SEO is about so much more than just optimizing a website. It’s about reaching your target audience online when you can help them. It’s about seizing opportunities for more branding, visibility and revenue.
So if you’re unsure how SEO can help your business beyond keywords, title tags and anchor text, read on …
5 Reasons You Need SEO
1. Organic Search Drives the Majority of Traffic and Revenue for Many Industries
Forrester research found that 71% of people turned to search engines for discovery, and 74% used them for consideration/purchase.
That is likely why research from BrightEdge (2019) shows that the organic search channel made up 53% of traffic to websites on average across industries. For B2B companies, organic search generates two times more revenue than any other channel.
That was 2019. And we know that a lot has changed since then, too. Gartner pointed out in 2020 that brands needed to shift from certain activities like advertising and invest more in digital and organic marketing due to the pandemic.
And in fact, they have. By February 2021, CMOs said their digital spending grew 14.3% relative to the preceding 12 months.
So what does this mean to you?
You want your company to be on Page 1 of the search results to capture your share of the traffic going to Google each day that is looking to discover and consider what you have to offer.
2. SEO Supports the Customer Journey
When your prospect goes through the process of awareness, consideration and decision-making about what you have to offer, SEO is there every step of the way.
How? Let’s look at some of the SEO activities that support the customer journey in organic search:
SEO Activities in Awareness Phase
- Keyword research so you can understand what queries your target audience uses when they use search engines to learn more about what you have to offer.
- Competitor research so you can see what your competitors on Page 1 of the search results are doing right and how you can do better.
- Search engine results page research so you can understand what type of content is showing up for your target queries. (Blue links? Videos? Images?)
- An optimized website using SEO technical best practices so that you actually have a chance to show up for the queries you want.
SEO Activities in Consideration Phase
- Optimized search engine listings so that your webpage description stands out among the rest.
- High-quality, optimized content that supports the questions that your prospects have along the way.
SEO Activities in Decision-Making Phase
- Tools and resources on your website that helps your prospects make decisions like landing pages and customer reviews.
See our in-depth article on this topic for more on how SEO supports the customer journey.
3. SEO Creates a Good User Experience Which Impacts Your Website’s Ability to Rank
Enticing people to click through from the search results is one thing. Getting them to stay on your website is another.
Google’s “page experience” ranking algorithm update went live in 2021. This ranking algorithm looks at factors that would impact a webpage experience like:
- Page load performance
- Responsiveness
- Visual stability
- Mobile-friendliness
- HTTPS
- No intrusive interstitials
Not being able to meet these needs may impact your website’s ability to rank over time. The good news is that SEO can help!
4. SEO Supports Public Relations and News Visibility
If you have news you want to get out, SEO can enhance the process.
For example, when distributing news via a press release, you can implement SEO best practices. That way, you won’t get into any situations where your news releases look like spam.
Press releases can contribute to your business’s and website’s experience, expertise, authority and trust (E-E-A-T) — quality metrics from Google. You can learn more about this in my guide on the basics of E-E-A-T.
And if you’re a news publisher, there is a lot to consider with getting your articles into Google News. This is another area where SEO can help.
For more, read:
5. You Can Measure the Value of SEO
In the past, SEO has got a bad rap regarding measurement.
That is because traditionally, companies have been able to track things like digital ad investments, which is more straightforward.
Most of the time, measuring the value of SEO means changing the mindset around it. Here, you want to ask simple questions like:
- Does your target audience use search engines? (See point No. 1 in this article – the answer is “yes.”)
- Is your competition investing in SEO, and are they ranking for the terms your prospects are using in the search engines? Again, the answer is yes here. There will always be companies that show up for important queries to your business.
- What would happen if you did decide to stop advertising? Would your organic presence be able to make up for the loss in visibility?
You can explore these questions in more detail, including how much you should invest and what results you can expect to see in my article on SEO myth-busting and measuring the value of SEO.
3 Reasons You Need an SEO Expert to Help
1. To Prioritize Your SEO
Simply checking the boxes off an SEO checklist can only get you so far.
To succeed with SEO, it is important to do a website SEO audit so that an expert can prioritize tasks based on problems you should fix right away, what can move the needle the fastest and what the long-term objectives are.
2. Because It’s a Big Job
The time involved to diagnose a website and create a proper SEO strategy – not to mention the time invested in pivoting as search engines change – is a big job.
