Search engine optimization (SEO) has become an essential need for both small and established businesses. This is because SEO is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to reach customers and better understand them. First, let’s better understand what SEO is and how it works before we tell you why it’s crucial for your business.
What is SEO?
SEO is a group of practices and techniques that are used to enhance a certain website according to Google’s rules and regulations in order to rank higher in organic search results. Some of the key factors that determine a website’s authority from an SEO perspective are high-quality content, visuals and navigation, and reliable backlinks.
How Does SEO Work
Each search engine uses bots to crawl websites and gather information to index them then analyzes it to test hundreds of factors then orders them in results pages accordingly. That’s where SEO comes into play to compete with other sites over the top results or at least being on the first page. Unlike paid ads, you can’t pay Google or any search engine to rank higher in search results.
Why Do Businesses Need SEO
1. Increases Website Traffic & Potential Customers
An essential element of the buyer funnel, organic search is a key determiner of a business website’s performance. The higher your website ranks, the more website traffic you’ll get, and therefore more potential customers who are specifically interested in what you have to offer. SEO is the most effective way to get customers to complete the buyer journey and make a conversion or engagement, therefore increasing ROI. It’s also a way to increase your brand visibility among competitors. Nowadays, it’s not enough to have high-quality products or services and good prices to be known, you must utilize SEO practices to attract customers. If you’re in the insurance industry, for example, specific insurance SEO will drive people who already in the consideration phase to your website, ready to make a decision/purchase.
2. Gives Businesses Credibility & Builds Trust
When you are using SEO, customers will only get your website when they are searching for a specific thing related to your business instead of getting irrelevant results. This is something that will give your business credit when you are offering content that is both relevant and rich. This goes even further if you manage to rank higher on search engines, it gives the impression that you are a trustworthy brand and source of information.
3. Helps You Better Understand Consumer Behavior
One of the best features of SEO is that it’s measurable, meaning you can analyze the results from your SEO efforts. This doesn’t only mean you can figure out which practices work with you or not, but it also helps you understand your customer base better. Data like search queries, SERP analysis, and AI insights can all give you an idea of customer intent and behavior. This will allow you to tailor your marketing strategy to work with the analytics you’ve gained on what your customers engage with the most.
4. Allows For a Better User Experience
The user experience should be the top priority for any business since it’s the main thing that will attract new customers and retain previous ones. It’s also a factor that Google takes into consideration before ranking websites. Key aspects of an optimized user experience are quality content, page speed, site design, navigation, mobile-friendliness, and lack of any broken links. These practices guarantee a better user experience which is not only good for ranking higher but also gaining more traffic.
5. An Affordable Way for Growth
Another great thing about SEO: it’s completely free! While some of its practices might cost an amount of money, the results you see are totally worth it. That means that all you’ll need to spend is your time and effort to get your business more customers and increase profit. This is a huge advantage since other marketing tactics like TV or radio ads cost a lot of money as well as PPC campaigns. SEO gives you huge room for growth at very low costs if none. It’s all about implementing the right practices at the right time.
If all this does not convince you why your business absolutely needs SEO, we don’t know what will. It’s easy, free, and measurable to know where you stand. Whether you decide to implement SEO for your business yourself or hire a specialist, it needs very specific knowledge and skills that must be acquired first to get the results you hope for.
