If you’re familiar with how digital marketing works you might have heard of the term SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) before.
And if you plan on making an impact online with your business then having a solid SEO strategy in place will certainly help achieve this.
Implementing an SEO strategy comes with many benefits to your business.
In this post, we will look at these benefits in detail as well as highlight the importance of SEO for your business.
You might want to grab some pen and paper to make notes because this is going to be a value-packed post!
What is SEO?
So, we know that SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. But what does this actually mean?
Well great question, because we know how confusing all of this fancy marketing jargon can be.
In a nutshell, SEO is all about making sure your content/website can rank high in the search engines.
Let’s face it, we all want our content to be the top suggestion on Google.
Getting to #1 on Google for an SEO expert is like when an olympian wins that coveted gold medal.
It’s basically what they dream about on a constant basis and is their sole reason for existence.
Okay, that statement might be a tad too far but what we’re trying to say is that it’s something they do strive for.
If your content is optimised for search engines then your customers will be able to find your content when they search for a solution to their problems.
Why Is SEO Important?
When you go online and search for something, you will need to use some sort of search engine to find an answer to your query.
9 times out of 10 you will use Google…unless you like to live on the wild side and still use Ask Jeeves.
If your content isn’t optimised for search engines then this can spell big trouble for your business.
If you’re not playing ball with them, you’re playing ball alone.
And that sucks, for you but certainly NOT for your competitors.
They will be laughing their way to the top page of Google while you wallow in the forgotten zones of page 2 and below.
You see, billions of people are using search engines every day.
It’s how the world works now.
When you ask your mate what the score in the footie match last night was, their response now is ‘Google it’.
Want to find out by how many millimetres the ice caps have melted this year?
You’ve guessed it.
GOOGLE IT.
So please don’t find yourself with a site and content that is completely lacking in the SEO department.
It’s 2023 for crying out loud.
Benefits of SEO
Some of the key benefits of SEO include:
Increased Website Traffic
This is probably one of the most talked about benefits of having an SEO strategy in place.
As you start to optimise your content for search engines you should start to see your web traffic increase over time.
The reason for this is quite simple.
As you climb the Google search engine mountain, you’ll get more eyeballs onto your site – especially if you can climb to the top spot.
These new visitors to your site will increase the likelihood of them having a positive experience with your brand.
Then hopefully becoming a loyal customer.
Google processes around 99,000 search queries every second, which adds up to around 2 trillion searches every year.
That’s a lot of searches.
All you need to do is capture a small percentage of that traffic and you’ll be streets ahead of the competition.
Enhanced Visibility and Brand Awareness
Similar to the previous point, we know that the higher up in Google you are the more visibility you can gain.
As a brand it’s important that you have a constant presence in people’s minds.
Which is why it’s important to brand your business correctly.
Just being there constantly can leave a lasting impression over time.
Brand awareness is not to be underestimated.
The power of your brand is a very useful tool when you know how to use it.
Ranking well in search results can significantly improve your brand’s visibility and awareness.
When your website consistently appears at the top of search results, it builds trust and credibility among users.
Think of how many websites are online as of today.
1.88 billion to be precise.
What can separate you from the crowd is your brand.
And an amazing SEO strategy as well of course!
Cost-Effective Marketing
Compared to paid advertising, SEO is a cost-effective long-term strategy.
If you optimise your content properly and continue to optimise it over time, it could attract many new visitors to your site for years to come.
Once you put content out there into the big bad world wide web, it’s there forever.
Unless it gets deleted of course.
But even then, it’s probably still retrievable by some computer whizz kid who can scour the internet graveyard for files and data.
When you compare this to a strategy such as paid advertising the difference is night and day.
Your content will only stay on for as long as your budget will let it when it comes to paid ads.
Meaning if you wanted to keep it up for years it could cost you trillions.
Okay, not trillions, but A LOT of money anyway.
This is why SEO is so cost-effective.
You could create a blog and it could essentially bring in millions of views over the years for FREE.
The only price you will have to pay is your time.
Or you can hire a digital marketing agency like Blaze Media.
We’ll help grow your organic traffic and save you a shed load of time so you can focus on other areas of your business.
It’s a win win!
Targeted Traffic
Being targeted in marketing is important.
If you’re targeting the wrong people then they’re not going to want to buy your products, and they will also just find you, quite frankly, annoying.
With SEO there are ways that you can get more targeted, so you can find your ideal clients.
Will every single person who sees your content be an ideal client?
No.
But that’s fine.
As long as you get in front of enough on a consistent basis.
One of the main methods of targeting an audience in SEO is keywords.
Keywords are search terms or phrases that your customers are typing into search engines on a daily basis.
Let’s say you’re an e-commerce brand that sells vegan shoes.
Well, you’re going to want people who are interested in vegan shoes to come to your site.
Obviously.
Thousands of people a month are actively searching for vegan shoes a month.
Just look at what we found on SEMrush.
Around 3,600 people a month are actively searching for vegan shoes.
This tells us there is an opportunity to try and capitalise on some of this traffic.
