SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

ASSIGNMENT - DECEMBER 2020

Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC

 Table of Contents
List of Tables..............................................................................................................................2

Company Background................................................................................................................3

Name of the Organization: Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC..............................................................3

Size of Organization...............................................................................................................3

Range of Products and Services.............................................................................................3

Customer Base.......................................................................................................................4

Key Customer Segment..........................................................................................................4

Current Marketing Practices..................................................................................................4

Task 1.........................................................................................................................................5

1.1 Current Digital Marketing Landscape of the Organization..............................................5

1.2 Organic and Paid Approaches..........................................................................................5

1.3 Importance of Digital Marketing to the Business............................................................6

1.4 Search Engine Optimization Impact and Relevance towards the Organization..............6

Task 2.........................................................................................................................................7

2.1 Recommended SEO Plan for the Organization................................................................7

2.2 SEO Applications and Key Metrics for the Business......................................................7

2.2.1 On-Page Optimization and Content Optimization....................................................7

2.2.2 Technical Optimization.............................................................................................8

2.2.3 Off-Page Optimization (Link building)....................................................................8

2.2.4 SEO on Going Services.............................................................................................9

2.2.5 Reporting and Monitoring.........................................................................................9

2.3 Search Engine Marketing (SEM) use for SEO Strategy..................................................9

Task 3.......................................................................................................................................11

3.1 New Concepts of SEO for the Organization..................................................................11

3.2 Benefits from the Contemporary Trends in SEO...........................................................11

References................................................................................................................................13

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List of Tables
Table 1. Size of the Organization...............................................................................................3
Table 2. Range of Products and Services from Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC...................................3

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Company Background
Name of the Organization: Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC
Type of Organization

Public Limited Company (Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC, n.d.-a). Singer has always been in Sri
Lanka ever since 1877, and the very first Singer sewing machines were sold in the Colombo
marketplace. Currently, Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC is a huge, varied business with an unrivaled
footprint in Sri Lanka. It appears a part of Singer's widespread empire. Starting with the
sewing machine, Singer's product line gradually transformed to incorporate a widely effective
multi-approach integrating the offerings of the leading companies with the manufacturer's
existing product lines all over a variety of domestic, manufacturing, and commercial
segments.

Size of Organization
(dun&bradstreet, n.d.; MarketScreener, n.d.)

Year No. of Employees Total Assets Total Investment

2019/2020 5000 356 (Mn USD) 301.24 (Mn USD)
Table 1. Size of the Organization

Range of Products and Services

(Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC, n.d.-b)

Products from Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC Services from Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC
 Mobiles and tablets, computers, printers,  Customer loyalty program
gadgets and accessories
 Home and kitchen appliances  Check loyalty card point balance
 TV, home audio-video, and interactive flat  Easy payment schemes
panel smart boards
 Refrigerators, freezers, coolers, air  HP installment payments
conditioners, and washing machines
 Fitness equipment, musical instruments,  Senasuma extended warranty
sewing courses, and other products scheme
 Furniture  Express pay
 Agro products, bicycles & motorbikes  YouTube – product demo videos
 Sewing machines  SINGER Finance (Lanka) PLC
Table 2. Range of Products and Services from Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC

Customer Base
While Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC has a renowned position in supporting competitiveness, Singer
(Sri Lanka) PLC is in the journey of finalizing the required equipment. As a direct
consequence, Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC instantaneous adversaries are identified as presented,
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DAMRO is the biggest furniture manufacturing company covering a wide variety of classical
and contemporary furnishings, enhanced with genuine highlights and promotions.

Key Customer Segment

 National investors - Executives, Board of Directors.
 International investors - Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC shareholders, clients, manufacturers,
suppliers, advocacy group voters, domestic and international companies.

Current Marketing Practices

Official website page of Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC, partnered website pages with other brands,
social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter), paid advertisements.

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Task 1
1.1 Current Digital Marketing Landscape of the Organization
Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC since its inception in 1877 has come a long way in its marketing
strategy. Through the experience, it has gained through the generation of customer service
and sale of consumer goods, Singer established market dominance as a household name.
Singer which employs an innovative marketing strategy that takes home appliances to the
consumers' doorstep has established it the most extensive retail chain in the country
amounting to seven Singer Mega outlets, 273 exclusive Singer outlets, and 417 independent
outlets at the end of 2005 and earning the highest outlet penetration of the South Asian
Region.

