, so we encourage you to take action gradually.