Think of all the vegan shoe content you could produce.
‘How to Look Good in Your Vegan Shoes While Out for Dinner’.
Imagine the clicks you could get with a blog title like that.
Get creative and use other keyword variations which are available on SEO tools such as SEMrush and Ahrefs.
Improved User Experience
When it comes to SEO you might think it’s all about making Google happy so they can deliver you the best traffic.
The truth is that that’s only partially true.
You also need to make the user who lands on your site happy.
Doing both of these will give you a better overall shot at being an SEO phenom.
Imagine Google kept their end of the bargain up and delivered you all the traffic you wanted.
If your website is slow and looks like it was made using Microsoft paint by your grandad who has a serious case of advanced glaucoma, then no one is going to hang around.
They will leave your site just as fast as they entered it.
Implementing an SEO strategy also involves getting your website up to scratch in terms of its function and useability.
Think of this as setting your foundations.
You want to try and get this right before you start creating more content and making your site bigger.
Use tools like PageInsights to see how fast your pages load as well as other important stats.
This will give you an idea of what areas on your site need improvements.
Higher Credibility and Trust
Websites that rank well in search results are often perceived as more trustworthy and credible by users.
A high search ranking can help establish your authority in your industry or niche.
Think about when you search for something on Google.
You tend to never click on anything that is below the top 3 results.
When Google places websites in the top spots on their platform they see something in their content that’s worth ranking highly.
Usually, the content is jam-packed with value and can adequately answer a user’s problem.
If that is the case with your content, you’ll leave a good impression and when the reader comes back to your site over and over again they will start to trust you.
They know your content is good and they will click on your brand over your competitors because you didn’t disappoint.
Value + Value + More Value = Loyal customers who just can’t get enough.
Competitive Advantage
You want your business to be as competitive as possible.
Having an SEO strategy in place can help you do this.
Especially when it comes to larger competitors.
Remember when we talked about the cost-effectiveness of an SEO strategy?
Well if you’re competing with businesses that have bigger budgets you can still outrank them.
You just need to be a little more creative than they are.
Obviously, a bigger budget will still be an advantage but it doesn’t mean you’re dead in the water.
By doing research and spotting opportunities in keywords, your content could still rank higher in Google over larger competitors.
You see this happen all of the time.
Travel writers that outrank official government tourist boards or global travel companies.
Or food blogger recipes that outrank recipes posted by world-famous chefs.
Size can play a part when it comes to battling it out for that top spot but it’s not the only factor at play.
When you compare this to paid advertising, there is no way that a small business could compete on the same level as big competitors.
They can simply outspend them.
Measurable Results
If you can’t measure your results then how will you know if your strategy is working?
Thanks to tools such as Google Analytics 4, we can measure an abundance of metrics on your website.
When implementing an SEO plan for your brand you should see these metrics being affected.
Website traffic for example should definitely be on the rise.
If it isn’t then you’re seriously doing something wrong.
Or your SEO person is.
But there are so many other metrics that should be measured.
Read our blog on ‘SEO Metrics That Matter’ to find out in detail.
The main thing to remember is that these metrics should be in line with the goals and expectations that you set out at the beginning of your SEO journey.
Looking at these metrics along the journey allows you to refine your strategy over time so that results can be maximised.
Adaptability to Mobile and Local Searches
With the increasing use of mobile devices and the importance of local searches, SEO can help you optimise your website for mobile users and improve visibility in local search results.
This is especially beneficial for those who own brick-and-mortar businesses.
And with 80% being the conversion rate for local searches there lies a huge opportunity here for your business.
People who are searching for local businesses are ‘ready-made’ customers.
They WANT to buy something.
Hence the reason they are searching for local businesses in the area.
Optimise your site for local SEO and gain an advantage over your competitors.
Global Reach
We’ve talked about local SEO but now we’re talking about striving for global domination.
If you’re a business owner who sells to customers around the world then getting your SEO right can help you get to that next level.
Thanks to the internet the world is practically at our fingertips.
You can reach people in all corners of the world.
It doesn’t matter if a customer is based in Liverpool or Timbuktu, they still use the internet to find solutions to their problems.
In certain countries, some search terms get more traffic than others.
Remember our vegan shoes example from earlier?
Well, that was only in the UK.
If you look below you can see that even more people are searching for the same term in the US.
Imagine the opportunity you could seize if you took your vegan shoes to the US?
The internet really is the best thing since sliced bread, right?
SEO Strategies that Perform
The benefits of SEO for your business are clear to see.
As a business owner, you should be doing everything in your power to make a dent in the online space.
With the online world being such an influence on customer behaviour it just makes sense.
Having an SEO strategy is a very good way of ensuring your business isn’t being ignored online.
We’ve helped countless businesses implement SEO strategies that have sky-rocketed their web traffic and engagement numbers.
Our customers have also been able to increase their brand awareness and conversion rates thanks to our strategies.
We can also perform an SEO audit on your business which can determine where your business is currently at in terms of SEO performance.
If you would like to know more about implementing a winning SEO strategy for your business then please contact us, we would love to hear from you.