Coming from an SEO Manager, the answer to this question is probably a bit predictable. But today, I'm here to speak honestly about why SEO is important for business, who most benefits from SEO and when it's most likely to have an impact.
To benefit from the seemingly endless cycle of publishing and optimizing, you need to know how and when to leverage SEO.
Before we get into it, first things first: SEO is the process of optimizing websites and content for search engines (typically Google). Proper SEO practices aim to boost your site’s visibility on each SERP (search engine results page), ideally collecting more clicks and boosting organic traffic to your website.
The “when” of SEO also answers the question of who benefits. Businesses that do SEO well know when to hit their SEO efforts hard and when to turn their attention to other parts of their website.
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"SEO won't get you far if your site is lacking in other areas." |
Timing is essential to reap the most benefit from search engine optimization. For one thing, how's the state of your website? Is it ready to receive traffic, or is it still a work in progress?
Consider whether your site is ready in terms of the following.
Successful websites load between zero and five seconds. However, the highest ecommerce conversion rates occur on pages with load times under two seconds.
Nearly 60% of all web traffic is from mobile devices, so you must optimize your site for smaller screens.
Your website should be easy to use and navigate, with a logical structure that search engine crawlers can understand.
Make sure you design your site with users in mind. Creating a seamless and enjoyable experience is key to keeping people on your site—and coming back for more.
Your website's content should be well-written, informative, and keyword-rich. Once people arrive at your site, they need informative and educational resources and web pages to guide them through their purchasing decisions.
The other “timing” factor is what’s trending in your industry and is most relevant to your audience at any given time.
When publishing new content, it’s useful to look ahead a few months to see which holidays are approaching, along with notable industry shifts or events you’d like to capitalize on.
Consider that you’ll need time to:
Sometimes it’s worth publishing (but not advertising) new content well in advance of a major holiday or event. So by the time the event comes around, Google has had plenty of time to crawl and index the page. You’ll also have a leg up due to the page’s age, which is a sign of originality to Google.
Okay, so you’ve set up your site for success and planned your content in advance. Is it time to dive into SEO?
Well, it would be misleading to say you haven’t already incorporated a ton of SEO into the architecture of your website (like meta descriptions and heading tags, for example). But if your foundation is strong, you’re ready to start attracting organic traffic to your site, engaging visitors and guiding them to the next stage of their journey.
The proof is in the work we’ve done for our clients. Our team has helped businesses of all sizes increase online visibility and generate more leads and sales.
For example, we helped a texting services company increase its organic website traffic by 800% in just the first year and an additional 300% the second year.
We accomplished this partly by increasing their page one rankings and boosting their overall visibility but also honing their paid search and social media strategies.
One of our recent projects is another excellent example of why SEO is essential for businesses. This IT services company wanted to do a metadata overhaul across its website.
While web design and a content refresh would have been beneficial additions to their website, they still saw massive growth from these metadata updates after only two months!
However, from what we know about SEO, this won’t be enough to maintain growth. Google recognizes new keywords in the metadata, but it must ultimately determine if each web page carries enough value to be worth the extra visibility.
For continued results, this company should update its landing page content to speak directly to its target audience, giving them information to help make informed decisions about the IT services they need.
Investing in SEO is a long-term play, so you must be patient and consistent with your efforts. So, is SEO worth it? Yes! If you do it right, SEO can be an extremely effective way to grow your business.
Here's why:
Remember, there's only so much that organic traffic can do. SEO won't get you far if your site is lacking in other areas. If SEO brings users to your site but you have a clunky user experience and ineffective design, people aren't likely to stick around.
Investing in other digital marketing areas, such as content marketing, social media marketing, and email marketing is essential. A well-rounded digital marketing strategy will help you achieve your business goals faster than relying on SEO alone.
Ready to get in touch with someone from our team? Chat with us today to find out if SEO is the logical next step for your business