In our modern world that is becoming digitized at a rapid pace, there is one crucial aspect vendors cannot ignore — online marketing.
It is no surprise that the world’s biggest e-commerce retailer, Amazon, is now widely considered an industry disruptor. Many traditional brick-and-mortar store chains have been put out of business overshadowed by e-commerce players like Amazon and Alibaba.
The ease of browsing a massive inventory of goods and making a purchase without leaving your couch has proven too powerful to ignore. In light of this, the decision of businesses to actively search for ways to get online to reach a broader consumer market is a no-brainer.
But to get their buying process started, most consumers typically use search engines — predominantly Google — to find the desired product. Many will look for the online destination that offers the lowest price. Even on the platform of the 800-pound gorilla, Amazon, the search bar remains an indispensable tool for consumers. In the inner search results, consumers can choose to rank the products by price among other parameters.
The above points, although briefly, underscore the importance of SEO — the focus of this post. Search engine optimization is the process and techniques of structuring and presenting web assets such as web pages and documents to make them easily visible to search engines and thus rank higher in the search results. Because it involves making changes in content to boost ranking as opposed to paying to achieve more visibility, it is referred to as an organic or earned approach. Getting greater visibility by paying is a different approach known as search engine marketing (SEM).
Now, let’s get back to the main issue: why is SEO important? Below are some points presented and explained in an attempt to answer the question.
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Growing search activity by digital consumers to make informed buying decisions
It is no secret today that consumers around the world are increasingly going online to make purchases. In fact, if data is anything to go by, then there is a strong indication that the growth of e-commerce will continue. But remember that the majority of digital consumers tend to research both the product and retailers who will potentially get their money. That search allows them to make informed decisions, taking into consideration such factors as price, reviews, shipping speed, etc.
Businesses that make investments in improving their organic search ranking will benefit immensely from the resulting growth in visitor traffic to their websites and — by extension — mobile apps. By the way, at Brighta, we help businesses analyze, strategize, and implement SEO plans that yield impactful results.
Even when other digital businesses like media sites may not seem directly commerce-oriented, having a top position in Google search results will translate to a massive increase in site traffic. That means much more audience. When coupled with engaging content, that’s a stellar win and business goal realized!
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SEO allows businesses to make their digital presence easier to find
Giving the massive growth in the dynamics of e-commerce and consumer adoption of online buying practices, it follows that businesses of all kinds will not only desire to have a digital presence but also make it easy to find them on the Web. It’s a fact that the “natural” entry point to the online world is through search engines, with Google leading the race lightyears ahead of its competitors. Accordingly, businesses will surely have a substantial ROI by investing in search engine optimization.
Think about this: how would you feel if you entered a few keywords relevant to your business and you found your company site on the very first page? Excited and pleased would surely be a part of your answer. But, in our competitive world, that certainly requires SEO investments, effort, and time. The latter factor is especially important because there are no shortcuts.
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Long-term savings and business growth
With the effective SEO come long-term results that pay off multiples times over the investment made. A strong ROI, in this case, is not a metric captured within a few months but a multi-year time frame. With that long-term perspective, think about the fact that, without an army of marketers, your business or web presence becomes highly visible and ranked, driving an increasing number of consumers to you day after day. That’s the long-term benefit SEO brings that will save you substantial money you would have spent on less effective one-time ads.
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A boost in brand credibility and value
When the harvest season kicks in after sowing the SEO seeds, it only takes a shorter time for a business to watch the brand credibility grow. It is a known fact that consumers associate websites that appear on the first search page as having more credibility since they earned that visibility without paying for top positions. The consumer thinking would be, “They (businesses) must be doing things right.” The longer that is maintained together with truly delightful customer experience, the more the credibility increases. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle.
With that comes an increase in the brand value. Growth in sales means growth in business, and growing sales is a key metric in the valuation of businesses. Therefore, SEO can yield that long-term benefit of brand value growth.
Indubitably, the way search occurs digitally will continue to evolve from text to voice-based messages, and on to whatever lies ahead in the future. But surely, search —- especially using Google and million-user platforms like YouTube —- will always be a crucial aspect for the digital experience of consumers. Hence, it makes sense for online marketers to continue using the possibilities of search engine optimization.
