Digital Marketing 101: Is SEO Important?
In our previous blog, we mentioned a few of the most popular ways to effectively make use of digital marketing. We will now dive deeper into Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, to highlight its importance to you and your business. It is one thing to be aware of SEO and what it means, but it’s another to understand the impact it will have on your business. Get this: According to the Pew Research Center, 89% of American adults use the Internet as of 2018, and people want information as quickly as possible. When they scan the Internet, typically the sites that have most effectively made use of SEO will pop up first, and these are the sites that get the clicks. So, to answer the question quickly: Yes. SEO is very important.
A Higher SEO Means Fewer Advertising Costs
Without a doubt, the bottom line goal for every business is to cut costs and increase sales to generate a profit. SEO will help achieve this. There are ways to cough up money to generate a higher SEO ranking for your website, but achieving a higher SEO rank can and should be done for free given that you’re willing to put some time into it. If you can boost your SEO organically, your business will be much more likely to save money. For example, if I search the Internet for Product X, I am certain to find some of the well-known global or national companies and brands that sell Product X, and these companies probably have the resources to boost their SEO rank instantly. But if I come across Business Y appearing on the first page of search results and haven’t heard much about them, there’s a good bet that it’s a smaller business who has put in the work to make sure it delivers excellent, trustworthy information to the viewer. Even if these viewers don’t end up purchasing from Business Y, they were already exposed to it, they’re more likely to check back in the future, and will likely tell others about what that business offers, which is essentially free advertising. If, however, you are stuck on page five of search results, customers will hardly ever see you because they can find and purchase Product X on page one.
A High SEO Rank Generates Higher Credibility
Search engine companies have put in a substantial amount of work to ensure the most relevant content appears in a logical order in search results. This makes sense – millions of people online search for the same types of content every day, and if no one controlled what popped up and where, the Internet would become impossible to navigate. When people search a term that relates to your business, and yours is easily visible on the list, this means search engine companies have found your business to be relevant, engaging, and beneficial to your audience. If your business is appearing in the first round of search results, it means people are having positive interactions with your site, it’s helpful, and it’s getting good reviews from visitors.
Get Started on SEO
Every business can find ways to boost their SEO rank. SEO is a major factor in driving traffic to your website and generating sales. According to one study, less than 17% of small businesses that participated were concerned about SEO. However, another study showed that only 25% of those using the Internet click past page one of results. So why aren’t more businesses investing in SEO? It doesn’t make much sense, but take advantage – just think how much more exposure you can create if your competitor is on page two and your business is on page one.
Stay up to date with RedMoxy blogs, as the next post will get into more specifics on how to go about boosting your SEO. If you would like to further discuss SEO with us at RedMoxy Communications, click here or call (262) 303-4238.