Does anybody remember the Yellow Pages? It was this large yellow book you used to have to pull out whenever you wanted to find a business, such as a plumber or an electrician. Thankfully, everything is so much simpler nowadays, with pretty much everything done online and available instantly at your fingertips.
It’s not surprising that the internet has become an essential part of everyday life, and it’s obviously the world’s largest and most competitive marketplace. If you’re a business owner, attracting the right people looking for your product and services is the most important thing. This is where SEO can help and should be considered as a critical marketing strategy to ensure you get seen online for the right queries.
Search Engine Optimisation and the Benefits
SEO is the practice of optimising a website with the intention of improving organic search results. With the right strategy it can build your brand, promote your business and generate quality leads, and as such is one of the most important marketing areas for any reputable business in 2023. Here are some more reasons why you should invest in SEO and enable you to understand that it is money well spent.
1. It Helps Increase Website Traffic
Got a question? Looking for information about a product? Wanting to hire a service? Book a hotel? The best referrers you’ll ever find are search engines. And with Google being the most popular search engine – boasting over 90% of all searches made – most people will likely go straight to Google and search for these types of queries to get the answers they are looking for.
Now without investing in SEO, there is every possibility that Google may not even know your business exists online. The consequences of this are that potential customers won’t be able to find you and therefore miss out on that all-important business. With the right SEO techniques, your website can be fully optimised which will increase online visibility and in turn generate increased traffic.
2. Better Quality Traffic to your Website
With its intricate algorithms, Google functions somewhat like a matchmaker whereby it seeks to connect potential buyers and sellers. The goal of optimisation is to convince search engines that you are the most relevant result to place in front of users respective of the query searched. Content plays a big role in allowing search engines to understand who you are and what it is you do.
To be found at a local level it’s critical that your website is fully optimised for a specific location, has local citations, high-quality backlinks and a strong Google My Business (also known as Google Business Profile). All of this culminates to ensure that relevant, local and most importantly, real people interested in your products and/or services find your website.
3. Increased Authority and Brand Awareness
E-A-T is well-known in the SEO industry and stands for “Expert, Authoritative and Trustworthy”. If your website displays these qualities, then search engines will look at your site more favourably and potentially rank you higher.
With the right strategy in place, it can establish your EAT profile to ensure you are seen as an authority within your field. Which in turn can also help build your brand. Maintaining robust social media profiles, publishing informative blog posts, obtaining backlinks from authoritative websites and seeking positive reviews are all components of an effective digital marketing strategy. As your business appears in more places across the internet it will no doubt increase brand awareness. The benefits of which will be long-lasting.
4. Healthy Return on your Investment
SEO is one of the most cost-effective marketing solutions available to businesses. Recent research suggests an impressive return on investment in comparison to other marketing options, such as PPC (Paid Ads). The return of which is short-term in comparison to SEO. Organic search lays down quality foundations for returns over the long-term and will even continue even after the campaign ends. The authority increased traffic and positive user experience that SEO builds upon during the course of a campaign will remain and still benefit your online business.
5. Helps Maintain a Competitive Edge
Getting onto the first page of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) is extremely competitive and for good reason. It pays to be on top, with the top three positions capturing a large percentage of all click-throughs.
SEO has been around for a long time now and with that, there are some very well-established businesses already securing the top spots for their niche. Competing with these can be difficult and this only increases as more time pass, making the best time to start SEO today if you haven’t already. Even at a local level, many of your competitors will be investing in SEO and if you’re not you will only get left behind.
SEO is an ongoing process, with algorithm updates occurring more frequently to ensure search engines provide users with the best and most relevant content. Without constant work and best practices applied it’s only a matter of time before positions are lost. By working with an SEO specialist, they can essentially be an extension of your team, helping you to build your brand and business online.
6. It Requires Expertise
SEO is constantly changing and what works today, may not work tomorrow. It’s incredibly challenging to keep up with changes, and almost impossible without the expertise and knowledge that comes from hiring a digital marketing specialist. This is where we can help ensure your business achieves its maximum potential online through expert search engine optimisation.
For more information about how we can help your business grow online, contact us today on +27 (0) 7137 04327 for a consultation. You will not regret it.