If you have a business that has an online presence, then you have definitely heard of the term SEO. It stands for Search Engine Optimization – a set of practices that websites are recommended to do in order to rank better in search results on certain keywords. SEO is not a simple process – it is an ongoing activity that will not only increase your exposure on the keywords you are targeting but also ensure that once you get to a good position, you stay there.
Some people argue that SEO is not important – a good website will get the audience and the customers if it is worth it. Yes and no. If people know that your website is out there, they will find it. However, when it comes to potential customers that have never heard of your business, the story is entirely different. We will give you a lot of reasons why SEO is still a very important part of your marketing strategy.
Increasing Exposure
You have probably heard this joke: If you want to hide a dead body so nobody can find it, hide it on the second page of Google search results. It’s a great metaphor to describe the journey of all users.
The main purpose of SEO is to build a good reputation for your website by targeting related keywords. When the users search for something on search engines, they want to get the most relevant results to their query. We live in a world where time is precious, so the users want to find what they are looking for fast. Imagine your website is on the tenth page of the search results on Google on a certain keyword. How many people will be able to find it? Probably none, because they will go for the results shown on the first page. By having your SEO done properly, you can get your website on the first page of the search results for the relevant keywords and have more people heading to your website instead of going to your competitors.
Good SEO Means Good User Experience
Search engines like Google don’t put these practices in place in vain. The end goal is user satisfaction, so those practices follow the trends and the behavior of the users. A good example of this is optimizing your website for mobile devices. Some people might think that a mobile-friendly website is unnecessary. People can always zoom in to see things better, can’t they? They certainly can, but they definitely won’t.
According to Statista, 52.2% of all Internet traffic worldwide was done through mobile devices. Is that convincing enough?
Search engines consider mobile optimization as one of the most important SEO practices. If your website is not mobile-friendly, search engines will dismiss your website in mobile searches or push it far back behind websites that are optimized. That means that you might be missing out on a lot of potential customers.
The same applies if we are talking about the written content on your website. It is not about keyword stuffing anymore, but rather about quality. High-quality SEO articles are not important only for search engine spiders – they are important for your customers as well.
SEO Vs. Paid Advertising
You might think that instead of investing in SEO, the quicker way to gain exposure is to just go for paid advertising. While it is true that paid advertising will get you on the top spot of the search results for the selected keywords instantly, you will only stay there until you are paying to stay there.
SEO is a long-term investment. Once you get to where you want to be in search results for your keywords, it is easier to maintain the position if you stick to the rules. That means that if you do everything properly, you can stay there forever!
Additionally, users tend to go for organic search results more often than for the ads. It is estimated that 70% of the clicks on the first page of the search results go to organic results. It is obvious that investing in SEO is a most cost-efficient way of attracting new customers.
Traditional Marketing Vs. SEO
Times have changed, and traditional advertising such as paying for an ad in the local newspaper or giving out printed materials to the bypassers is not as efficient as it used to be. In fact, according to one study, even 81% of shoppers do their research online before going to a store. In a lot of cases, research can turn into a purchase.
These are the main reasons why SEO is still a very important practice for increasing online exposure. We can continue to give you even more reasons why, but we believe there should be more than enough to convince you that investing in SEO is the best decision you can make.