Small businesses need to apply SEO on their websites in order to achieve good rankings on the search engines. Good rankings mean higher search traffic which could grow potential sales. Here are several reasons why small business owners should implement search engine optimization into their marketing plans:
Increase web traffic
When people conduct a search on Google or other search engines, they are presented with results that link to the various sites. If a site has excellent content and among other factors, it would inevitably rank high. Therefore it stands a good chance to be clicked on and get more visitors to the website. Visitors may become customers if they like what they see.
Small businesses must optimize this process by ensuring that their site appears high up in search results when common terms related to their products and services are searched. This way, potential customers will be more likely to visit their site.
Increase online presence
Search engine optimization helps small businesses increase their online presence by ensuring that the sites are listed on search engine results pages for specific searches. Increased visibility gives the websites an edge over other competitors in terms of reputation, trustworthiness, and negotiating power with suppliers, distributors and partners..
SEO provides a long-term benefit because search engines tend to place more value on sites that get better rankings than those below them. This means that if the business sustains its optimization efforts over time, they will find it easier to increase their rankings instead of always having to fight uphill battles against bigger companies who enjoy inherent advantages simply due to their brand and size.
Reduce marketing costs
Small businesses can use SEO to reduce their marketing costs. SEO helps a business's website move closer to the top of search engine results pages, allowing for more clicks from interested customers. It costs less to get a customer through SEO than it is to pay for advertising (such as Google AdWords pay per click) that targets the same audience.
Brand awareness
SEO has always played an important role in building a brand’s awareness and visibility. The new generation of Internet users tends to browse online instead of recommendations from friends and family members when they are thinking about buying new products or services. Investing in SEO can help small businesses increase their brand awareness by making sure that potential customers can find your brand or services online when they search in Google or other search engines.
Increase sales
SEO provides a way for companies without big budgets to compete with large corporations for customers. Small businesses can level the playing field by using SEO to achieve good search rankings that invariably leads to more sales quickly by targeting the right search terms and bringing in potential customers even before they begin thinking about making a purchase decision.
Improve customer experience
People will often turn to search engines to figure out how to use a product or to solve a problem. By creating contents that addresses customers queries, you can turn SEO into a powerful customer service tool. A blog article that addresses a particular question will start funneling traffic to your site from related keyword searches. Blog articles and related contents may not net immediate sales. But by building trust with your audience, they can convert visitors into future customers.
Small businesses must optimize this process by ensuring that their site appears high up in search results (preferably in the area where most of the searches are done) when common terms related to their products and services are searched. This way, potential customers will be able to find the site quickly and easily, allowing them to make a purchase decision.