Why is SEO Important? 30 Powerful Benefits for Any Business
Why Is SEO Important?
Most businesses have heard by now that they should be doing SEO.
Search engine optimization can put you a little higher on the Google search results page, but how much does that really matter? You have a lot on your plate and want to make sure every investment has a strong ROI.
We’re here to tell you: SEO really is important. There are many benefits your business will get from search engine optimization. This article is going to explain 30 of them.
Why is SEO important?
If you own a business or manage a website of any kind, you likely want to bring traffic to it. SEO is important because it’s specifically aimed at helping you do just that.
53% of website traffic comes from organic search. The best way to make sure you’re not missing out on those potential site visitors is through ongoing SEO efforts.
SEO improves your online presence, increases organic traffic, and helps you grow your business.
Is SEO needed for every type of business?
In most cases, yes!
If your business offers products or services that users might try to find with a search query, then SEO should be a high priority.
There are a few situations where SEO may not be necessary:
- If your website isn’t meant to be found. For example, if you have a website dedicated to internal training.
- If you are looking for immediate leads or sales. SEO is a process that doesn’t deliver overnight success. It requires strategic planning, execution, and ongoing management.
What can SEO do for your business? 30 key benefits
1. Increased traffic
The higher a website ranks for relevant keywords, the more traffic you’ll receive.
In fact, the first Google search result for a keyword has a 28.5% click-through rate. By the time you get down to the tenth result, the CTR falls to 2.5%.
A good SEO strategy can get your page ranking for a variety of short- and long-tail keywords. The more often you show up at the top of the search engine results page, the more people click through to your site.
2. Improved visibility
The more keywords your website ranks for and the higher they rank, the more often your brand is seen by potential customers.
There are a number of SEO tactics that can increase the visibility of your website, such as:
- Identifying additional long-tail keywords to target
- Improving technical SEO
- Optimizing metadata on existing pages
- Developing new content
- Building quality backlinks
SEO is a direct driver of improved visibility and impressions in search engine results.
3. Credibility and trust
Websites that appear higher in the search results are viewed as more trustworthy and credible.
In fact, fewer than 1% of searchers end up clicking a result on the second page. The sites on page one are generally seen as the most legitimate answer to a search query.
These days, when people want something, they turn to Google. If your website is at the top of the search results, you’ve positioned yourself as a credible and trustworthy source.
4. Branding
Unless you’re the FedEx of your industry, your customers probably aren’t typing in your brand name as a search query.
However, if your customers start to notice that your brand is consistently near the top of their searches, it goes a long way toward building brand awareness.
SEO also improves branding by building a better user experience. Potential customers have a better experience when they come to your site and find useful, relevant content. They’re also happier if your site is fast and optimized for mobile.
These things are all part of SEO. When you invest in SEO, visitors to your website develop a positive impression of your brand.
5. Higher quality traffic
Potential customers are searching for your products or services online. Incorporating SEO lets each page on your website become an entry point for those customers.
Website traffic is considered high quality when it results in more leads and sales. To get high quality traffic, you have to attract the right people — internet users who are searching for exactly what you’re offering.
Search engine optimization is all about putting you in front of those people. The more targeted your SEO is, the more likely you are to attract your ideal site visitor.
The beauty of a well-developed SEO strategy is that you’re able to reach potential customers at every stage of the buying funnel, ensuring that you’re their choice when they’re ready to make a decision.
Since 2009, we have helped hundreds of local businesses grow their online leads and sales strategically. Let us do it for you!
6. An investment in your future
When you research SEO, you’ll undoubtedly hear that SEO is an ongoing process and that results don’t happen overnight.
It’s true.
When you invest in SEO, you’re doing so knowing that you probably won’t see the benefit for six to nine months. However, once your efforts start to pay off, you’ll have free traffic coming in for the foreseeable future.
Compare this to an investment in paid ads. They might result in more customers, but once you stop paying for the ads, the benefit will drop off.
7. Higher ROI than the other marketing channels
SEO-generated leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate.
That’s probably why 49% of marketers believe organic search is the most profitable channel they use.
8. Insight into your customers and who they are
SEO analytics involves collecting data for the purpose of improving your organic traffic.
These metrics can tell you more about your website visitors.
Not only can you get demographic, interests, locale, and device information from analytics, but you can obtain a great deal of information about where a user is at in their decision-making process by using Google Search Console to research what keywords are resulting in traffic.
9. Cost-effective marketing
SEO is one of the most cost-effective forms of digital marketing. That’s because you’re engaging someone once they’ve already taken the action of going to Google and typing in something related to a product or service you’re offering.
When you receive traffic from your efforts on these types of search terms, the users are already interested in what you have to offer. Your job is to convince them that you’re the right partner.
Once you start ranking well for terms, you receive the benefit of consistent traffic that the particular search term provides each and every month, so your flow of potential customers continues. Very few marketing channels can say the same thing.
10. A competitive advantage
63.6% of businesses actively invest in SEO. In other words, most of your competitors are already optimizing for search engines.
If you want to grow your business and be visible to searchers, then you too must invest in SEO services. That’s the only way to compete long-term (unless for some reason people stop using the internet to search, which isn’t going to happen anytime soon!)
11. Improved user experience and usability
When people visit your website, you want them to have a positive experience because it has a direct correlation with their perception of your business.
For any successful SEO campaign, user experience and general usability is a key focal point. Google has made it very clear they reward sites with higher search engine rankings when you provide a better overall experience.
12. 24/7 lead generation
The great thing about SEO is that when you’re ranking, you’re constantly visible to potential customers. That means you’re able to receive traffic day and night, which can turn into leads and sales.
