Reasons Why Your Business Needs to Focus on SEO
SEO is important for improving search and visibility, but it offers more real value than that. Here are 12 reasons why companies need SEO to take their brand to the next level.
Many brands and companies know (or think they know) that they need SEO for their digital properties, and the benefits they will derive from SEO work done on their behalf.
SEO will certainly improve the searchability and visibility of a website, but what other real value does it offer? Why is SEO so important?
These 12 reasons should clarify, regardless of sector or company size, why companies need SEO to take their brand to the next level:
Organic search is most often the main source of website traffic
Organic search is an important part of the performance of most corporate websites, as well as an essential part of the shopping funnel and ultimately user conversion or engagement.
As marketers know, Google has a significantly larger share of the search market than competitors such as Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo and many others.
That's not to say that all search engines don't contribute to a brand's visibility - they do - it's just that Google has about 75% of the overall search market. It's the undisputed leader, so it's important to follow its guidelines.
But the remaining 25% of the market held by other engines is obviously also valuable for brands.
Google, being the most visited website in the world (especially in the US), also happens to be the most popular email provider in the world (with more than 1 billion users). Not forgetting that YouTube is the second largest search engine.
We know that a clear majority of people who have access to the Internet visit Google at least once a day to get information.
Being highly visible as a trusted resource by Google and other search engines will always play in favour of a brand. Quality SEO and a quality website will bring brands there.
SEO builds trust and credibility
The goal of any experienced SEO is to establish a solid foundation for a beautiful website with a clean and effective user experience that is easily discoverable during a search thanks to the trust and credibility of the brand and its digital properties.
There are many elements involved in establishing an authority on search engines such as Google.
In addition to the factors mentioned above, authority is acquired over time through such elements as:
- Quality profiles for inbound links
- Positive user behavior
- Machine learning signals
- Optimized elements and content on the page
But establishing this authority will do more for a brand than most, if not all, other digital optimizations. The problem is that trust and credibility can't be established overnight - like in real life. Authority is earned and built over time.
Establishing a brand as an authority requires patience, effort and commitment, but it also depends on offering a quality and valuable product or service that allows customers to trust a brand.
Good SEO also means a better user experience
Everyone wants a better organic ranking and maximum visibility. Few people realize that an optimal user experience is an essential element in achieving this.
Google has learned how to interpret a favourable or unfavourable user experience, and a positive user experience has become an essential part of a successful website.
Customers know what they want. If they can't find it, there'll be a problem. And performance will suffer.
A clear example of creating a strong user experience is how Google has increasingly become a response engine offering search data directly on SERPs (search engine results pages) for users.
The goal is to provide users with the information they are looking for in fewer clicks, quickly and easily.
Quality SEO integrates a positive user experience, leveraging it to work for a brand.
Local SEO means increased engagement, traffic, and conversion
With the growth and increasing dominance of mobile traffic, local search has become a fundamental element in the success of small and medium-sized businesses.
Local search aims to optimize your digital assets for a specific neighborhood, so that people can find you quickly and easily, bringing them closer to a transaction.
Local optimizations focus on specific cities, regions and even states, to establish a viable medium for a brand's message at the local level.
SEO professionals do this by optimizing the brand's website and its content, including local quotes and backlinks, as well as local listings relevant to the location and industry to which a brand belongs.
To promote local engagement, SEO professionals should start by optimizing a brand's Knowledge Graph panel, Google My Business listings and social media profiles.
Emphasis should also be placed on user ratings on Google, as well as other rating sites such as Yelp, Home Advisor and Angie's List (among others), depending on the industry.
SEO has an impact on the buying cycle
Clients do their research. This is one of the biggest advantages of the Internet from the buyer's point of view.
The use of search engine optimization tactics to relay your messages of good deals, innovative products and/or services, and the importance and reliability of what you offer to customers will make a difference.
There is no doubt that it will also have a positive impact on the buying cycle if done well.
Brands need to be visible where people need them so that a meaningful connection can be made. Local SEO enhances this visibility and allows potential customers to find the answers, and the companies that provide them to respond.
Best practices in SEO are always up-to-date
It is good to have SEO tactics implemented on a brand's website and all of its digital properties, but if it is a short-term commitment (budgetary constraints, etc.) and the site is not re-evaluated consistently over time, it will reach a threshold where it can no longer improve due to other obstacles.
The way the world of search evolves, essentially at Google's discretion, requires constant monitoring of changes to keep ahead of the competition and hopefully ahead of page 1.
Being proactive and watching for major changes in algorithms will always benefit brands that do so.
We know that Google makes thousands of algorithm changes a year. If you fall too far behind, it will be extremely difficult for you to go back. SEO professionals help to avoid this.
Understanding SEO helps you understand the web environment
With the ever-changing environment that is the World Wide Web, it can be difficult to keep up with changes as they occur.
But to stay on top of SEO, you need to be aware of the major changes taking place in the research field.
Knowing the web environment, including the tactics used by other companies and comparable local competitors, will always benefit these brands.
SEO is relatively inexpensive
Of course, it costs money. All the best things do, don't they?
But SEO is relatively cheap overall, and the gains will most likely be considerable in terms of profits and results for the brand.
It's not a marketing cost, it's a real business investment. A good implementation of search engine optimization will hold up for many years. And, like most things in life, it will only get better if it gets more attention (and investment).
It is a long-term strategy
The SEO can (and hopefully will) have a significant impact in the first year of action, and many of these actions will have an impact that lasts for more than several years.
It is true that as the market evolves, it is best to monitor trends and changes closely. But even a site that has not been subjected to a large number of search engine optimization recommendations will improve on the basic optimization best practices used on an honest website with a decent user experience.
And the more time, effort and budget spent on search engine optimization, the longer a website is able to remain a valuable competitor in its market.
It's quantifiable
Although natural SEO does not offer as easy a return on investment as paid SEO, you can measure almost anything with proper monitoring and analysis.
The big problem is trying to connect the dots in the background, as there is no definitive way to understand the correlation between all the actions taken.
Nevertheless, it is useful to understand how certain actions are expected to affect performance and growth, and we hope they will.
All good SEO aims to improve performance, so connecting the dots should not be a challenge.
Brands also want to know and understand where they were, where they are and where they are going in terms of numerical performance, especially for SEO when they have a person/company that is paid to perform on their behalf.
There is no better way to show SEO success, either. We all know that data never lies.
SEO highlights new opportunities
Quality referencing will always allow brands to discover and exploit new opportunities, not only to be discovered, but also to shine.
Offering quality SEO to brands means immersing an SEO team in everything that constitutes that brand. This is the only way to truly market a brand with the passion and understanding that brand stakeholders have for it: becoming a stakeholder.
The better a brand is understood, the more opportunities there are for it to thrive. The same can be said of search engine optimization.
If you're not on page 1, you don't earn the click
It's no secret in the SEO world that if you're not on page 1, you probably won't kill the organic search game.
A recent study shows that the top three positions in the organic search rankings result in nearly 40% of all clicks, while up to 30% of all Page 1 and Page 2 results are not clicked at all.
What does this mean? It means two things:
- If you're not on page 1, you must be
- There are still too many cases where a user types a search query and doesn't find exactly what they are looking for
Conclusion
The implementation of a strong and quality SEO on a brand's website and digital properties will always benefit the brand and its marketing efforts.
It is considered a "new era" marketing technique, but it is essential to a brand's presence on the web in this day and age, especially as data availability and rival competition continues to increase and develop.
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