SEO (Search Engine Optimization) should form a vital part of your company’s marketing strategy. You could have the best looking, easiest to use website in the world, but if nobody can find it, your hard work will have been for nothing. But don’t just take our word for it, here are six reasons from the creative agency Creative Spark on why your business should be investing in SEO.
SEO works, and it isn’t going anywhere
Some people may doubt the effectiveness of SEO, but these are usually those who aren’t doing it well. When done right, SEO helps make sure your website is ranking highly in search engine results pages, making it much easier for your target audience to find you when searching online. Search engines are constantly updating and improving the algorithms they use to rank web pages, so SEO is constantly changing, but it isn’t going away.
SEO is evolving and so should you
It’s obvious that the search landscape has changed drastically over the past two years with the two of the biggest google algorithms updates: Penguin and Panda. Penguin primarily focuses on the quality of links. This update penalized sites that used link networks, paid for SEO directories and sites that didn’t adhere to their webmaster guidelines. A lot of online businesses that used ‘black hat techniques’ were heavily penalized and disappeared from the SERPs. The other algorithm that shook online business over recent years is the Google Panda update. Panda focused on content, so if you had duplicate, hidden or low quality content on your site it was likely your rankings dropped. This shows that if you don’t keep up to date with Google’s latest changes and aren’t familiar with their guidelines, you could see your online visibility fall from the face of the earth!
SEO helps your business stay at the top of its game
SEO isn’t something you can just do once and then forget about. Because search engines are constantly updating the way they rank websites, this means you need to be constantly updating your website and techniques to meet their requirements. This means you will be putting a lot of focus on making your website the best it can be, which will benefit your business.
SEO helps you maintain visibility and brand awareness
As we mentioned earlier, SEO is vital for ensuring your website is ranking highly in search engine results pages. By doing this, you are maintaining visibility and awareness with your target audience, so even if they don’t buy from you right now, you will be on their mind.
SEO is flexible and provides good value for money
SEO is not something that is reserved solely for big companies with big budgets; any sized company can benefit from it. SEO is very flexible, and you can do as much or as little as you want or can afford. SEO offers an excellent return on your investment, with even small campaigns showing positive results.
People are already searching for your products or services online
It would be foolish to think that SEO doesn’t apply to your business. As more and more people get instant internet access, the number of people searching for products and services online will continue to increase. Your customers are looking for you online, so you need to make it easy for them to find you.
Even if you’re not doing it, your competitors are
Chances are, your competitors are online and have some form of SEO in place. If you aren’t easy to find online, your customers may end up going to your competitors instead. Just like you are competing for the same customers, you are also competing for the same high rankings.
