Why Your Nigerian Business Needs an SEO Strategy Today

If your competitor implements a good SEO strategy before you do, you become “second best” or worse, a non-existent competitor. The key to creating an SEO strategy is knowing your goals and having a truckload of patience. Think of SEO like investing in the stock market except you always reap the benefits of your investment. SEO is that long-term investment that will continue to pay long after you expect it to stop. Yet, many Nigerian businesses disregard it. Why? It’s guaranteed to make your business bigger as time goes by.

In 2023, research by Hubspot showed that Google recorded an estimated 2 trillion searches yearly owning 92% of the search engine Industry. With this mindblowing information, I began to investigate why Nigerian businesses ignore SEO and how to help them create a good SEO strategy. SEO is an important part of a sales funnel as it has been shown that many people use search engines to discover products or services. How can your customers find you if you do not implement an SEO strategy that helps your discovery and overall visibility?

What is SEO and How Does it Work

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is making your website easier to find when people search for things related to what you offer. Picture this: Your business struggles to connect with customers. Your followers on Instagram like and comment on your videos but do not buy. Your TikTok views have increased beyond your imagination but it never converts to a sale. A potential customer searches for the service or product you offer and your business doesn’t show up. That is where SEO saves you.

Most Nigerian businesses only focus on creating an online presence on social media. Social media has its benefits and has no doubt brought an increase in sales to those who know how to use it. However, not all businesses will meet their customers on social media. Social media is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Having an online presence is important for many reasons as stated here but SEO is an untapped goldmine and you need to start digging.

Creating an Effective SEO Strategy in Nigeria: A 3-Step Guide

1. Optimize For Search Intent

Search Intent is the major reason why we optimize search engines. It is what SEO is built around – satisfying a user’s query. A search intent as it implies is the intention behind a user’s search query. If I ask Google for “the best website designer in Abuja”, the intent behind that search is likely research. I want to find the best web designer to contract their services or to work with them in the future.

Having content that satisfies a user’s search intent gives you the upper hand as you can then use this to persuade them to make a purchase. By optimizing your content for search intent, you have not only improved visibility but you have also enhanced the potential for conversions.

Search engines will only show users results relevant to their search queries. If your pages are not optimized to provide the results that the user wants then you will not appear as a result of those queries. An easy way to optimize for search intent is to step into the shoes of your target audience

2. Keyword Research

This is directly linked to the first step. To properly optimize for search intent, you need to find relevant keywords. You can start with these questions: How does your target audience search? What keywords are relevant to your target audience? What words are common in your industry? With SEO, everything is done with the prospective customer in mind, you have to step into their shoes, think as they think and ask questions as they ask.

There are so many tools that can be used for keyword research.  start with questions about your service or product that you can glean from your surroundings, your coworkers, and your customers. These questions inform you about your product/service and enable you to understand where to meet your audience.

3. Write For Humans

An important aspect of SEO that is often forgotten is that the search engines are optimized so humans can get the results they seek. Yes, a lot of words like “index” “bots” and “engines” are mentioned in SEO but ultimately it is for the user. Again, step into the shoes of the user. What topics are they interested in? What titles are they likely to click on? Will they prefer to read a 10-page article or a 3-paragraph blog post?

Researching your audience is the first step to discovering what topics your target audience is interested in. Becoming your user reminds you of their humanity and allows you to tailor your content to their wants and needs. The bots are not your target audience – please remember that.

Building an SEO strategy that works for your business all comes down to knowing your audience and becoming them. I hope these steps help you create an SEO strategy. If you don’t want to do any of these yourself then consider hiring an SEO agency in Nigeria to do the job. Remember, SEO is an investment that never stops paying.