Is SEO Worth My Time? Your Guide to the Top Benefits of SEO

You’ve got a website. You want customers.

How do you bridge that gap? It’s called SEO, and it’s the most vital part of having a modern day website.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, refers to the set of strategies websites use to improve their Google ranking.

And without it, your site will be relegated to the bottom of the list when people search for your industry and niche.

Still not convinced? You’re in the right place. In this post, we go over the top benefits of SEO, and why you need to be incorporating it into your digital marketing strategy.

Sound good? Keep reading to find out more!

Benefits of SEO: The Basics

To understand the basic benefits of SEO, simply ask yourself about what happens when you want to find a certain type of business or site.

Most likely, you type a search word or phrase into Google and look at the top few results. Then you probably click through on one of the first few search results.

Also, ask yourself how often you click through page after page of search results to look at sites there? Probably not very often.

So the same concept applies when it comes to your own site and business. Imagine a potential customer typing in a search phrase in Google, and all of your competitors show up at the top of the list.

Pretty good odds that they’ll get that customer’s business, right?

Now imagine you have incorporated proper SEO strategy, and your site is one of the top few results. Those odds seem much more in your favour now, don’t they?

It Improves User Experience

What’s interesting about SEO is that many of the strategies involve making your website more clear, informative, and interactive.

Google’s algorithm gives more weight to sites that, for example, have their contact information and basic company information clearly marked.

But that not only serves to help your ranking. It also makes for a more clear and concise website for the average user!

For example, Google gives priority to websites that have mobile versions. And at the same time, having a mobile-friendly version of your site is going to be a positive experience for any potential customer navigating to your page on their phone.

So as you can see, an SEO strategy is a win-win scenario. It helps you get your site ranked higher in search results, and in doing so, it helps make the experience more user-friendly.

It’s a Great Inbound Strategy, Too

Sure, you can try all sorts of outbound marketing strategies. And sometimes strategies like cold calling and unwanted pop-up ads can work to garner views and clicks.

But more often, they are seen as annoying to potential customers.

SEO, on the other hand, is an effective inbound marketing strategy. It’s customer-centric and non-invasive.

Instead of calling someone during dinner and interrupting their life, SEO strategies involve providing your information in ways that are helpful to them.

You are setting up your site to be the most apt for someone when they actually want your services!

According to HubSpot, inbound practices accounted for 59% of the best leads for sales teams, which is nothing to sneeze at.

SEO allows you to interact with potential customers at the right time, which is when they are actually looking to interact and potentially buy the type of product or service you’re selling.

You Save Money

Buying Internet ads can certainly be an effective way to drive traffic to your site.

But, as you’d expect, those costs can balloon if you are utilizing ads as your primary means of digital marketing.

So one of the best aspects of SEO is that, if you are doing it on your own, it’s free!

SEO strategy isn’t a one and done type of process, so it takes time and effort to get it really up and running. And once you are at the top of the Google ranking for your niche, it also takes work to keep it there.

You’ll need to stay up on the ins and outs of Google’s statements about what’s important for their algorithm.

And you’ll need to be constantly updating your content and bringing new content in. That could mean new pictures, new videos, new blogs, etc.

But as long as you make that a priority, and have time to maintain your SEO strategy, it won’t cost you a thing except for time and effort.

Of course, you can also hire an SEO specialist to take care of this for you. But in terms of that cost vs. buying ads, you might find it to be a better bang for your buck!

SEO vs. PPC

It’s also been shown that SEO is actually better at getting clicks than pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Amazingly, despite the fact that PPC ads appear above the organic Google search results on a page, people are much more likely to click on the organic results.

According to one study, more than 71% of searches end up with people clicking on an organic, Google-based result as opposed to a paid ad.

Why is that? Because people tend to trust Google! When they enter a search phrase or word into Google, they generally think that whatever Google’s algorithm returns will be the best link to click on.

It Helps Get Customers in the Door

If you have a brick and mortar establishment, you need customers to not only head to your website, but you also need to convince them to continue their interest from the site to your shop or restaurant.

SEO can be great for this, especially if you utilize ‘local SEO’ as a part of your SEO strategy.

So someone searching for “Thai Restaurant Toronto” will be more likely to have Google return your Toronto based Thai restaurant in the top few results. And that means they are more likely to come to dine!