Most Zimbabwean businesses don’t fully leverage digital marketing, particularly SEO.
One of the factors could be the fact that business owners simply don’t know, or that most Zimbabweans don’t have access to the internet, so doing SEO is not of much importance.
Social media is the one most leveraged digital marketing channel, particularly because you get some sort of instant feedback, like comments and likes.
However, other marketing channels are not fancy, but can get you leads sustainably.
What’s SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimisation which is the process of making websites visible in search results such as Google and Bing.
For example, if someone searches “solar installation Harare” your website must appear in search results.
- I rejected Zanu PF scarf: Burna Boy
- NMB workers take on employer
- Mbavara eyes to resurrect Matavire’s music legacy
- I rejected Zanu PF scarf: Burna Boy
Keep Reading
You want to aim for the first page of search results, as about 75% of users don't get past the first page(according to Ahrefs analysis).
SEO is organic, i.e. you don’t necessarily have to pay to appear on top. It just needs time and effort. In fact, most users prefer organic results skipping “Sponsored” websites.
Why you should care about SEO
You may be asking, why should I care about doing SEO?
In order to answer this question you need to understand inbound marketing.
Inbound marketing
Essentially, there are two categories of marketing: outbound and inbound.
Outbound means you go "out" after people selling your product, while inbound people come to you on their own.
This is a huge difference, and understanding this can turn your whole marketing strategy to another level.
When you run a Facebook Ad, a TV ad, or put a billboard on the street, you're doing outbound marketing.
This works, but there are some problems.
People don't trust you
You're basically reaching what's called a "cold audience", which are people unaware (or uninterested) in your product.
You'll need to invest significant funds to build trust and reach as many potential customers as possible.
People are also constantly bombarded by ads. Because of this, many simply ignore them.
The moment you stop paying, the traffic stops
With paid ads, the moment you stop funding the campaign, the leads disappear.
This means your marketing engine stops immediately.
However, inbound marketing solves these problems.
With inbound marketing, you build trust by being the answer to what people are searching for.
SEO is a form of inbound marketing that helps attract searchers to your website.
You become an authority in your space by educating and answering what people are searching for.
While most people focus on Ads, you build trust and people are more likely to buy from you.
According to Hubspot, inbound marketing generates 54% more leads than outbound.
In addition, SEO has long-term ROI (Return on Investment). Your site continues to get traffic after it has started ranking, unlike Ads: people stop coming once your Ad ends.
Simply put, SEO is like planting a tree. It may take time to grow, but once it matures it keeps producing fruit for years.
How SEO is done
SEO starts by submitting your website to search engines for it to be crawled and indexed by search engines.
Search engines send bots that crawl the web for content..
Once a page is found, it is indexed or stored in the search engine’s database.
When someone searches, the search engine will provide the best website that will answer the question. Several factors are considered to rank websites on top. Some of the important ones include:
Content relevance
Search engines reward content that answers a user’s question clearly and accurately.
Content must show Expertise, Experience, Authority, and can be Trusted. This is dubbed EEAT by Google.
For example, if someone searches “best solar installer in Harare”, Google will prioritise websites that provide detailed, useful information about solar installations rather than thin or vague content.
Keywords
Keywords are what people type when searching, e.g “car hire Harare”, “Lenovo laptop” etc. These keywords must appear prominently on your website.
Technical aspects
Your website must be easy for bots to crawl. It must also be user friendly and accessible on mobile devices.
Slow websites, broken pages, or confusing navigation can negatively affect rankings.
Search engines want to provide the best experience for users, so technical performance matters.
References
How many websites are referring to or linking to your website? These are called backlinks.
Backlinks act as a trust signal in search engine eyes. The more quality links you have from reputable websites, the more search engines trust your site.
Think of backlinks as votes of confidence.
If many credible websites reference your content, search engines assume your website is valuable and push it higher in rankings.
The four pillars of SEO
SEO is usually broken into four major components.
1. Keyword research
Keyword research is the process of identifying what people are searching for online.
For example, a furniture shop might discover people are searching for:
- “beds for sale in Harare”
- “cheap couches Zimbabwe”
- “office desks price”
Once you know the exact phrases people are typing into search engines, you can create pages that target those searches and include those keywords.
Without keyword research, you're basically guessing what customers want.
2. On-page SEO
On-page SEO refers to optimising the content on your website pages.
This includes:
- Page titles and meta descriptions
- Headings
- Content structure
- Image optimisation
- Internal linking
Search engines scan these elements to understand what your page is about.
For example, if your page title says “Affordable Solar Installation in Harare”, Google immediately understands the topic of that page.
Good on-page SEO also makes your content easier for readers to understand.
3. Technical SEO
Technical SEO focuses on how your website is built and how search engines interact with it.
Some important factors include:
- Website speed
- Mobile responsiveness
- Proper site structure
- Secure HTTPS connection
- XML sitemaps
If a website is slow or difficult to crawl, search engines may struggle to rank it properly.
Even great content can perform poorly if the technical foundation is weak.
4. Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to activities done outside your website to improve your ranking.
The biggest factor here is backlinks.
You can earn backlinks by:
- Publishing valuable content
- Getting listed in business directories
- Writing guest articles on other websites
- Being referenced by blogs or news sites
Off-page SEO builds your website’s authority across the internet.
The stronger your authority, the higher your potential rankings.
SEO opportunities for Zimbabwean businesses
One advantage Zimbabwean businesses currently have is low competition in search.
Many industries still have very few businesses doing proper SEO.
This means a company that invests in SEO early can dominate search results for years.
For example, if you are in industries such as:
- Solar installation
- Construction services
- Car repairs
- Furniture sales
- Property management
There are hundreds of people searching for these services online every month.
But often only a handful of websites are properly optimised.
This creates a massive opportunity.
The business that builds helpful content, optimises its website, and earns backlinks will naturally rise above competitors.
In addition to ordinary SEO, you might as well optimise for AI citations as well. People are now using AI platforms like Chat GPT and Gemini to search, and these platforms often cite websites with the best answer and authority.
The optimisations are similar. If your website ranks on Google chances are you’ll also appear in AI results.
Final thoughts
SEO is not a quick trick or overnight strategy. It requires patience, consistency, and good content.
However, once your website begins ranking well, the results can be powerful.
Instead of constantly chasing customers with ads, your customers start finding you.
Your website becomes a digital salesperson that works 24 hours a day.
For Zimbabwean businesses that want sustainable growth, SEO is one of the most powerful marketing tools available today.
In many ways, it is the closest thing to putting customer acquisition on autopilot.
*Denver Kunaka is a webmaster focusing on web design, development, and driving traffic to websites using search engine optimization.
He is the founder of Public Methods, a web and software development company based in Zimbabwe. You can follow him on Facebook as he shares web and digital knowledge. https//www.facebook.com/denverkwebmaster.
These weekly articles are coordinated by Lovemore Kadenge, an independent consultant, managing consultant of Zawale Consultants (Private) Limited, past president of the Zimbabwe Economics Society (ZES) and past president of the Chartered Governance & Accountancy Institute in Zimbabwe (CGAIZ). Email – [email protected] or Mobile No. +263 772 382 52
