The Importance of SEO: A Simple Guide for Businesses
Did you know that 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine? The majority of those searches get the information they need on the first page of search results.
That sums up the importance of SEO, but there’s a lot more that you need to know if you want to get more traffic and revenue from search engines.
You need to understand how people search and how you can position yourself to meet the needs of searchers. Read more to more about SEO importance and a few SEO tips for small businesses.
The Importance of SEO
OK, people search online. That might not convince you that SEO is important because you’re on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
A big part of SEO is the user experience. Security, site speed, and bounce rate impact your search rankings. People stay on your site longer when you improve these numbers.
The longer it takes for your site to load, the less likely people will convert to leads and sales. There’s as much as a 40% drop in conversions for sites that take more than 3 seconds to load.
How People Search
If you want to take advantage of SEO, you need to understand how people use search engines. Searches are categorized by user intent. User intent looks at where a person is in the buying cycle.
People that are searching for general information about a product or service are in the early stages of buying.
Once they narrow down their options they’ll do a comparative search, such as Nike vs. Adidas. They’ll compare brands or specific models.
When they’re ready to buy, they might look up dealers online or local dealers through near me searches. These are searches like “shoe store near me.” You want to make sure you’re near the top of these search results.
Only the first few businesses are likely to get a call. Most people won’t even check out the second page of search results.
How Can You Improve Search Results?
Too many business owners avoid SEO because they want instant results. That doesn’t happen with SEO because it’s a long-term marketing strategy.
It can take months of consistent work to improve your search results, but it’s well worth it when you get more traffic that converts.
Knowing how people search, you want to position your content in a way that appeals to people at all stages of the buying cycle. That requires doing keyword research for the right search terms and writing the content.
What if you don’t have time to devote to SEO? There are plenty of SEO companies like this service that can handle everything from keyword research to content creation for you.
SEO Tips for Small Businesses
Did you learn the importance of SEO? SEO is responsible for a lot of web traffic. As a result of focusing on search results, you create trust with visitors and a better site experience.
For more business tips, visit the Business section of this site.
