Whether you’re someone who has years of experience in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or not, you are bound to learn something new each time. We’ve definitely gone past the early stages of the “search era” and search engines have come up to be more sophisticated than we’ve expected.
Why SEO you ask? Well, to those of you who are still in doubts, let’s have a short recap on what SEO is shall we? (For those of you who are still new to this, you can read our blog post on comprehensive guide to understanding SEO for beginners)
SEO simply refers to a process that amplifies a site’s traffic flow and rankings organically. It is a powerful tool that determines the success of your business in the digital world. The point here is it can allow you to be successfully detected by search engines like Google, Bing! or Yahoo, among a sea of other websites.
As of late, many critics were quick to judge on whether or not SEO is an integral part in businesses these days. Some would say it is no longer relevant and others would even conclude that it is completely dead. Well, there’s no right or wrong to this complex statement.
If you’re still puzzled between creating good content or focusing on SEO for your page to rank high, fret not as I used to face the same dilemma too. But as I did my research prior to writing this, I realized that content writing and SEO both need to go hand in hand.
Without good content you can’t get ranked, and without optimization your content wouldn’t be found either. It doesn’t matter if you are a blogger, marketer, entrepreneur or just an internet user, it still concerns us all.
So back to the main question, IS SEO STILL RELEVANT THESE DAYS?
The answer is YES. It still is. You might be wondering why. Answers are right below!
There are six reasons why SEO is still important today irrespective of who we are.
Because it still works!!!
SEO was, I repeat WAS, easier to tackle back then. I’m sure you’ve noticed the changes yourself if you’ve been in this game for some time already. Gone were the days where it used to be creating contents FOR SEARCH ENGINES rather than users, focusing on singular keywords, recognizing content relevance or just building tons of backlinks for it to work.
Allow me to ask you a string of questions. When was the last time you used the Internet? How did you find what you were looking for? How did you turn up to this exact page?
Search Engines. Obviously.
Our lives these days revolves around the Internet. People from all walks of life depend massively on the world wide web considering the fact that informations can be obtained within the snap of a finger. In this digital age, you can do almost anything online – pay bills, order food, video chat, find information and much much more.
Every second on average, Google processes over 40,000 search queries. That is a total of 3.5 billion searches a day and 1.2 trillion searches worldwide. Good gracious! A whopping 1.2 trillion! In a day! Just imagine, when done right, there are possibilities that their searches may relate to your products or services that you offer.
Yes, you may have an impressive website in hand today. What’s the point of having a beautiful website with great content but drives zero organic traffic? Isn’t the ultimate goal of doing business turning those visitors into loyal customers?
To get to that part requires a sustainable effort in reaching or connecting with your potential customers. That is by making good use of the SEO. How people review your content is equally as important as being found on search engines. And to those of you who have yet to launch your website yet, you are missing on major opportunities. Big time.
Mobile optimization is already extremely important, but by 2017 it won’t be optional anymore – not having a properly-displaying website on mobile devices will significantly threaten any SEO efforts.
A new report from Ericsson shows that 90% of the world’s population will have a mobile device by 2020. This fact alone has highlighted the significance of SEO. Hey, all of us are prone to have accessed the internet via mobile devices, right?
As a matter of fact, what do you do when you are trying to find a local place to eat? Shop? You Google it. Whether it be voice search or actually searching Google/ Maps, the searches are rapidly shifting to mobile.
I’m not sure about you, but business owners have took notice that mobile usage has surpassed desktop usage around the world and the numbers will only continue to grow. Although this may not seem like a big deal, this fact has indeed restructured the way search engines work. Know this, when visitors come to your site and can’t navigate using their phone, you can bet they will never return. And there goes your potential sale.
By incorporating the SEO, you’ll be able to make sure you are operating on a mobile-friendly website while being ranked at the top of mobile search results.
The goal of every business is to make as much money as possible right? That is why it is vital for businesses to incorporate both UX and SEO strategies.
As customers have become smarter in this modern era, search engines have adapted how they interpret and display information based on the modification of user intent. We all have our own expectations when interacting with a certain brand. Thus, businesses must learn to adapt.
Put simply: UX + SEO = $.
Why is it advisable for both to work hand in hand you wonder? As I have already explained above, SEO is focused on external elements that drives organic traffic to your website.
