As of Q4 2019, 59% of the world’s population has access to the internet. That’s a 10% jump from just last year. The pervasiveness of the World Wide Web has changed, and continues to change, the way consumers interact with brands.
With agencies and experts (including us) advocating omnichannel strategies (and rightfully so), brands have several tools, content formats, and advertising channels at their disposal. As advertisers scramble to one-up each other with advanced targeting and tracking tools, good old SEO often gets overlooked.
If SEO is not a key part of your digital strategy, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
Top Reasons SEO Is Beneficial For Businesses
Reason 1 – Cost-Effective
That’s the biggest benefit of SEO, right there. It’s a cost-effective tool that helps you bring in relevant traffic in a pocket-friendly budget.
Chances are that you might be a small-business owner looking to be found online. If that’s the case, you need to include SEO in your marketing strategy straight away.
With most traditional and online advertising, you would typically require a huge budget to put your products and services. That’s exactly why large businesses with huge media budgets are able to reach much larger audiences.
However, SEO helps level the playing field for small businesses – empowering them to be seen where it matters.
Reason 2 – Higher Conversion Rate
Once you are able to improve your search engine rankings with the help of SEO, you will see higher traffic on your website. This organic traffic usually has higher purchase intention, since they are the ones seeking you out.
If your website is optimised for conversions, you will be able to bring them further down the sales funnel, ultimately turning them into paying customers.
With the right combination of SEO friendly content and conversion optimised web pages, you are able to deliver a compelling user experience.
Reason 3 – Local SEO
With Local SEO, you will be able to attract your target audience in your vicinity effectively.
What this means is that you will be able to optimize your local store for keywords such as “Best (Local Store) Near Me.”
For instance, if you’ve recently started a coffee shop in your neighborhood. In that case, you can optimize your business for local keywords such as:
“Best Coffee Shop Near Me”
OR
“Best Coffee Shop In New York (or your location)”
Nearly 80% consumers conduct an online search before making a purchase from a local store. That’s exactly why it’s really important for you to optimize your business for Local SEO.
Reason 4 – Mobile Friendly
With the way search algorithms work, good SEO = Mobile optimised experiences. Considering that 53% of the world’s population now accesses the internet on their mobiles, it is clear why SEO algorithms weigh mobile optimisation so heavily.
Consequently, good SEO practices help you reach your audiences where they are most comfortable – on their mobile devices.
Even in 2020 and beyond, SEO will make or break your digital marketing strategy. With voice-based interfaces and connected devices now creeping into users’ search behaviours, these are exciting times for online search.