Exhibit 26.1 Through Search Engine Optimization, property consultancy, Knight
Frank, achieves tremendous growth in traffic to its KFMAP site. (Source: Google Search Console)
Securing a high rank on search platforms is of such enormous interest
that a completely new industry emerged in the early 1990s. Referred to as search engine optimization (SEO),
it helps marketers optimize their websites for search engines like Google.
As can be gauged from Exhibit 26.1, SEO initiatives can greatly boost online business.
In this example that pertains to a global property consultancy, the tremendous increase in impressions, clicks,
and click through rate (CTR) resulted in much increased flow of leads and business opportunities for the firm.
SEO is the process of boosting the ranking of a site on search result pages. It is of crucial
importance because the ranking greatly impacts site traffic. Most users do not look beyond the first result page,
and the higher a site ranks on this list, the higher the probability the user will visit the site. According to
Google 94% of users click on a first page result and 35% click on the top result.
This chapter imparts a comprehensive understanding of the SEO processes —
strategize, optimize and review. It covers on-page and off-page optimization techniques, as well as
strategies for increasing inbound traffic and improving site retention.