Why does your website need SEO?

A website is a must-have for any business regardless of the industry or service they provide. But just a website will not be sufficient in this day and age of unending competition. With new methods of digital marketing, reaching out to the new age consumers has become much easier. One such method is Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Here are 8 reasons why SEO is an essential practice to carry out for all websites:

1. Brand Awareness and Recognition:

When your brand shows up in the results for a relevant search or an irrelevant search, it still leads to exposure and awareness. Even a fleeting moment of exposure to the brand name or website name can lead to a subconscious level brand recall for the consumer. This helps the consumer recognise the brand in any future interaction.

2. Target Audience:

SEO gives your brand a chance to directly talk to your audience organically. Unlike traditional advertising which will be broadcasted to people who might not be interested at all, through SEO, only those who search for a need relevant to your business will be able to see your business listed in the results. This, therefore, gives you a targeted and organic opportunity to showcase your brand to your audience.

3. Rise in Web Utilisation:

There has been a constant rise in web and digital platform utilisation compared to traditional means of getting information. As the years have passed by, lesser and lesser people rely on business listings or classifieds given in the newspaper. A 2008 study by Neilson found that 86% of consumers use the Internet to find local businesses and services from which they buy offline.

4. Better ROI:

SEO is not an expensive affair. Instead, it can be seen as an investment. Link building, keyword analysis, and other SEO activities are much cheaper than adopting traditional mass media advertising. With SEO, the return on investment is much higher and much faster as the call to action, in this case, is much simpler – a click. The ROI is immediate as the user/consumer would definitely be exposed to your brand and will react to it instantly.

5. Organic clicks:

While investing in a good search engine marketing plan is beneficial to an extent, a paid result displayed at the top of the results is what the user tends to avoid upon seeing the tag of ‘sponsored or ad. ’ According to a research report by Neilson in 2011, 85% of all user clicks are organic. Investing some time in SEO will, therefore, give your business a higher chance of being displayed in the first 5 rankings in a search result with the right keyword usage.

6. Growth in E – Commerce:

E-Commerce is constantly growing with numbers estimated to reach a double digit of 10 per cent in India, as per a report by PWC in 2015. With this optimistic prediction for the e-commerce industry, an SEO optimised website is essential for recognition as only once the user is exposed to the brand can he/she make an action of opting for the brand.

7. Rising Web Search Index:

A Google statistical report published in 2014 declares that there are 3.5 million web searches carried out every day. With such a high rate, SEO is essential to make sure your website is noticed among the top search results for relevant keywords. Only an SEO enabled site will your site multiple entries into multiple search result lists.

8. Changes in Buying Behaviour:

SEO has grown so much over the years that it has now become an integral part of digital marketing. With the rise in SEO enabled websites, there has been a change in buying behaviour. Earlier buyers would just search for what they needed and choose the brand they had in mind already, but now buyers tend to pick the results listed among the top rankings in a search result list. This impacts the decision-making process and gives way to a whole new digital tool – SEO.

So now with SEO, you can stay ahead of the curve and be discoverable where people are searching. To make the best of your resources and develop a new skill, go for SEO Training and ensure that your website always ranks high!