With our consumer-focused products and services and established dominance, we should
focus on current market trends and consumer needs based on the data collected through
trained managers from each outlet island wide. Based on this approach product development,
process improvement, and promotions are handled by the head office. Singer (Sri Lanka)
PLC has thus far relied on changing in-store displays, running TV and commercials,
sponsoring national sports teams, celebrity endorsements, and paid promotions through social
media to approach our valuable customer base with minimum focus on developing strategy
based on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

1.2 Organic and Paid Approaches

Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC, we may take into consideration two main approaches when
gathering consumers to buy products through Singers online services.

Paid Approach

Through paid ads, we may build brand visibility by placing ads directly on a customer’s
screen multiple times even if a customer chooses to scroll past them. It also allows us more
control over delivering the marketing messages of the company to targeted crowds. It also
allows our brand name to bring visual product ads which can improve user clicks. Tracking
of keywords and visualizing consumer analytics also help in finetuning the strategy. A paid
approach is also much faster than any other approach and is well suited for emerging brands
who have minor to no market share and Singer being a well-established brand name with a
positive financial background can find this approach a favorable investment with guaranteed
returns for its investment.

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Organic Approach

Visibility in search engines for our targeted keywords puts our business in front of potential
customers in the same way as if we were to advertise, and it drives our brand awareness.
Perceivability around business search terms and enlightening questions identified with
Singer’s business type can have a positive marketing advantage. Singer image can get related
with and trusted via searchers who are posing inquiries as they direct the examination that
will prompt a purchase. Having our website returns in the natural outcomes can impact the
trust with a consumer searching for consumer goods. Consumers skip promotions and trust
natural outcomes more profoundly. Being obvious gives us an extreme edge in the market.
The organic approach also rids the cost of click and has a higher investment return
comparatively and Singer being an already established brand have the proper foundation to
see through with a long-term organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

1.3 Importance of Digital Marketing to the Business

The modern consumer resorts to the internet regardless of questions or wants they have. The
main reasons why Digital Marketing is taking up the traditional advertising channels is
because the world wide web has empowered organizations to cooperate with focused crowds
progressively. Digital marketing is also much cheaper than traditional advertising channels.
An email or web-based marketing campaign can send a message to a more extensive crowd at
a small amount of the cost to that of a TV advertisement. And with the current market trend,
even the key competitors of Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC have shifted to digital marketing and are
capturing the market of modern consumers. To bridge this gap of lost modern consumers
digital marketing is a vital part of any business structure (Daily News, 2020).

1.4 Search Engine Optimization Impact and Relevance towards the Organization
By being on the top results of a search engine we can gain a higher rate of ad clicks and more
customers viewing our products on offer. Not only will search engine optimization give us an
edge in sales, but it will also help our Singer track the online behavior of our valuable
customers and adjust according to the current online trends which can aid in better marketing
strategy while bringing more consumers to the platform with a higher Return of Investment.
The overall increase in customer engagement can be favorable for the organization by
building trust and credibility within the customers and strategic planning ahead of time will
improve our overall brand visibility and sales (Business News, 2020).

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Task 2
2.1 Recommended SEO Plan for the Organization
Website audit to find and fix technical SEO related issues and consultation in fixing.

 SEO friendly website function suggestions and consultation in fixing.

 Mobile-friendly website function suggestions and consultation in fixing.
 Content duplication audit and consultation in fixing.
 Selecting appropriate keywords by analyzing the business, the target audience, and
the competition.
 SEO optimized URL structure suggestions and consultation in fixing.
 Customized Title/Meta Tags for all pages on the website.
 Content optimization for the main pages of the website.
 Customized Title/Alt Tags for the images.
 Schema implementation (Structured snippets implementation).
 Google and Bing webmaster tool and other search engine webmaster tools set up.
 Content heavy SEO optimization approach with frequently updated blogs.
 Backlink Research.
 Competitor backlink analysis.
 Backlink Building.
 Keyword ranking monitoring (including universal search).
 Audit, Monitor, and Analyze the SEO aspects using the top SEO tools in the market.
 Allocating a dedicated account manager.
 Monthly meeting.

