Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is an important part of digital marketing for any type of business, whether it’s a large multinational corporation or a small new company. It is one of the two most important parts of most online marketing plans (the other being conversion rate optimization or CRO). If you do SEO right, it can help your business get noticed online and grow on its own.
In this article, we look at what SEO is and why it’s important for business growth:
What is SEO
SEO is the process of making changes to your site so that it shows up more often when people use Google, Bing, and other search engines to look for products or services related to your business. The more visible your pages are in search results, the more likely you are to get people to notice your business and bring new and old customers to it.
How SEO can help your business growth
Here are 7 ways that SEO can help in growing your business
Reach your target audience
With traditional marketing methods like newspaper, radio, outdoor advertising, and TV, you try to reach a certain target market, but you can never be sure no matter how much research you do. On the other hand, digital tools like SEO let you target very specific customers by optimizing your website to show up in very specific search results for very specific demographics in very specific places.
Targeting specific locations is called “local search,” and it has proven to be a very powerful and, therefore, important way to bring in customers and boost sales.
A long-term plan to get long-term and lasting results
SEO doesn’t work as quickly as “paid search” or other forms of online marketing. Even though you can see results right away, it takes time for SEO to make a big difference. Research shows that it takes between six and twelve months for ranking results to change in a big way, especially if your business is new. This might not even mean that you’ll be number one.
On the plus side, this means that SEO will make your business more visible in the long run, since your business will still be seen as you move up the rankings. This also means that you will be able to stay at the top longer, beating the short-term attention of “paid search” and other forms of digital marketing.
Improves ranking
When it comes to the top spots, SEO’s main goal is to boost your website’s search ranking. Why is it important to rank? Because a shocking 75% of people never go past the first page.
Studies have also shown that nearly 40% of all clicks go to the first three search results and that a third of the results on the first two pages are never clicked at all. This means that if your website doesn’t show up until page 3, you might as well not exist.
Bring in traffic that is cheap and high quality
It’s clear that the higher your website ranks in search results, the more likely it is that people will click through to it. But it’s not just the amount of traffic that matters, but also how good that traffic is. You want visitors who are ready to buy your product or service and are genuinely interested in it. SEO can give you exactly that.
More importantly, SEO tends to be cheaper in the long run than other forms of online advertising like “paid search” and “PPC,” giving a higher return on investment that lasts longer.
Boost your credibility
People get so sick of seeing ads online that they start to call it “ad fatigue.” This has led to a rise in the use of ad-blocking software, which stops most paid ads from showing up. This has made these kinds of campaigns less effective.
But because SEO happens in the background, users don’t feel like they’re being sold to directly, so they’re more likely to click on your link. This also makes your site seem more trustworthy, since if it’s at the top of a search page, it must be good, right? This is true, because a search engine’s reputation is based on how good and relevant the links it gives are. This means that websites with better content will be pushed up.
Engagement of customers and users experience
The Internet is great because it lets businesses connect with their customers. Engagement is so important now that customers’ happiness depends on how well they engage with the company they buy from.
How the user interacts with your website is the key to getting them interested. How easy is it to get around, find the information or products you want, and buy from you? All of these are things that search engine algorithms use to decide how to rank pages. The higher your site is likely to rank, the better your site is for users.
Beat your competitors
SEO was once thought to be a passing trend, but as it has grown, it has shown itself to be a very useful tool that’s here to stay. In fact, more than 60% of marketers say SEO is their top priority when it comes to getting traffic that comes from “organic” sources. This means that if you don’t do any SEO, you risk falling behind your competitors and dropping off the search page.
If you want your business to be successful, you need to stay ahead of the competition. Being at the top of a search results page is a big plus.
Online business has become very competitive, especially in the way that business is done around the world right now. This has made it more important than ever for businesses to have a strong online presence. When you have a good SEO strategy, your business not only has a strong online presence, but it also can grow and do well.
Summary
SEO is very helpful for websites and can lead to long-term growth that goes up and up and up. SEO is an important part of digital marketing because it helps brands build credibility and trust with their audiences.