Having a smooth and optimized website experience means that users will spend more time engaging with the site and (hopefully) return to the site frequently. A flawless UX design is needed to enhance the personal experience users have on your website.
Just so you know, modern SEO elements such as navigation, enhanced site speed and content creation, all play an important role in the user’s experience, which will determine how they feel about your brand.
Not only does UX influence how someone perceives a website, but it can also give impact to how search engines view your website’s authority, relevance and trust (which can indirectly improve your search rankings).
Remember that people may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.
We tend to shy away from SEO because we often think that it is expensive and time consuming. As time goes by, the process has actually become far more simplified. For starters, it might take a long time for you to reach the top ranks of the search engines results, but hanging on will bring in extended flows of traffic.
You might think that buying ads may bring in people, but do you know that they have to be repaid for often? What about pay per click you ask? Yes, it can effectively bring in traffic and sales but also forces you to pay for all your traffic. Not so practical isn’t it?
Make the most of your SEO strategy, brilliantly.
All the other possible methods might work, but doesn’t call for sustainability in the long run. As a general rule, we should instill in us that planning ahead for long-term growth would be the better choice. The only way of making a long-term, cost effective and healthy income is through the process of search engine optimization.
So being cost effective is parallel to being reasonably priced, but Return on Investment (ROI) is a technique that can be made by companies to measure performance.
A high ROI usually means a company is successful in utilizing investment and producing gains. SEO rewards your business for its efforts at a higher rate than most of the traditional forms of offline advertising. This is because SEO is an inbound marketing, that is, it allows you to market to people when they are looking for the products and services your business provides.
Here’s the proof to it.
I’m pretty sure nobody likes to be interrupted in their daily lives. See, inbound marketing is when you don’t need to shove information constantly on your potential customers face. You are not required to advertise persistently to make them aware of your existence. You just show up when they are looking for businesses like yours. There isn’t a need to convince them that they need your product or service; you just have to convince them that you are the best business to purchase from.
That goes to say, you’ve won half the battle just by incorporating SEO in your business.
Long term trust and credibility will only be nurtured if your site lives up to the promise it makes in the search rankings.
This reason is the most obvious of them all. Both are extremely crucial points in SEO because when you are often displayed highly on search results, customers have a tendency to trust you much more. Subconsciously, in the minds of consumers, your ranking is a vote of confidence. “Since Google says this business is relevant to what I’m searching for, this must be it”.
Give it a thought. Would you work your way through page 5 to seek for answers? Very unlikely. Same applies to your potential consumers. In the eyes of your consumers, high rankings are more credible and persuasive. Often, people visiting your side are your qualified leads – they only have one thing in mind; the need to purchase the best product out there.
Ultimately, the goal of every business is to drive organic traffic to the site and rank high on search results. To be able to do so, SEO is very much needed to make it a reality.
Would you mind repeating the question again?
I can straight up tell you that firstly, you will run the risk of losing your spot on the first page of search engine results.
Competitors will jump on the chance to outrank you too. If that happens, be prepared to say goodbye to your well-designed website. You may bid farewell to your potential customers and business too.
THAT is how serious things can become, yes?
SEO has become an integral part of every business in the fierce competition of the digital world we live in today. As such, search engine optimization isn’t optional anymore.
If you are serious about optimizing, there’s a free online SEO tool that does comprehensive analysis for a given URL and a specific keyword. It is always here to help as you can also check your SEO score on Website SEO Checker.
Now everybody can do SEO!
Hopefully, these captivating points that were discussed have the power to convince you about the benefits of integrating an SEO strategy in your business. With that being said, I wish those of you who are reading this a greater success and profitability.
If you need more on SEO guides, we have another informative blog post about what content marketers really need to know about SEO. Read it here.
Oh and one final advice.
SEO is not dead and it will never be. At least for now.
What are your thoughts on including SEO for businesses? Are there any other factors that you’d like to suggest on why SEO is important for businesses today? Get the conversation going by commenting below!
Updated: 16/10/17
SUBSCRIBE TO RANKREVEAL’S BLOG
Join 100,000+ fellow SEO marketers! Get RankReveal’s latest insights straight to your inbox.
Enter your email address below:
Subscribe and receive exclusive insider tips and tricks on SEO.
Delivered to you right from the industry’s best SEO team.
Copyright © 2023 RankReveal. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Semantic BigData Analytics (SBDA).
