Why is SEO Important for Business?

Need a clearer understanding of why search optimization is important to your business?

If you answered yes to this question you’re not alone. According to a 2017 study by Weebly, about 45 percent of small businesses aren’t sure what SEO means. Almost all (98 percent) of them, however, think getting found on Google is important.

But in a nutshell, SEO is important for business because it provides institutions with the exposure they need to find customers during this digital era of mobile phones.

Important SEO facts:

1. Google receives over 63,000 searches per second on any given day?
2. Roughly 4.5 billion people use the internet every day.
3. Almost 330 million people in North America are online daily.

Why Your Business Needs SEO to Survive

Eighty-seven percent of online shoppers, 97% of local consumers and 94% of B2B buyers will conduct online searches before they make a purchase, so brands that do not have a strong online presence will find themselves falling behind the competition.

While a lot has changed in the “SEO game” as of late, it’s every bit as important today as it was five years ago.

Before we get into some of the finer details of why SEO is important, we’ll let these statistics (shared by HubSpot) do the talking:

• Google gets over 100 billion searches a month.
• 72% of consumers who did a local search visited a store within five miles.
• More Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the U.S. and Japan.

Are you still on the fence? While these statistics should be enough to convince you that SEO is important, there’s one other thing you need to know:

“66% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority.”

In other words, while you’re holding back on doing the necessary SEO work, your competition is likely to be focusing time, money, and other resources on this area of their marketing strategy.

What is SEO?

Enough of the statistics. Enough of the talk about your competition and what they’re doing. It’s time to get down to business. It’s time to discuss what SEO can do for your business.

Here are four things you need to know about SEO:

1. SEO can Generate Free, Targeted Traffic
There is no denying the fact that there are many ways to generate traffic. For example, you can use PPC advertising to drive traffic to your website. Along with this, social media is all the rage in today’s world.

However, there is nothing better than organic traffic from search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.).

With this, you don’t have to spend any money. Instead, your website continues to generate targeted traffic, all without you spending a dime. Sure, you have to put resources into your SEO strategy to keep it on track, but it’s well worth it once the free traffic begins to roll in.

2. SEO is Good for Branding
What do people see when they search for your particular service or product? Are they coming across your website, social platforms, and publications that discuss your company? Or are they being presented with information on competitors?

With the right approach to SEO, you can improve your brand online, while also boosting visibility.
It may not result in immediate sales, but building your brand will pay huge dividends in the long run.

3. SEO Shows that Your Business is Credible
In today’s day and age, there are entirely too many “fly by night” operations. In other words, a company is here today and gone tomorrow. This can make it very difficult for a consumer to make an informed and confident buying decision.

With the right SEO strategy, you can build credibility for your business. At first, consumers may not take notice of your company. However, as they continue to see your website in the search engine rankings, they’ll subconsciously realize that you have a lot to offer.

4. SEO Saves You Money
Many people don’t see it this way. Instead, they see SEO as nothing more than a “money pit.” This isn’t true.

Yes, you need to put in a lot of time and some (maybe) money upfront. This is necessary if you want to build a solid foundation, such as by designing an SEO friendly website and creating industry-leading content.

Once you have the “bones” in place and your SEO efforts begin to pay off, you’ll realize that you’re actually saving money. You never have to pay for advertising. Instead, you can continue to work your plan, all the while watching organic traffic roll in, day after day.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. If you’ve struggled to understand why SEO is so important, this should no longer be the case. Instead, you can now take a different stance with the idea that this will bring your business many benefits in the weeks, months, and years to come.

What are your thoughts on SEO? Would you add any other points to those above? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

If an organization wants to succeed at attracting modern customers they need to learn SEO.