Remember, SEO is not a “one time” or “sometimes” thing. It’s a long-term strategy that should last for as long as your website is alive. And that means you reap the benefits for years to come.
Plus, when you hire an SEO expert, you not only get the experience that comes with years of performing SEO, but you also get the benefit of that expert’s continuing education as they stay up-to-**** with news and trends that impact your SEO.
3. Because Not Hiring an Expert Can Cost You
How long will you wait to try to beat your competition online?
If you don’t hire the expertise needed to do it, your competition will have invested that much more time and energy into their SEO efforts than you.
That means missed opportunities and potential revenue for as long as you put SEO on the backburner or as long as you hire cheap SEO help.
SEO Is Essential in the Online Marketplace
Your prospects will continue to turn to search engines to learn more about what you have to offer.
But will you be there? Or will it be your competition?
Investing in SEO is a smart strategy that will help you reap the rewards of organic search traffic for years to come. We can help — schedule a FREE 1:1 consultation today.
FAQ: How can SEO benefit my business beyond keywords?
SEO is not limited to just incorporating keywords on your website; it is a comprehensive approach that can transform your business’s online performance and unlock a host of benefits that extend far beyond mere keywords.
SEO can be an extremely effective means of increasing organic website traffic. By optimizing your website to attain higher search engine result pages (SERPs), searchers will be drawn directly to it when actively searching. This targeted traffic holds immense value as it comprises potential customers genuinely interested in what you offer.
SEO encompasses an array of techniques that support the customer journey from the awareness phase, where keyword research and competitor analysis lay the foundation, to the consideration phase, where optimized content addresses user queries, and finally, the decision-making phase, where landing pages and customer reviews facilitate conversions. Embracing SEO across this journey ensures a seamless and engaging experience for your prospects.
Beyond keyword optimization, user experience plays a vital role in SEO success. Google’s algorithm rewards websites that provide visitors with a positive, informative, and hassle-free experience. Factors such as page load speed, mobile-friendliness, and visual stability contribute significantly to a good user experience, leading to higher rankings on SERPs and improved chances of retaining visitors on your site.
Embracing SEO also enhances your business’s credibility and authority. Your website consistently appears in top search results, building trust among your target audience. Additionally, SEO integrates well with public relations efforts as optimized press releases can garner more visibility, showcasing your business as an authoritative source in your industry.
Measuring the value of SEO is crucial to understanding its impact on your business. Through insightful analysis, you can determine your SEO strategies’ effectiveness, identify improvement areas and make data-driven decisions to optimize your online presence continually.
How SEO Transcends Keywords for Business Success: Step-by-Step
- Conduct in-depth keyword research to identify high-value, relevant terms that align with your business objectives.
- Analyze competitor websites to gain insights into successful SEO strategies and refine your approach.
- Implement on-page optimization techniques, including title tags, meta descriptions and header tags, to improve your website’s visibility in search results.
- Create high-quality, valuable content that addresses your audience’s pain points and provides solutions to their queries.
- Leverage link-building strategies to earn backlinks from reputable websites, enhancing your website’s authority in the eyes of search engines.
- Focus on mobile optimization to ensure a seamless user experience for visitors accessing your site from various devices.
- Regularly update and refresh your website content to maintain relevance and attract returning visitors.
- Utilize local SEO tactics to target potential customers in your geographic area.
- Optimize your website’s loading speed to reduce bounce rates and improve user satisfaction.
- Leverage social media platforms to amplify your content and expand your online reach.
- Monitor website analytics to track the performance of your SEO efforts and make data-driven adjustments.
- Incorporate schema markup with rich snippets to enhance your website’s appearance in search results.
- Implement a comprehensive internal linking strategy to improve navigation and boost the authority of important pages.
- Provide users with a simple and enjoyable UX design by using intuitive navigation, a clear call to action and an attractive design.
- Create high-value content that genuinely solves a problem or answers a question for your target audience.
- Leverage testimonials and reviews as you grow to build trust with consumers.
- Optimize your website’s metadata, including image alt tags and meta titles, to improve accessibility and search engine indexing.
- Regularly audit your website for technical SEO issues and promptly address any errors or crawlability issues.
- Continuously monitor industry trends and updates in SEO algorithms to stay ahead of the curve and adapt your strategies accordingly.
- Regularly analyze and measure the ROI of your SEO efforts, making informed decisions to optimize your business’s online performance continually.