If you weren’t doing SEO and had salespeople calling or emailing potential customers instead, you would have lulls. That’s because your salespeople have to sleep, take breaks, take vacations, and so on. A well-run SEO campaign can become a lead and sales generating machine.
Since 2009, we have helped hundreds of local businesses grow their online leads and sales strategically. Let us do it for you!
13. A great addition to the marketing mix
Any successful business has many different marketing channels active at a given time. SEO is a perfect complement to other marketing channels.
For example, if one of your marketing channels is paid search, you’d ideally pair it with SEO so that when a potential customer searches for your offerings, they see two listings.
This way you’re taking up a greater share of the SERP real estate.
14. Increased offline sales
These days, people even use the internet when they shop in brick-and-mortar stores.
They turn to Google to find local businesses, compare reviews, and check inventory online. And they continue searching while shopping. Google has seen a 15% increase in search queries that take place in a shop in recent years.
If you aren’t found during a user’s search process, then you’re not even being considered for that particular purchase.
15. Measurable KPIs
SEO is highly measurable. Using Google Analytics, you can see the volume of traffic and how that correlates to organic search goals. In addition, you’re able to leverage Google Search Console to see the exact keywords that are driving traffic. This is extremely valuable data that allows your internet marketing team to be even more successful.
16. Lower customer acquisition cost
SEO traffic is free. Being able to consistently receive targeted traffic to your website will undeniably increase your leads and sales.
Doing so at virtually no expense will dramatically reduce your acquisition costs, thus improving the profitability of your business.
17. A chance to connect
Search engines are how people do research now.
Google processes approximately 70,000 search queries every second. Within those searches are your customers!
They are using Google to do research and purchase what you have to offer.
18. The ability to reach users in all stages of the buying funnel
Creating content and optimizing that content for various stages in the buying funnel increases the likelihood that you will be chosen when it comes time to make a purchase decision.
You can use SEO to show up for common questions that a user might ask when in the awareness stage. You can also create case studies or other forms of helpful SEO content for the decision stage. Finally, you can create quote pages, coupons, and other sales-focused items that help with the purchasing stage.
19. Thought leadership in your industry
Not only does ranking higher in the SERPs instantly make users feel like you are one of the best options, but writing educational content on a continual basis will also position your brand as a thought leader.
20. A greater share of the clicks
85% of all clicks happen on organic listings.
Paid search only makes up 15% of the total clickshare for a keyword. You should be where the clicks are!
Since 2009, we have helped hundreds of local businesses grow their online leads and sales strategically. Let us do it for you!
21. A positive online reputation
Your online reputation has a direct impact on how successful your business will be.
We’ve already established that your customers are looking for information on the internet. A business that’s actively working on SEO has the ability to control its brand reputation online to some degree.
22. Local visibility for physical businesses
93% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year. 34% did so every day.
Local SEO is a set of techniques for increasing the visibility of a physical business in its local area. For example, you could target keywords like “party store in Memphis” or optimize your Google My Business listing.
One of the more important ranking factors in your local area is the consistency of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP data) across data aggregators and local directories.
The more conflicting name, address, and phone information that is out on the web about your business, the more difficult it is for Google to know what data to trust.
By doing local SEO, this issue is solved. No matter where your potential customers are, they can find the right information to be able to contact you.
23. Business growth as global search grows
The number of Google searches has continued to increase. It’s no wonder the global SEO services market is expected to reach a value of nearly $86 billion by 2023.
24. An ongoing relationship with your customers
As noted above, if your business offers products or services that users search for online, then they need help finding answers to questions about those products and services.
Creating content to help answer your target audience’s questions helps provide that ongoing relationship with your potential customers.
Publishing content on a regular basis makes you a reliable source of information for your customers while also growing your organic traffic.
25. Useful information
The queries driving traffic to your business provide insight that may influence the types of products and services you offer.
For example, maybe you’re a SaaS business and see that users are coming to your site from the term “free widgets.” If you’re purely a paid widget service, it might influence the creation of a free tiered plan to gain market share.
26. A level playing field
It’s difficult for businesses to compete against behemoths like Amazon, but SEO can help even the playing field.
A larger organization has more bureaucracy, while a smaller business can be more agile. Being more agile allows a smaller business to focus on longer tail keywords, user experience, and strategy, whereas a larger organization is typically more boxed in.
27. The attention of potential customers
Only 15% of total traffic for a keyword goes to the paid ads. People are very familiar with Google, and they now understand what is an ad and what isn’t.
SEO ensures your brand shows up where the click volume is.
28. Sustainability
If done right, SEO can bring a great deal of sustainability to a business.
When ranking for terms that bring qualified traffic to a website, you are in turn generating leads and sales. Maintaining that position while building new opportunities for your website ensures you have a consistent flow of traffic and allows your business to grow.
29. Targeted traffic
The beautiful thing about SEO, as opposed to more traditional forms of marketing, is that you’re able to generate highly targeted traffic.
Having the ability to show up high on the results page for a specific service you offer is gold. A user has actually gone online, typed in something related to your business, and clicked on your listing.
At this point, you have a much more targeted audience than if you were to do TV ads or a direct mail campaign, because they are actively searching for a solution. That’s powerful!
30. Local, regional, national, or global — it doesn’t matter
Imagine having to purchase radio or TV ads in all the different markets you offer products or services in. The cost would be outrageous!
With SEO, you have the capability to effectively reach whatever audience you want. No other advertising mediums offer the same combination of affordable, effective options that SEO does.
In closing
There are many other reasons SEO is important and should be considered for most businesses.
Whether you do it yourself or decide to hire a professional SEO service, you’ll be sure to experience many of the above benefits.
Since 2009, we have helped hundreds of local businesses grow their online leads and sales strategically. Let us do it for you!
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