Why SEO Ten reasons why SEO is important for your company

The invisible SEO

Many companies now recognize that they need to accelerate the shift to digital and, as a result, should optimize their search engine presence. However, search engine optimization is often neglected. This is because, unlike a website, paid search advertising or printed promotional materials, SEO is an intangible product - something that delivers visible results but cannot be physically seen.

Because SEO is an intangible marketing service, it is difficult for many companies to see why it is necessary. Why should they spend a portion of their budget on SEO services? Is it worth it?

The short answer is YES.

To help you understand this short answer a little better, in this blog post we'll explain in detail why SEO is also worth it for your business and what value you can get from it.

What is SEO and how does it work?

Search Engine Optimization - or SEO - is a discipline that includes all activities that contribute to a better ranking of your website in search engines. We are talking about organic rankings and not the rankings with the mark "ad" (which is called search engine advertising or SEA).

Website optimization can involve a variety of activities. On the one hand, these are activities that are carried out on your website (called onsite) and, on the other hand, activities that are carried out outside your site (called offsite).

Onsite optimizations

These refer to the website itself that is to be optimized. Relevant optimization fields are e.g. the URL design, internal links, the structure of a website, well-structured HTML codes, but also the loading times. Other important optimization fields are the responsive design of the website, the title structure and the metadata of your website. In addition, the user-friendliness and the security aspects of the website should be considered as well as optimized.

Offsite optimizations

These are measures that are taken outside of your own website, such as building backlinks (links that lead to the page to be optimized) or social signals (the mention of a website in social media). In the case of offsite optimization, we often also talk about website reputation, which in turn is also determined by the quality of the backlinks (subject affiliation, etc.) and the networking of the website on the Internet.

Keyword and content

In addition to these two optimization areas in SEO, it is important to develop a content and keyword strategy. While the keyword strategy identifies the relevant and promising keywords of a website, the content strategy defines which content is published on a website. In doing so, the content strategy seamlessly intervenes in the keyword strategy. It should be noted here that the content should always be user-oriented and should not be based solely on keyword density. The goal is to improve the user experience by means of easy-to-understand texts and texts with relevant content.

The goal of these activities is to increase the visibility of your website in the long run - especially with better rankings within the organic search results. The improved rankings will allow you to drive more and better quality traffic to your website. With more traffic to your website, you can ultimately convert more visitors into leads and turn those leads into customers. In short, SEO is a great way to increase sales and position your business digitally for the long term.

Ten reasons why SEO is relevant for your business

1. SEO increases the number of visitors to your website

With SEO, new customers always find your company and your products or services - on their own initiative. For example, they are looking for a product you offer or want to find out more about it, which nowadays happens very often via search engines. If you are ready and able to answer the search query with your SEO optimized website, your traffic will increase massively. If you haven't optimized your website yet, SEO can open up a whole new avenue of lead generation. And the best part? You know there's already some buying or information interest among searchers. You just need to convince them to buy your offer.

2. Organic search is usually the most important source of visitors

The organic traffic of your website comes from the different search engines like Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo. The easiest way to increase organic traffic is to optimize your website for search engines. This is because the more optimized your website is, the more often it will appear in the top positions in search engines for certain keywords.

Why is it so important to increase organic traffic with SEO? There are many reasons, one of the most important being that organic search is the primary driver of website traffic to business websites. In today's age, if you focus only on paid advertising, it is often not enough in the long run to make your website popular and generate sustainable new users. Thus, the most important measure that will bring more visitors to your business website in the long run is SEO.

3. Good SEO shortens the sales cycle

As already pointed out, SEO helps more users find your business online, but that's not the only benefit. When users search online for a product or service and land on your website, they are already looking for something you offer. So the organic website visitors only need to be convinced to buy your offer. Unlike awareness campaigns or cold calling, you're not targeting people who may not be interested in buying, but only potential customers who are ready to buy.

A good SEO strategy shortens the sales cycle, because you don't have to convince the customer to cooperate with you in general, but only to buy or interact. Users find you organically and have all the information they need to make an informed decision and eventually make a purchase or other interaction on their own.

4. A good SEO strategy builds trust and credibility

The goal of search engine optimization is not only to drive more traffic to your website, but also to build a solid foundation for a beautiful website that is easy to navigate and provides a good experience for users. People trust Google. When your website appears on the first page of a search (a result of good SEO), you gain instant credibility with users.

5. Most consumers do their research before making a purchase.

A strong SEO strategy is essential for businesses of all sizes. Various studies show that between 70% and 85% of people research a business online before visiting or making a purchase. If your competitor outranks you and has a better reputation in a search engine, they can quickly pass you and attack your market share. With a good SEO strategy, you can not only avert this, but also poach customers from your competitors.

6. Good SEO means a better user experience

Every business wants to rank well in search engines and increase organic traffic, but few realize that optimal user experience (UX) is an important factor along the way. While there are many factors involved in search engine optimization - good content, backlinks, site speed, etc. - but UX is definitely one of them, as mentioned at the beginning.

Google is incredibly smart and has learned to interpret whether websites provide a good or bad user experience. A positive user experience is critical to a website's success.
Here are just a few factors to positively impact UX:

• The content is useful and meets the user's search intent

• The website is easy to use and navigate

• The website is seen as credible by visitors

• Make your website desirable and focus on image, identity, and your brand experience, among other things.

• When optimizing your website, UX should be prioritized very high.

7. Local SEO promises more traffic and conversions

Local search has become an essential part of small and medium business success. Local search engine optimization focuses on optimizing a company's online presence so that their web pages are displayed by search engines when users search locally for the company's products or services.
For example, "SEO services in St. Louis."
Local optimization focuses on specific cities, regions, and states to build a brand's reputation on a local level. If you want to promote your business on a local level, local SEO can be a big help.

8. Win the clicks of your competitors and stay on top

You need SEO for the simple reason that it can help you outdo your competitors. Consequently, if you get more clicks, you can gain more market share and thus increase your sales. When people search for the product or service you offer, you want them to come to your business, not a competitor.

9. It's a long-term strategy

SEO can (and hopefully will) have a noticeable impact within the first year that optimizations are made. More importantly, many of these optimizations have an impact that lasts for several years.

Sure, as the market evolves, it's important to keep a close eye on the trends and changes and continue to optimize the website according to them. But even if only the most rudimentary SEO recommendations are followed, this can ensure more traffic to your website in the long run.

10. SEO is cheaper in the long run than paid advertising

Sure, SEO costs money. But all good things do, right?

SEO is relatively inexpensive in the grand scheme of things, and the payoff will most likely be substantial when it comes to a brand's bottom line benefits. It's not just a pure marketing cost either, but rather a long-term business investment.

An exemplary SEO implementation will last for years to come and will help build long-term value for your business. A good ranking and favorable placement will help raise the profile of your brand.