Search Engine Optimization is a relatively new field in marketing. For that reason many business owners aren’t sure if they need SEO. So what’s the true importance of SEO?
Today we’ll be going over the 12 key benefits of SEO and to try to explain the main reasons why SEO is important and why most businesses could benefit from SEO.
The Importance of SEO – 12 Key Benefits
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) should be part of every business’s digital marketing strategy. SEO allows companies to gain increased online visibility, leading to more traffic and sales for them.
Most Internet users start their experience online with search engines like Google. The more likely a site is to appear on the first page of Google, the better.
1. Organic Search Traffic is Usually the Primary Traffic Source of a Website
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving a website or web page’s search engine results pages (SERPs) rankings to increase its visibility and traffic. SEO can have a tremendous impact on a brand’s visibility and traffic levels.
According to Imforza, most online activities begin with a search. According to their data, 93 percent of customers conduct a product or service research before purchasing, and 70% of clicked-through search engine results are organic rather than Pay Per Click ads.
Not to be overlooked is that organic search results receive 75% of clicks, making SEO an extremely efficient marketing strategy, helping businesses reach their target audiences in an organic way without disrupting them.
As opposed to paid marketing tactics such as pay-per-click advertising, SEO costs significantly less overall and its results can be quantifiable – Google Analytics gives marketers unprecedented insight into every aspect of a site’s performance allowing them to accurately measure its efficacy as an SEO campaign.
2. SEO Builds Trust
As a brand, you want your customers to trust you. SEO can help your organization build its credibility online by offering relevant, high-quality content at the exact moment they search for solutions online – which creates trust with your audience while shortening buying cycles and increasing revenue streams.
Forbes Agency Council conducted a study which confirmed that brands who utilize SEO achieve higher returns than those who don’t. SEO can also be utilized to boost paid search campaigns, driving down cost per click while improving overall effectiveness of advertising initiatives.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an indispensable marketing strategy that should be employed by any business looking to expand its presence online. Through effective strategies such as building authority and optimizing on-page content as well as adhering to Google’s E-A-T guidelines, your brand can stand out among competitors – and unlike paid online ads, SEO offers long-term returns – making it a fantastic long-term investment for any company looking to establish itself online.
3. SEO is a Type of Market Research
Search engines such as Google process over 40,000 searches every second, covering every industry imaginable. SEO provides insight into what people are searching for online and therefore provides you with insight into their market research needs.
Utilize this data to develop content that addresses your target audience’s needs, whether that means producing new articles or optimizing existing pages on your website for certain keywords. In particular, pay attention to which words your audience uses when searching for your products/services (Product Keywords) as well as those they are researching about your industry or products (Informational Keywords).
SEO can be used to attract quality traffic without incurring the high costs associated with other forms of online advertising, like pay per click (PPC) ads. SEO should be part of any business’s online marketing strategy regardless of industry or size. When managed by experienced experts, it can bring major advantages for your organization by building trust among customers while helping your company remain credible to them – an integral component in any successful marketing plan.
4. Proper SEO Improves User Experience
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is something many businesses understand (or think they understand). They recognize its value to increase brand recognition online, as well as being essential in today’s digital environment where users prefer brands ranked higher on SERPs over those that don’t.
But many don’t understand that effective SEO goes well beyond ranking well on search engine results pages (SERPs) — it’s also about providing quality user experiences to visitors who visit your website.
Content creation that addresses customer questions, issues and needs should also be a key focus. Your website must load quickly as people’s attention spans are short; no one has time to wait around while the pages load!
Analyzing data and metrics such as average time spent on site, number of page views and conversions will provide insights into customer behavior which can then be used to enhance both content strategy and website.
5. Local SEO helps Improve Traffic & Conversions
Local SEO is essential for any business looking to increase traffic to their website and sales, by reaching targeted audiences while building trust and credibility with customers. By carefully researching keywords and producing high-quality content, companies can increase their search engine ranking.
Keep in mind that search engines place great value in a business’s reputation, and positive online reviews help strengthen it. When customers see that other people have had positive experiences with a particular business, they are more likely to trust and purchase its products or services.
