Why is SEO so Important?

If your business is online, or building a digital presence, you’ve likely heard how big of a role that SEO plays. However, you may still be wondering “why is SEO so important?”. Quality SEO is crucial for a number of reasons. It’s role has expanded and increased exponentially in the last several years, making it critical to digital presence, now and in the future. Quality SEO on websites and other digital platforms will highly benefit brands and their marketing strategy.

For starters, SEO is the most practical and cost-effective way to reach customers through organic search, which are search results that are not paid for, but instead are determined by search engine algorithms. SEO communicates the significance and relevance of websites and pages to Google, increasing the chances of ranking higher in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Page) and appearing to users first when they search for related keywords. When you optimize your site, you give search engines more information to allow them to index and display your site on search results. Organic search plays a major role in website performance and is often a primary source of traffic. It is also a crucial component to getting customers to complete a conversion or engagement. In organic searches, its important for your business to be on the first page, particularly within the first few listings, as these receive a majority of all user click throughs.

Secondly, SEO works to build the trust and credibility of your brand, as well as establishes authority regarding search engines. Authority in search engines directly impacts a website’s ranking and will grow as a result of factors such as: natural links, positive user behavior, machine-learning signals, and optimized on-site elements or other content. Quality SEO helps build a strong foundation for a business’ website to provide a better and more effective user experience that is more easily discovered in searches. User experience should be a number one priority when it comes to your marketing. Optimal user experience plays a major role in organic rankings and high visibility. Google has learned to interpret whether a user experience has been positive or negative.

Additionally, SEO can positively impact and shorten the buying cycle. Brands must be visible in the places consumers need them and are looking, in order for a beneficial connection to be made. 93% of consumers used search engines to find local businesses in the last year. Implementing local SEO techniques works to optimize your digital presence in specific areas and locations, amplifying visibility and allowing potential customers to better find the businesses they’re searching for. This leads to increased engagements, more traffic, and higher conversion rates.

Lastly, SEO data also shows user intent and behavior, by search query data, SERP analysis, and analytics, which allows companies to better understand their consumers. These analytics show you customer demographics, location, and interests, but can also give insight about where a user is at in their decision-making process. With this information, you can better determine your target audience and see which keywords are driving traffic. SEO is also quantifiable, meaning you can measure almost anything with tracking and analytics. It’s important to understand how certain actions affect performance and growth. Good SEO will work to make those improvements and make it easy to understand when analyzing. SEO allows businesses to see where they were in comparison to where they are currently, and also where they are headed in the future, in terms of digital performance.

In conclusion, SEO helps build lasting equity for your brand. It’s a long-term strategy that will have a noticeable impact within the first year, but also will have an effect that lasts much beyond that. The more SEO time, effort, and budget committed, the better your SEO will perform. It’s important to remember that SEO is consistently improving and practices are consistently updated based on algorithm changes. Observe and keep track of considerable algorithm changes, as keeping on top of SEO keeps businesses on track when major changes in search occur. If you need help with your website’s SEO, reach out to our team today!