organic seo small business

SEO is a complex, intimidating, and unique marketing strategy. It requires a lot of effort, some planning, and careful execution. That’s why many marketers question whether SEO is relevant or helpful.

If you own a website and want to establish an online presence, you need SEO. Search Engine Optimization has evolved considerably over the years, but its purpose remains the same. It is used to improve the user experience and search engine ranking of a website.

With the right plan and proper execution, it is possible to rank high on search engine results pages and gain proper brand recognition.

Reasons Why Organic Search is Important for Your Business

Are you still skeptical about SEO? Here are some important reasons why you should consider incorporating the strategy into your marketing:

1. Organic Search Generates a Lot of Website Traffic

Most people don’t know this, but organic search generates more traffic than paid ads or other strategies. SEO leads have a 14.6% closure rate, which is much superior to other forms of marketing like PPC or traditional ads. Around 51% of the traffic comes from organic search.

People are also more likely to click on organic links than on ads. They’ll scroll down a web page and find an organic link instead of clicking on a PPC ad.

That makes SEO a very important strategy. If you want converting, organic traffic, you need SEO. Search engine optimization is the only way to feature at the top the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) organically.

While this strategy takes time to show results, it can help a business gain more visibility. You just need to make sure your SEO strategy is implemented correctly.

2. Google is Ubiquitous

google logo

Google is the most dominant search engine and the second-most dominant search engine (YouTube) is owned by Google. This means a small business can’t afford to ignore the standards set by the tech giant.

These standards are commonly referred to as ranking factors. Google has over 200 such factors. When the search engine’s bots crawl your website, they make note of how well you live up to these standards and rank you accordingly.

SEO is the process of optimizing your website based on ranking factors such as:

• High-quality content
• Backlinks from high-authority sources
• User experience
• On-page optimization
• Site structure and security

These factors play a vital role in ranking and visibility. Google’s ultimate aim is to provide users with a great experience. That’s why it ranks websites that provide great user experience high on search engine results pages.

3. SEO Influences Website Reputation

Most people are aware that Google only posts top-quality links at the top of the SERP. This means they know they can trust links on the first page of the search results. If people start seeing your website appear at the top of SERPs regularly, they will trust it more.

SEO helps you establish authority through strategies like backlinking, content marketing, optimization for mobile, keyword research, etc. All of these techniques help build a reputation and earn user trust.

Establishing authority is a slow process that needs months of careful execution. But that doesn't mean your business can't achieve it. In fact, many small businesses thrive because they produce stellar content and keep their SEO campaign sharp.

It is nearly impossible to establish a good reputation without SEO. Some people consider social media marketing to be a viable alternative to SEO, but they’re limiting their reach. While platforms like Facebook and Instagram have a lot of influence, they can’t touch the number produced by Google.

If you want to establish an enduring reputation, you need SEO. In fact, your SEO strategy can work hand-in-hand with your social media marketing strategy for this cause.

4. Local SEO Leads to In-Store Conversions

Did you know that 76% of people who search for a business on their phone visit it within a day? That’s why it is important for businesses to invest in local SEO.

Local SEO has allowed small businesses to flourish despite intense competition from large-scale competitors. These businesses can utilize their local address to gain prominence in this sphere. Here’s a look at what local businesses can do:

• Claim their business on Google Maps listing.
• Provide information like open and close times, contact numbers, and company address.
• Create local content with location-based long-tail keywords.
• Gain a place on Google’s Local 3-Pack.

Once you have a local search strategy in place, your business will start gaining good amount traffic on a regular basis. This will happen both online and offline, which makes this strategy an excellent solution.

5. SEO Evolves Based on User Expectations

One of the constant gripes against SEO is the search engine’s tendency to evolve constantly. Google upgrades its algorithm several thousand times in a year, which is why SEO keeps changing a little over time.

However, Google does this because it has gotten a better understanding of user expectations. When users wanted a more intuitive search, Google introduced Machine Learning and intent-based search.

When companies keep up with Google through an evolving SEO strategy, they also keep up with their user base. Without the guidance and structure provided by SEO, it is easy to lose track of user requirements or expectations.

After all, most businesses can’t afford to spend billions on studying customer behavior and coming up with ways to satisfy them.

By implementing good SEO, you’re essentially hitting two birds with one stone. Google is satisfied with your website quality and prospective customers are satisfied by the user experience.

Conclusion – Long Term Growth with Organic Search

SEO is a long-term strategy and provides much better results as time pass. You’ll notice the biggest changes in the first few months after SEO is implemented, but you’ll only see consistent progress after the strategy has been in place for more than a year.

SEO requires patience and good planning, but it also provides rich rewards to people who are willing to work on it. This article only mentions some of the many reasons why you should implement SEO, which means you can’t afford to miss it.

Our guest author Ayushi Choudhary is a Jr. Content writer working with Ranking By SEO. In her corporate life she writes many blogs and articles on SEO, link building, SMO, and more.