In today’s digital world, the usage of digital marketing strategies has become essential for businesses to succeed. However, with an increasingly competitive market, businesses need to have something that sets them apart from their competitors; this is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into play. SEO is an essential strategy in any successful digital marketing plan. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the importance of SEO and how it benefits small businesses.
“Almost 50% of marketers report that organic search has the best ROI of any marketing channel.”
— Sempress Digital
SEO is the process of optimizing websites in a way that allows search engines to find and rank them higher in their search results. Organic search traffic is one of the most valuable, cost-effective sources of website traffic for businesses. SEO enables businesses to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) and increase their website visibility. It involves various techniques, including keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building.
Before we dive deeper into the subject, let’s first take a look at a few SEO statistics that’ll put everything into perspective:
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- The first five organic results on Google search engine results pages account for 67.6% of all clicks.
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- The average content length of the top position Google article contains 1447 words.
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- Google’s search algorithm uses more than 200 factors to rank websites.
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- Almost 50% of marketers report that organic search has the best ROI of any marketing channel.
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- SEO can reduce the cost of customer acquisition by 87.41% on average compared to digital advertising.
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- Google currently has about 85% of the search engine market.
Small businesses across various industries are met with one central challenge (barrier to entry, if you will): visibility. It is fairly easy to get lost in the shuffle while struggling to define your seat at the table. Though it may seem nearly impossible, investing time and effort into developing a strong SEO strategy can help you move the needle.
How Can SEO Benefit Small Businesses
Increased Website Visibility
SEO helps businesses to improve their website visibility by ranking higher in search engine results pages. As mentioned above, Google’s search algorithm uses more than 200 factors to rank websites. When a website ranks higher in SERPs, it gets more clicks and traffic, which could lead to increased sales and revenue. These ranking factors used by the algorithm vary in importance and there’s no sure way to identify what’s going to give you a major boost; however, digital marketers have determined a good place to start. On-page SEO is a great starting point to begin ranking and building overall domain authority.
Read more: On-Page SEO for Beginners
Cost-Effective
SEO is a cost-effective marketing strategy as it allows businesses to target their audience more precisely. With precise targeting, businesses can convert more leads into customers and improve their ROI. Even though organic traffic acquisition is the least expensive marketing channel (in terms of budget), it requires time, research, effort to implement various industry best practices to see the fruits of your labor.
Relevance
SEO enables businesses to rank higher for relevant keywords and phrases, which increases the chances of attracting the right audience. Relevance is essential as it enables businesses to reach out to the right customers at the right time. Keyword research is critical to your SEO strategy and there are three main factors to consider: keyword relevance, search volume, and search intent. Not only do you want to be sure that you are target a search term in which users search frequently, you also want to consider whether you can provide the type of content in which they are interested. This also highlights where users are in their search journey. Knowing whether a user is at the beginning of their search (using terms like: “what is…,” “where can I find…”) or toward the end of their search (using terms like: “buy…,” “find help with…”), can be the deciding factor in whether they convert.
Read more: Keyword Research for Beginners
Long-Term Benefits
SEO is a long-term strategy that can provide long-term benefits to businesses. The results of SEO are not immediate, but they could last for a very long time. This is because SEO is a continuous process, and once a website starts ranking higher, it becomes difficult for competitors to outrank it.
Brand Awareness
SEO can create brand awareness for businesses. When a website ranks higher in Google, it creates trust and credibility in the eyes of consumers. This, in turn, helps businesses to build brand awareness and create brand loyalty in their customers.
As mentioned earlier in this blog, small business are faced with the barrier to entry that I’d like to call visibility (both online and in general). In our digital world, people are more likely to do a quick Google search before making purchasing decisions. If you can organically obtain the digital real estate needed to attract your ideal customers, you’ve managed to overcome your biggest obstacle. Your business is not required to be a household name like Walmart or Target to be successful, you just have to in the right place at the right time.
Mobile Optimization
With the increasing usage of mobile devices, businesses need to optimize their websites for mobile users. SEO enables businesses to optimize their websites for mobile devices, which improves the user experience and increases the chances of attracting more mobile users. If you are following industry news focused on SEO, you may have noticed some businesses adding the phrase “near me” to their trade name. As humorous as it may be, it is a great indicator that SEO involves a great deal of creativity while also considering the importance of mobile optimization. The vast majority of internet searches occur on a smartphone and mobile searches are designed (thanks to Google) to accommodate urgency which has no room for slow site speeds/loading times or poor user experiences.
Before You Go….
Long story short, your target audience can’t support you if they don’t know you exist. So, now that you understand the wonders SEO can do for your business (big or small), we recommend adding it to your digital strategy. It’s a good thing we’ve developed a beginner’s guide to on-page SEO to help you get started:
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- On-Page SEO for Beginners
As always Sempress Digital is at your disposal. We offer personalized SEO and PPC packages that are designed to fit the needs of your business. What’s stopping you from investing the time and money into your craft? Let’s make magic happen. View our services and contact us today.
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