Over the past few years, SEO has become a huge buzzword within the business world and there’s no doubt that the vast majority of businesses will have now heard of it.
In fact, it’s very likely that most businesses will have taken action to enhance their SEO presence. In addition they will likely be regularly checking that they are doing everything that they can to appear higher than their competitors.
But how many of these professionals actually understand the intricacies of what SEO means and how many can list the real benefits of that it has to offer?
I’m sure most people are aware of the importance that search engines now play in our everyday lives. It should therefore be the goal of ALL businesses to get their business as high up on search engines as is possible.
But, a quick warning. Whilst surveys have consistently found that three quarters of people use Google as their primary search engine, and do so once a day, other search engines should not be overlooked. Grapefruit, a leader in SEO services in London, suggests that there are so many positive benefits to ranking highly on these sites also and whist Google might still be the King of the search engines, these other sites still host 25% of the traffic.
In this article, we will return to the basics and consider the actual perks that SEO can have for any business and why that should motivate you to continue developing it.
It can help build credibility and trust
Traditionally, websites that appear higher in search results are viewed by consumers as being more credible and trustworthy. This is likely because established and familiar businesses already rank towards the top and this has built a perception of trust.
It therefore stands to reason that the higher up the search engine that you appear, the more likely the public are to view the business as being credible, reliable and worthy of trust. The more time that you spend on cultivating the SEO of your website, the more people will believe in you and ultimately turn towards your business.
Go local
These days there is an ever-increasing number of searches being conducted on mobile devices and this is of huge benefit to small to medium, local businesses. In this instance, SEO can play a huge part in helping a business to gain exposure and traction within a local area. This is something that should not be overlooked and it’s important to use your location to help build your online presence.
There are a number of different ways to fully utilise this aspect of SEO and a quick search can help you to find the steps that are suggested. It’s worth doing as you could be missing out on a lot of extra local sales.
It promotes your why – and this can help your sales
Each business has a reason, a service or a product that they believe sets them apart from their competitors and by this point, it’s likely that you will be able to quickly define yours. Using SEO gives you the perfect opportunity to fully sell your why and to help your business to stand out from the crowd.
Whether it’s an exclusive offer that sets your business apart, a competitive pricing strategy or a unique service or product, this can be the perfect SEO game changer.
There are always ways to update your SEO
Ideally, you want to be undertaking regular SEO audits on a regular basis, as it is an area that is constantly changing and updating. Incorporating this into your overall growth strategy can be the perfect way to ensure that you are always improving your SEO results.
In fact, SEO progress is easily measured and should be done on a regular, rolling basis. Perhaps each month, consider what has worked and what hasn’t and use this process to pinpoint any new ideas or initiatives that you might have. Doing this you can then build new strategies to continue to improve your ranking.
While it might feel ambitious, set yourself the goal of being on the first page of Google searches and do everything within your power to achieve it.
These are just a handful of reasons why SEO is still important to a business’s strategy and why it should be a consistent and evolving part of your business plan. There are many resources available online to help you with this process and SEO can be done for the most minimal of costs. Yet done correctly, it can help to generate a large increase in income and its importance should not be overlooked.