2.2 SEO Applications and Key Metrics for the Business

Keywords for the SEO campaign will be selected based on popularity, relevancy, and
competition. In-depth keyword analysis will be done using advanced keyword research tools.
The objective is to optimize our website for the brand and generic search phrases
(SmartInsights, n.d.).

2.2.1 On-Page Optimization and Content Optimization

 Title Tags Optimization
 Header Tag Optimization

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  Meta Description Optimizations
 Improve the Structure of URL
 Content Optimizing
 Implement Anchor Text
 Alt Tags and Image Titles
 Structured Data Implementations
 Unique Keyword-Rich Blog Article Creation for Client Website with Internal Linking
 Content Duplication Issue Fixing

2.2.2 Technical Optimization

 In-Depth SEO Audit to Identify and Fix Issues Negatively Impacting SEO Efforts
 Schema Implementation
 Generate/Edit Sitemap.Xml File Monthly
 Setup the Bing Webmaster Tool
 Setup Google Webmaster Tool
 Other Search Engine Webmaster Tools Configuration
 Google My Business Set-Up
 Crawler Error Fixing

2.2.3 Off-Page Optimization (Link building)

2.2.3.1 Importance of SEO monthly services to building backlinks
Backlinks are links that are directed towards our website. Also knows as inbound links. The
number of backlinks is an indication of the popularity or importance of the website.
Backlinks are important for SEO because search engines give more credit to websites that
have a good number of qualities backlinks, and consider those websites more relevant than
others in their results pages for a search query. When search engines calculate the relevance
of a site to a keyword, they consider the number of QUALITY inbound links to that site. So,
we should not be satisfied with merely getting inbound links, it is the quality of the inbound
link that matters. The higher the relevance of inbound links, the greater their quality.

Our Off-Site SEO strategy mainly breaks down into three areas.

1. Content Marketing
2. Social Juice
3. Local Optimization and Profile Creation

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2.2.3.2 Our Off-Site SEO services include,
 Link Building Campaign from high PR websites
 Relevant Forum Posting
 Blog Guest Posting
 Forum and Blog commenting
 Directory Submission
 Local citations
 Wiki Article Submissions and Wiki Edits
 Wiki Links Creation
 Micro Blog Posting
 Social Bookmarking
 Social Media Postings in relevant Forums
 Social Shout outs from Influencers
 Video submissions
 Keyword Monitoring and Ranking

2.2.4 SEO on Going Services

 Monitoring the keyword popularity and trends using advanced keyword ranking tools
and making ongoing changes to the keyword strategy
 Auditing the websites every 3 months using advance audit tools to identify any
negative factors and suggest fixing if any
 Creating Title and Meta Tags for new pages including new blog articles
 Responding to search engine algorithm changes

2.2.5 Reporting and Monitoring

 Overall SEO performance report and analysis monthly
 By weekly conference call to share updates
 Monthly keyword performance monitoring report
 A competitor backlink analysis will and a comparison will be conducted every six
months

2.3 Search Engine Marketing (SEM) use for SEO Strategy

SEM alludes to paid search advertising, a framework where organizations pay search engines
such as Google to show their advertisements in search results. Before we can pick which

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keywords to use in our search engine optimization efforts, we need to go through extensive
research. To begin with, we must recognize keywords that are pertinent to Singer and those
future clients are probably going to utilize while looking for our items and products. Another
main part of SEM that is needed for optimization is the account structure. Logical keyword
gathering and record structure can assist you with accomplishing higher navigation rates,
lower costs-per-click, and for the most part higher performance rates, Keyword research is
the key part in structuring the account. Finally, an overall assessment of the keywords should
be done to ensure quality is maintained.

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Task 3
3.1 New Concepts of SEO for the Organization
 Content heavy SEO approach

Having content that captures the eye of consumers is the main factor contributing to
organic traffic to a website. By including a call to action, product descriptions that are
not self-centered and open-minded while allowing customers to leave feedback and
ratings will contribute to a solid online presence.

