One constant thing about SEO is that it is rapidly changing. The way SEO worked 5 years ago is not the way it works today. The rules have changed and will continue to change. This dynamism is a feature of most sustainable ventures; they constantly evolve to keep up with trends and changes in technology. With the rapidly changing digital age, the last thing businesses need is a stagnant way of doing things. Far from stagnancy, SEO has become a powerful tool for businesses today. Marketers fast realized that driving traffic sustainably to a website cannot be achieved without SEO. For those new to these terms, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of influencing the online visibility of a website, affecting its position in a web search. The position a website occupies in an organic search result is known as ranking. When a user searches for a particular keyword, a list of relevant links come up; some of the first and the rest on the remaining pages. Look at this, Google alone boasts of over 100 billion monthly searches and optimized websites continue to benefit from useful traffic. From the pool of hundreds of millions of websites on the internet and a pool of numerous competitors; SEO gives businesses the opportunity to stand out. SEO does not care about the size or scale of a business, if the strategies are correctly implemented success is sure. Why should you invest in SEO? Ranking high for a keyword on Google (in the first few organic search results) can be incredible. Any kind of business can enjoy the benefits of SEO. Some examples are; an SEO Agency, Ecommerce Development Company, blogs, social media sites et cetera. As long as a business has a website, it can benefit immensely from SEO. Here are 5 big reasons you need to invest your time and effort on SEO.
- Economic Benefits
Every business wants to save cost and increase revenue. SEO is the perfect tool for this. Web searches are usually targeted. According to Wordstream in 2016, 72% of consumers who did a local search visited a store within five miles. This is based on the theory that users are carrying out searches for products and service they need. These users are likely to make a purchase at one time or another. This is a huge economic benefit for businesses it helps them get quality leads and conversions of their website. Search engine optimization is proven to be cost effective in the following ways;
- SEO is relatively low cost to execute
- Search engine optimization is observed to have a higher Return on Investment (ROI) compared to methods like Pay per click, display ads and others
- The long term benefit of SEO also helps to save cost and increase revenue
- SEO provides better leads and higher conversion rates
- Brand Awareness
Websites which appear at the top of organic searches for targeted keywords are perceived to be trustworthy. This means brands whose websites appear at the top get more visits and more visibility. Compared to competitors high ranking websites get more visits and higher brand awareness. It takes a lot of work to rank high for targeted keywords but the benefits are numerous especially for a brand. Some of these are brand visibility, customer trust, and brand loyalty. This is where amongst millions of websites and brands, a small business gets the chance to be seen and opted for. Indeed brand awareness cannot be complete without a good SEO strategy.
- Long Term Benefits
Unlike paid advertising, SEO has a long time benefit. Although it takes some time to achieve top ranking for targeted keywords, the results last longer than paid advertising. Paid advertising is not cost effective and it only displays for the period of time it is paid to run. Afterwards the website returns to its original position in organic searches. It may take your time and effort, but the benefits are great and the effects are long lasting.
- Increased Website Traffic
Every website wants to benefit from increased traffic. This is because it gives a meaning to the website when visitors troop in. Take an ecommerce website as an example, the objectives of the website to provide buying and selling services for visitors. High traffic means higher possibility to sell more products thereby making higher revenue.SEO offers this opportunity for website to get increased traffic. Ranking high for targeted keywords makes website more likely to be visited, increasing the chances of conversion.SEO gives websites great and small the same opportunity to rank high for targeted keywords but it is those with successful SEO strategies that take the centre stage.
- Competitive Edge
There are over 250million websites on the internet and your competitors list might be as long as your arm. Do you think it is possible to stand out? Most of your competitors already realized the benefits of SEO and are taking advantage of it. Your business might be small, new online or may be operating on a budget.SEO is definitely the perfect tool for you. It may not get you immediate results like paid advertising does but it will eventually pay off. The best strategy to adopt is to combine paid advertising with SEO which enables a business to enjoy the benefits of both. P aid advertising will provide quick traffic, while SEO will provide long term benefits. It is constantly a competition out there and SEO gives ever y website a chance to be successful, especially against big competitors who have been around for many years and are probably monopolizing traffic.
Conclusion
Every business website wants to rank high on Google and other search engines; some of go to length like budgeting high amounts for paid advertising. Marketers are investing on SEO and mobile searches are on the rise. Your competitors are working hard to get ahead; SEO gives you the opportunity to be successful. . It is observed that 60% of clicks go to the first results in searches. Wouldn’t you want to benefit from this? Every successful venture depends on strategy, finding the right SEO strategy should be your focus now, because adopting a poor strategy is definitely a waste of your time and effort.
Post Contribution by: Junaid Ali Qureshi
Junaid is a digital marketing specialist who has helped several businesses gain traffic, outperform competition and generate profitable leads. His current ventures include Progostech, Magentodevelopers.online.eLabelz, Smart Leads.ae, Progos Tech and eCig.