A common question we get asked is “What is SEO and do we need it?”. Before we answer the question of “Do we need SEO?”, lets start with a simple explanation of what it is .
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) refers to all the actions taken on your website to ensure that you rank highly on the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP). It covers 3 main factors: On-page SEO, off-page SEO and technical SEO.
On-page SEO is all the things you can control on your website, like the H1 tags, content and keywords.
Off-page SEO essentially involves the factors of SEO you can’t directly control, such as backlinks from other websites.
Technical SEO refers to ensuring your website is optimised for Google crawlers and indexing.
SHOULD YOUR BUSINESS INVEST IN SEO?
Let’s think about it for a second – when was the last time you scrolled past the first page of Google? Probably never. If you are not on the first page of Google, you are essentially doomed to never being found. Now of course, Google and other search engines allow you to use paid ads which are a great way to target relevant keywords and gain new business. However, unlike SEO, using paid ads will always cost you no matter how long you invest in it.
Many people choose to avoid clicking on the ads due to a perceived lack of trust and will scroll directly to the organic search results. If you haven’t gathered by now, we are big fans of SEO! Below are 5 reasons why we believe every business should invest in Search Engine Optimisation:
BETTER QUALITY TRAFFIC
All businesses must get leads in order to survive. The more relevant the traffic you get to your website, the more likely you are to get conversions. Investing in SEO will ensure that, over time, the quality of traffic you are bringing to your website is both increasing in quantity and relevancy, meaning you are reaching more people who are interested in your products/services. If you don’t have traffic, you can’t get leads. By investing in SEO, it will be easier for you to attract more relevant traffic and ultimately increase online sales.
GREAT CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
Data is everything in Digital marketing. Using data we see who your audience is, what they like, and what their problems are.
Investing in SEO and organic traffic will give you great insights in your Google Analytics account.
As you get more visitors to your website, you will get a much better understanding of who your customers are, where they are located along with their most important demographic information. This will help with your understanding of your customers and can be used to help plan future campaigns, online and offline.
TRUST & CREDIBILITY
Your website is the main sales vehicle for your business and by ranking on the first page of Google (and particularly in the first spot!), you are subconsciously building trust among web searchers.
Although nowadays the customer journey is continuing to change, we are still Googling first. If you can show up organically at the moment a customer is searching for an answer to their problem, you will likely be viewed as a reliable source that will build trust and credibility for your brand, increase awareness (at the very least!) and hopefully increase sales.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
The goal of every business is to make money – And the good news is that SEO can greatly contribute to your overall marketing return on investment. The even better news is that SEO doesn’t require a massive budget and you can directly control most aspects of SEO yourself such as the content on your website, the keywords you are targeting, and even the design and layout of your website.
This allows small and medium-sized business to compete with larger, more established players in terms of attracting more relevant traffic to your website and ultimately increasing sales.
Search Engine Optimisation, is not a quick fix, it requires a long term investment and a good content approach. Side by side with a paid search strategy you can give your business the best chance to be found by customers.
CONCLUSION
Online and digital marketing is more competitive than ever. Investing in SEO can enable you to differentiate yourself from the competition by providing relevant content that answers users search queries and questions, while also promoting your business in a favourable way.With better search engine rankings, you will be able to attract better qualified leads and ultimately, more business for you.