 Mobile optimized approach

Sri Lanka being a country where mobile device usage exceeds the population (149% as
of 2020) a best practice when considering SEO is to make the sites mobile-friendly to
make sure that more consumers are lenient to visiting the website.

 Website speed centric approach

In the mind of the modern consumer speed is the main factor contributing to the appeal
of a website. This includes optimized loading times as well as simple steps to navigate
through the website and its processes in the least amount of time.

 Structured snippets

Structured snippets let promotions to feature explicit parts of our items and organization.
These advertisement expansions give a setting on the nature and assortment of our items
and administrations before consumers navigate to our site. Each snippet contains a
header and rundown of highlights our organization wants to feature. A preview of what
the client will get is important to make sure that a consumer proceeds to the website.

 Influencer based approach

Social media can be seen as a contemporary tool when it comes to marketing and people
with large amounts of social media presence are considered influencers who drive people
according to their content. These influencers can be used as a means to promote products
and services to their large following bases and direct large traffic to a site.

3.2 Benefits from the Contemporary Trends in SEO

By utilizing the above modern SEO concepts that we (Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC, n.d.-a) can
steer its course to stay in par with the other competitors in the market. By establishing our
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brand name throughout the country and specially among the modern and young consumers
Singer is able to keep a strong grip in the current market as it has done through the
generations before and by using SEO Singer is able to increase its profit margins as well as
overall sales and reach of its products while maintaining a low expenditure while gaining
maximum return of investment. The retaining of customers and adjusting to the market trends
will be further simplified and better management level decisions can be taken based on the
outcomes of this SEO plan.

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References
ahrefsblog. (n.d.). A 16-Step SEO Audit Process To Boost Your Google Rankings. Retrieved
December 28, 2020, from https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-audit/

Business News. (2020). Singer, SLIM join forces to boost sales team stature ~ Aims to
provide a world-class customer experience. https://www.lankabusinessnews.com/singer-
slim-join-forces-to-boost-sales-team-stature-aims-to-provide-a-world-class-customer-
experience/

Daily News. (2020, August 28). Singer, SLIM join forces to boost sales team stature | Daily
News. Daily News. http://www.dailynews.lk/2020/08/28/finance/227144/singer-slim-
join-forces-boost-sales-team-stature

dun&bradstreet. (n.d.). SINGER (SRI LANKA) PLC Company Profile | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
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Google Ads. (n.d.). Choose the Right Keywords with Our Research Tools - Google Ads.
Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-
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Google Search Central. (n.d.). Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide  |  Google
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MarketScreener. (n.d.). SINGER (SRI LANKA) PLC : Shareholders Board Members

Managers and Company Profile | LK0156N00006 | MarketScreener. Retrieved
December 28, 2020, from https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/SINGER-SRI-
LANKA-PLC-20700162/company/

MindTools. (n.d.). SWOT Analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Retrieved December 28, 2020, from
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MOZ. (n.d.-a). More than Keywords: 7 Concepts of Advanced On-Page SEO - Moz.
Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://moz.com/blog/7-advanced-seo-concepts

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MOZ. (n.d.-b). On-page SEO - Moz. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from
https://moz.com/blog/category/on-page-seo

Quora. (n.d.). Quora. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.quora.com/

SEMRUSH. (n.d.). What Is Off-Page SEO? A Comprehensive Guide. Retrieved December

28, 2020, from https://www.semrush.com/blog/off-page-seo/

Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC. (n.d.-a). About Us - Singer. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from
https://www.singersl.com/about-us

Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC. (n.d.-b). Products | SINGER Sri Lanka. Retrieved December 28,
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Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC. (2019). 2. Singer at a Glance. https://www.hayleys.com/wp-

content/uploads/2020/07/Singer-Sri-Lanka-PLC.pdf

SINGER Business School. (n.d.). Digital Marketing – Practitioner’s Bootcamp – Singer

Business School. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from
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SmartInsights. (n.d.). 10 KPIs to track your SEO performance and drive better results |
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