In recent years, it has become common knowledge that an effective SEO strategy — or a partnership with a reputable search marketing agency — is one of the key must-haves to really put your brand out there. Doesn’t matter if you’re an established name or a budding business; the online arena, particularly in the battle for search engine ranking, is a place where you wouldn’t want to be beaten down.
Why You Need SEO For Your Small Business
Since 2019, a 900% increase in “near me” local search queries has been noted, highlighting the significance of SEO for small businesses. In fact, 81% of customers first do a quick search of a product or service before making a purchase. So with organic search results basically being the lifeline of your business online, landing the first page of search engines should be a top priority.
We’ve already listed down the questions you must first ask when hiring a digital marketing agency — now, we’ll let you in on the top benefits of a good SEO strategy, particularly for small and up-and-coming businesses.
The Pros of Having a Good SEO Strategy
1. SEO improves user experience.
Your website is one of the most critical elements of your strategy as it contains everything potential customers need to know about your brand. Google’s algorithm is known for prioritising mobile-friendly and responsive websites, mainly displaying those that offer speed, ease of access, and relevant content on its first page.
An optimised website creates a bridge that links visitor conversions to long-term customer engagement. When paired with clear and authentic messaging, SEO in general gives you an opportunity to speed up the sales process while boosting your website’s search ranking.
2. SEO strengthens credibility.
In such a fast-paced and ever-changing online environment, trust and integrity is important as ever. Your target audience is looking for brands they can relate to and count on to solve their problems, and building trust is crucial if you want to be an authority in your space. The top results displayed on SERPs are often deemed most trustworthy — with relevant content to back it up, of course. This is the reason why as a growing brand, you wouldn’t want to remain undiscovered by being on page 2 and beyond.
3. SEO can boost PPC campaigns.
We were taught that SEO and PPC advertising are two different things. But since they have the same goal of increasing your SERP ranking, it’s a good strategy to weave SEO into your PPC advertising strategy. Think of it as giving much more thought into your PPC strategy as opposed to merely spending money to launch your page to top 1— relevant content is quality content.
4. SEO is cost-effective.
Search engines are designed to amplify your content’s reach and gain you new customers in the process, without costing you too much. With something as beneficial as SEO, you would really want to invest in something that can generate fruitful results for your business in the long run.
Other than hiring an SEO specialist, implementing an SEO strategy may often come at a cost, but when you see your numbers go up, it’s definitely worth it!
5. SEO makes it easier to track your campaign’s progress.
Another good thing about SEO is it gives you a full overview of whether or not your current strategy is working through quantifiable results. Ah, the magic and power of analytics!
Analytics help you track and measure conversions, bounce rates, and engagements on your social pages or website. Without these, you wouldn’t be able to gain insight into user behavior, page traffic, keyword usage, and overall page performance.
Insights also play an essential role in decision-making and in determining which goals to pursue and which ones to drop. They equip your business enough to keep up with constantly changing search engine algorithms, so you could maintain your edge against competitors.
How Small Businesses Can Make It Big
If we were you, we’d get in touch with the best search marketing agency we can find if you really want your small business to be visible online. Look for one that can assist you in building a foolproof SEO strategy — from keyword research, to local search optimisation, to monitoring your metrics. Your business needs all the help it can get particularly with SEO services, so that it can truly reach its full potential!