In just about every industry, search engines are the first stop that 40% of consumers make on the way to a purchase. This means that where you appear in search results makes a huge difference in how much you make in sales. One of the major advantages of SEO is getting your site ranked near the top.
Search engines rely on a technology called “web crawlers” to index sites from all over the internet. That’s how you get so many results in a fraction of a second. SEO strategies give web crawlers the data they’re looking for, packaged the way that they want to see it.
If you’re new to SEO you should get to know how powerful its impact can be on traffic to your site. Here are 7 of the biggest advantages of SEO.
1. SEO Improves your Impact
You probably put every piece of marketing that your company has ever produced through a rigorous editing process. In meeting after meeting, you’ve likely discussed fonts, colors, and blocks of text ad nauseam.
You probably even did the same when you built your website.
What most business owners overlook is the importance of having those same kinds of conversations about your keywords and SEO. You should have had long conversations about which search terms are most strategic and which local keywords your competitors are failing to use.
Working to design a powerful and important website without going through the work of hammering out your SEO leaves your powerful tool just sitting around. You’d never design business cards only to lock them away in a drawer. Your website is the same kind of tool.
With just a little bit of custom web development, you can turn that tool into a sales and traffic generating machine.
2. Take Advantage of Free Advertising
Without the proper massaging of your website’s data, you’re leaving your ability to show up in search results to chance.
SEO allows you to get your metadata, tags, and descriptions to work for you. Web crawlers are constantly indexing the web, searching through all of the keywords contained in each site. They aim to show users the best match.
Leaving your metadata and descriptions empty is as good as leaving money on the table.
As users search, 24 hours a day, search engines serve up the best matches, looking for keywords and text all throughout every page. While you might have great products, if you don’t use every opportunity to advertise, you’re wasting a great opportunity.
Every image, every page, and every object you add to your site gives you the opportunity to include title or meta text. Those descriptions could be scooping up leads while you sleep.
3. SEO and Social Media Work Together
If your company uses social media to engage with your customers, you should be using similar strategies to SEO when you post. If your business doesn’t have a profile on every major social media profile, stop what you’re doing and start one. Social media is the fastest growing sector in the world of business referrals.
Whenever you write a post, you should be including the kind of keywords that your site needs to be using. By leveraging them together, you’ll be able to multiply your impact and increase your ability to connect with customers.
And every time you post, you’ll be creating another opportunity for customers to get in touch with you. If they have more questions or want to know more about products, redirect them to your site. With each clickthrough to your site, you’ll also be building your brand authority with search engines.
4. SEO Helps You Find Your Audience
Floating around the internet with your competitors, hoping that your audience will find you is no way to run a business. You need the people who you want to find you to be able to find you.
Start by thinking like them. Come up with keywords that you would use if looking for a business like yours. See who is using those keywords the best and try to do one better.
If your SEO strategy is integrated into your company’s overall goals, you’ll be able to tap into the psychology of your target market.
5. SEO Builds Your Company’s Credibility
One of the major advantages of SEO that you can build your brand’s authority as you connect with customers. When your potential clients go searching for a product like yours, eventually you should be the top hit in their search results.
People will then begin to believe in your brand and start treating your products like they’re the best around.
Make sure that all of your titles, descriptions, and brand tags are always displaying statements that strengthen your brand. They should communicate messages that follow your business goals.
Your goals and your SEO need to work together hand in hand. At all times, you’ll be projecting exactly who you are and then making it manifest by catching the people who are looking for the services you’re offering. As your message gets sharper, you’ll build a stronger and more loyal base.
Always be working to understand what it is your customers want from your products and your brand. Aim to deliver and to show them the other things they should be expecting from a company like yours. By showing your customers a strong and broad set of options, they will expect those same things from your competitors.
The Advantages of SEO Strategies Are Endless
Your SEO strategy will be working for you day and night to bring in clients. However, it needs to be constantly massaged. As trends change in your industry and customer expectations change, so should your approach to SEO.
If you want to see more of the advantages of SEO, check out our guide to local SEO solutions that you need to be using.