At the core of it all lies an opportunity: monitoring their online reputation and making sure all of their listings are accurate – websites, social media channels, review aggregators and any other platforms containing your NAP details should always remain consistent across platforms to increase local SEO rankings and remain relevant with local communities.
6. SEO is Constantly Changing
Search engines constantly change their algorithms to adapt with modern trends, so staying informed on current SEO practices will help ensure you don’t use outdated strategies that could harm your business.
Recently, search engines have begun taking social media signals into account when ranking websites to ensure that content shared across social media platforms deserves to be there. Furthermore, search engines are including long-tail keywords and AI voice search patterns in their algorithms for ranking.
As such, investing in an effective SEO strategy is crucial. Not only will this boost your chances of ranking higher on SERPs but it will also increase qualified leads generated to your site compared to paid marketing methods; additionally you can track ROI with tools such as Google Analytics for ease of calculation and informed decisions regarding marketing plans.
7. SEO Can Help PR
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an invaluable way to expand your target audience and grow your business. SEO should be integrated into all types of businesses – both online and offline – regardless of size. By investing in SEO, businesses of any type can increase brand recognition, reach more people, generate additional revenues, build credibility with audiences, increase credibility with search engines (which typically view websites that rank high on search engine results pages as higher quality and trustworthy), as well as making websites search engine-friendly by creating quality content, increasing speed optimizations and researching keywords.
Businesses and digital marketers alike understand the significance of SEO for their overall marketing strategies, but many don’t fully appreciate its true worth to their business. By understanding its 10 key benefits you can better appreciate its worth to you business compared with traditional methods; SEO offers tangible results and provides greater return on investment than many traditional methods do.
8. SEO ROI can be Measured and is Quantifiable
Another reason SEO is important is that you can measure the ROI of SEO. Businesses implementing SEO strategies can quickly observe results – whether that means increased brand visibility or more website traffic – which in turn leads to an increase in revenue that can then be measured against the investment in an SEO strategy and used as an indicator for measuring its return on investment (ROI).
Search engines offer one of the most cost-effective marketing methods available today; their reach extends well beyond traditional channels like newspapers or brochures. When combined with user behavior that favors businesses that rank higher in SERPs, SEO has certainly proven its worth.
As more traditional businesses switch over to digital, they need SEO in order to be successful online. Customers research purchases extensively before purchasing them; as the digital ecosystem is expanding at such a fast rate, SEO provides the best way to market a business within this new purchasing ecosystem.
9. Inbound Leads/Clients/Appointments/Sales
One of the main benefits of SEO is that fact that it can bring your business inbound leads or clients. 92% of search traffic goes to the first page of google, you can imagine how competitive some businesses will get for that search engine traffic.
Since a majority of the market uses search engines, like google, to find the products or services they need, having a website on the first page of search engines bring in additional leads to your business.
SEO that is done the right way would target keywords that show an interest in the product of service you are providing. When you show up on the first page of google, their is a pretty high chance the person searching for your product or service will buy from you.
Even if they don’t buy from you then, that search result left an impression and can lead to brand awareness.
10. Brand Awareness
Brand awareness can be done by basically any marketing effort, but the reason that Search Engine Optimization, SEO, is so effective at creating brand awareness is that your business shows up when a potential client needs your product or service.
It’s been shown that consumers buy products or services from companies they have seen multiple times. If you can make a potential costumer feel like they know you, that’ll increase the chances of them buying from you.
11. Increased Social Promotion
If people can find your blog or website on google there’s a higher chance that they will share it on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This increased promotion is basically free advertising for you.
12. Increase Sales Conversion
By showing up on search results you are increasing trust in the market. That trust will go a long way and make people more comfortable when they decide to buy from you.
It is much easier to close an inbound lead versus a lead acquired through outbound efforts.
Conclusion
The main reason a business owner would invest in SEO is if it will bring a return on investment. SEO should bring in more revenue than it costs. At the end of the day, SEO is an inbound marketing effort that should aim entirely at increasing sales and conversions.
