Search Engine Optimization, better known as SEO, is what helps websites get to the top of search results in search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. When someone searches for a specific topic and your business website is at the top of the results, you can gather that you will get far more business and exposure than a website towards the bottom. Here are eight vital reasons why you should implement SEO for your business this year.
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1. Get More Traffic
If your business is at the top of the list of search results, more people will come to your website over a business on page 3 of the search results. 75% of people don’t scroll any further than the first page. The higher you are in search results, the more traffic will flow to your website, blog, or online store. This is a powerful way to make sales, fulfill your customer’s needs, help as many consumers as you can, and grow your business.
2. Grow Your Business
With more targeted traffic coming to your website, it’s a no-brainer that your top KPIs will improve. If you are a business heavily focused on sales, executing SEO will drive those numbers up as you begin to rank higher. If you are a blog and want your posts to outrank your competition, use SEO to gain more traction to your content. Your business can grow much faster when a strategic SEO strategy is in place. The more visible your business is, the better.
3. Get Website Visitors Into Your Sales Funnel
One of the top sales priorities of businesses is getting more traffic into your sales funnel. With SEO, you can do just that. A sales funnel is the buying process in which a business leads a customer through to purchase their products. More traffic and growth equals more opportunity to make use of your sales funnel. If you’re ranking higher on Google, you’ll get more traffic into your sales funnel.
4. Your Competition is Ahead of You
If you’re under the impression that your work is done once you reach the top of the results, you might be mistaken. Your competition is constantly fighting for those top spots too. Once you reach the top of the ranks, you must continue to work to maintain your status. Not to mention, completely ignoring SEO is practically handing your competition business without a fight. Even local, small businesses are optimizing their sites for SEO. If you aren’t putting in the proper focus, they’ll be at the top while you’re nowhere in sight. If you are a small business yourself and you are a bit intimidated by giant corporate competitors, not to worry. Small businesses are frequently outranking their larger counterparts due to proper SEO implementation. It just goes to show that using the right strategies and tactics can make your business succeed no matter the size.
5. It Won’t Go Away
SEO is something that is only going to grow more important as the years go on. Therefore, it’s something to put at the forefront of your strategy. The techniques of SEO will continue to evolve as the world does, and your competition is aware and adapting in order to keep ranking near the top. SEO has become the heart of which all other online marketing strategies stem from to create maximum effectiveness. Search engines are a modern-day way of life. 93% of people who are looking for businesses, services, or products, do so using a search engine. This habit won’t be changing anytime soon (if ever) so as long as people keep using search engines, you’ll want your business to be there for them to find.
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6. Build Brand Awareness
Consumers are far more likely to trust businesses ranking near the top than those on the second or third pages (if they ever scroll that far). The higher the rank, the higher the clout. The higher the clout, the more people will trust you. The more that people trust you, the higher the chance of a lead/sale. You’ll create a far more loyal following the more legit your business seems at a glance. That’s a win-win situation for both you as a business owner and the consumer.
7. Acquire Monthly Recurring Traffic
With more targeted traffic coming to your website organically and you sitting near the top of the search results, you’ll see an increase in your bottom line and the ROI will be worth it. There’s a higher chance of traffic not only being led into your sales funnel, but also to your email list. Retaining the traffic you receive from being a rockstar in your SEO implementation will qualify you for a loyal following that returns to your website repeatedly. This could call for repeat sales, gaining more and more trust, and/or more shares on social media. Lucky for you and your business, social media and SEO work hand in hand. The more popular you are on social media, the more SEO can increase that visibility. The more loyal your customer base, the higher your success.
8. Generate High-Quality Leads
One of the main perks of SEO is that people don’t find your business unless they want to. Meaning, you only show up when people are looking for the product, service, or location specific to your business. How much more targeted of an audience could you ask for? A good reminder is to make sure your content, products, or services are up to par with what consumers are looking for. More quality leads equals more conversions.
An SEO strategy is absolutely vital for long-term success. When done correctly, it can give you consistent and endless organic traffic and results. There are Google algorithm updates that can make it a little more tough (they’re always trying to rule out spam, which is great, but can make it all a bit trickier). Since 3 billion people search the internet every single day, it’s time you implemented an SEO plan to reel in some success.
Learn more about The 8 Success Principles for Any Business Model’s SEO here.