Search Engines The New Frontier

Why is SEO important? It’s a question thousands of companies are still asking. The truth is that a business can’t get by without search engine optimization services. Though some are uncertain how SEO can help, the numbers are clear. Web marketing has a return rate of $22 for every dollar spent on it. To break that down, leads generated through SEO have a 14.6% close rate. Compared to the 1.7% close rate from outbound sales, SEO puts up pretty impressive numbers. Search engines are the new frontier for marketing, and they’re making a big difference.

Why Is SEO Important?
The main reason to hire an SEO consultant is that quality SEO makes the difference between a great site that does its job and a great site that is never seen. Users searching on search engines like Google are 70% more likely to click on non paid results and usually only choose from the results on the first page. The importance of SEO is that it can bring your site more website traffic without resorting to paid ads.

How Does it Work?

SEO is about making search engines see your site as more relevant to particular keywords. In order to be viewed as relevant, you have to use those keywords frequently and have content that other users view as valuable. The number one way to do that is to produce quality content, usually through an on site blog and through off site link building.

Companies that blog have 434% more pages indexed by Google. That’s because they have tons of relevant content that is noticed and shared by other users. SEO campaigns often include some sort of onsite blog, usually combined with social media. Businesses develop relevant content for their blogs and then share it with followers who, hopefully, share it with their friends. The more buzz that is generated, the more attention the site gets from search engines.

Does It Really Make a Difference?

Yep. Search engines have diehard users, many of whom use them at home and on the go. Over 70 million users were using their mobile devices to shop online in 2012, at studies show that nearly half of them use search engines during that process to look up product reviews or seek out promotions.

The giant of all search engines, Google, is so confident in its ranking system that it offers an “I’m feeling lucky” button. Users who enter search terms can click that button to be taken to the number one result without skimming the result pages. Incidentally, Google‘s first ever tweet was “I’m feeling lucky” written in binary code.

Search engines are perhaps the most important platform for advertising. They make the difference between being seen and being invisible on the internet, a dichotomy that makes a big difference in today’s online culture.