S-E-O. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve heard those three little letters before. But what do they actually mean, and why should you care?<\/p>\n
In essence, SEO \u2013 which stands for Search Engine Optimisation \u2013 is the process of optimising your website so that it appears at the top of Google search results (or any other search engine) when potential customers are searching for solutions that you provide.<\/p>\n
But SEO is about much more than just visibility. It can help improve your marketing at every stage from building awareness, to improving engagement and user experience, and most importantly,\u00a0attracting customers who are ready to buy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Not convinced? I promise you will be \ud83d\ude09 Here I\u2019ll take you through my top 7 reasons why SEO is important for your business. Let\u2019s get into it!<\/p>\n SEO is the single most effective way to drive traffic to your website. You know that website you spent thousands of dollars on and poured over for hours creating and approving content? Yep, that one!<\/p>\n In fact,\u00a0SEO drives 1000%+ more traffic than organic social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sure,\u00a0social media<\/a>\u00a0is great for building visibility and awareness of your brand. But ultimately you don\u2019t own you social platforms. But you do own your website. Your very own real estate on the world wide web.<\/p>\n Your website is where you showcase your brand story, expertise, products or services, testimonials and other important info. It\u2019s where potential customers can find out more about your business and purchase, sign up or book your services. So why would you not want to make sure it\u2019s front and centre in search results?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Not only does SEO drive traffic to your website. But it drives highly qualified traffic i.e. people who are ready to buy.<\/p>\n Leads from SEO have a conversion rate of 14.6%.\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0This means that for every 100 users who arrive on a website from Google, 14 (and a half) of these people will make a purchase, enquiry or booking.<\/p>\n Compare this to an average 3% conversion rate on Instagram and you can see why SEO is one of the most effective marketing channels for your business.<\/p>\n So, why is it that SEO traffic has such a high conversion rate? Well, when you think about how people are using Google, it starts to make a lot of sense.<\/p>\n People turn to Google for answers. Whether they\u2019re looking for advice or inspiration, finding local business info, comparing products and services, reading reviews, or figuring out how to do stuff.<\/p>\n 89% of consumers start their buying process by using a search engine<\/a>.<\/p>\n This makes SEO a more effective strategy than running Facebook ads or posting on Instagram where you might be targeting the right people, but at the wrong time. Often on social media you reach your audience when their scrolling in their down time, and not when they are actively researching for your services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So we know SEO is one of the best ways to drive sales and new business, but did you know it\u2019s also a great way to build your brand awareness?<\/p>\n There are over 90,000 Google searches happening every second<\/a>. That\u2019s 5.4 million searches a minute. 324 million per hour. 7.7 billion every single day. OK, you get the idea!<\/p>\n My point is, many of these searches will be related to your business and the services you provide. And every second that your website doesn\u2019t appear in Google search results, you\u2019re missing out on hundreds of opportunities for potential clients to discover your business, read your content or work with you.<\/p>\n Whether your ideal client is ready to book, comparing options, or just researching how to,\u00a0appearing on page one of Google search results<\/a>\u00a0is a powerful thing, and will help keep your brand top of mind.<\/p>\n Which brings me to my next point..<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When was the last time you typed something into Google and clicked through to the second, third or even fourth page of search results? If you\u2019re like most people, you probably never scroll past the first page.<\/p>\n 75% of search engine users are only interested in the first page of search results<\/a>, because they trust that Google has selected the best results to display first. So why bother scrolling through the rest?<\/p>\n Google\u2019s algorithm uses 200 ranking signals to determine the very best content to display in search results each time someone types in a keyword. And one of the most important factors is your website\u2019s expertise, authority and trustworthiness.<\/p>\n Its all about providing high quality, relevant and useful content for your website visitors. So the more credibility and authority you have in the eyes of Google, the higher you will rank in search results, and the more potential customers will trust you too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you run a local business \u2013 that is, you have a physical store or office, such as a caf\u00e9 or law firm. Or you service customers in a specific local area, like a plumber, landscaper or personal trainer, then chances are your ideal client is using Google to research your services.<\/p>\n Almost half of all Google searches are for local businesses,<\/a>\u00a0and this number is only rising with the global impact of COVID-19, shifts in consumer behaviour and a growing trend towards supporting local businesses.<\/p>\n As described by\u00a0Search Engine Journal<\/a>, \u201clocal SEO allows people to find information about your business quickly and easily, putting them one step closer to transaction\u201d. This perfectly sums up the importance of\u00a0local SEO for small businesses<\/a>.<\/p>\n If someone is in your local area and researching nearby services, they are generally close to booking or making a purchase. So, it\u2019s important that your business is visible in these moments, and that you\u2019re providing relevant, useful information including reviews, business hours and contact details.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Despite what many people think, SEO is more than just adding keywords to a page and making some techy tweaks to the back-end of your website.<\/p>\n As part of their mission to make the world\u2019s information \u201cuniversally accessible and useful\u201d, a number of Google\u2019s 200 ranking signals relate to user experience (UX).<\/p>\n These days, it\u2019s not enough to just have\u00a0content on your website<\/a>\u00a0that\u2019s useful and relevant, but you need to make sure that people can easily access and view your pages. Is your website secure? Does the page load quickly? Can it be easily viewed on a mobile device?<\/p>\n The more websites that provide a great user experience, the more accessible the world\u2019s information becomes. And the closer Google get\u2019s to it\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n So if you\u2019re\u00a0optimising your website for SEO<\/a>, not only will you improve your rankings in search results, but you\u2019ll also be providing a much better experience for potential customers who land on your website. Which in turn improves your website engagement, conversions, and overall brand trust. It\u2019s a win-win-win!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While SEO or organic search traffic isn\u2019t exactly free, it is a lot cheaper than other channels, and will continue to produce a return on investment (ROI) over time. This means once you invest time and money in\u00a0optimising your website<\/a>, content and\u00a0SEO strategy<\/a>, you will continue to get a return on this investment as your traffic and leads grow exponentially.<\/p>\n Unlike social media content which tends to have an expiry date \u2013 because the algorithms favour fresh new content \u2013\u00a0SEO content\u00a0is evergreen, meaning that it will continue to live on your website and be relevant for years to come.<\/p>\n1. SEO is The Best Way To Drive Traffic to Your Website<\/h2>\n
2. SEO Attracts Customers Who Are Ready to Buy<\/h2>\n
3. SEO Boosts Your Visibility and Brand Awareness<\/h2>\n
4. SEO Builds Your Business\u2019 Credibility and Authority<\/h2>\n
5. SEO Promotes Your Local Business<\/h2>\n
6. SEO Improves Your User Experience<\/h2>\n
7. SEO is a Low-Cost Way to Drive Traffic and Leads<\/h2>\n