Are you still looking for a reason why you need to start doing SEO for your website? Here’s why SEO is important for your website. 

You’ve probably heard of the word SEO hundreds of times and that it is a vital digital marketing tool. However, for some reason, you didn’t get to understand what the complex, multifaceted marketing tool entails. 

What does SEO mean in business? Why is SEO important?

Well, grab a chair and let me tell you what it’s all about, and more importantly, how it’s going to help your website and online business grow.

First, let’s get started with the basic…

What is SEO?

SEO, search engine optimization, is Google’s way of ranking SERPs or search engine results pages so that the most relevant data gets to appear among the first pages in a search result.

Google’s algorithm determines the most relevant pages or websites by using keywords.

Keyword

Suppose a user is looking to get more information about a topic or answer their questions. In that case, they’ll type in some phrases to get the relevant websites containing that information. 

For example, you may have found this article after searching for “why SEO is important” and get a relevant website to your query.

The phrase is the keyword that connects brands to searchers in search engines. Without proper keyword research, the rest of your SEO strategy will be wasted. 

Why?

If you don’t know which relevant keywords to optimize to your website, searchers will not find your product or service. As a result, you won’t be able to drive traffic, sales, and return on investment to your website. 

That said, it’s essential to do keyword research because it’s a vital pillar for your SEO strategy. We will go back to keyword research in a while…

Next, let’s understand the algorithm’s meaning to make sure you get the basic SEO ideas.

Algorithm

The word algorithm refers to a set of rules that are used by a computer, in this case, to solve a problem. Google’s algorithm uses keywords to get the best possible website, pictures, or even video results for the user.

Using the right keywords for your site or and employing relevant keyword placement will not only help you rank higher on Google’s search index, but it will also help you reel in the right kind of traffic fit for your website.

So what does SEO mean in business? 

SEO is a great tool you can use in creating brand awareness and building relationships with prospective customers. It also helps to position your company as an authoritative and trustworthy expert in your field.

SEO is made up of different elements that will lead to increased traffic and more conversions if used correctly. 

With that being said, let’s talk about why you need SEO in your business. 

Why is SEO important?

Here is a list of nine importance of SEO and how it affects your website. It shows a website’s need for SEO and how it can help your business grow.

1. Improves visibility and helps your target audience find your website

Optimizing your site improves its visibility by helping it rank higher on Google’s search index. The more you optimize your website, the higher it climbs through the ranks and the lesser the competition for potential customers.

According to Sistrix.com’s statistics, the average click-through rate for the first website on a search engine results page is currently 28%. The second position in the SERP results gets a 15% click-through rate, with the third position getting 11%, and the percentage continues to fall by close to half of the previous one.

If your site is not among one of the top results in the SERP, the chances are that you’ll not be getting a lot of traffic or click-through to your site, and this will harm your business.

Optimizing your site with the right keywords will not only make it more visible, but it will also bring in the right target audience.

2. Boosts your credibility and authority in your field

Optimizing your website and providing your potential customers with relevant information and services will help you build trust and credibility.

Merely being on the first page will make you more trustworthy compared to those on the second page. 

Enhancing your schema markup on the website also gives more information about your website to Google and boosts your credibility. 

Doing this takes time; however, using SEO to make your website visible in all relevant searches helps your potential customer view your site as authoritative.

Creating high-quality content on topics related to your business may also build credibility and authority among your potential customers. 

3. Improving the brand

Why is SEO important for improving the brand? 

There are two methods that help build brands, the outbound methodology, where a company uses cold mailing, for instance, to get their customer’s attention. 

The inbound methodology involves setting the right cues for customers to follow to your website.

Even though the outward methodology sometimes works, it is not as great as the inbound methodology. Using SEO is one form of the inbound methodology, and it works!

Making your website more visible makes your website available to your customers, where they get to come to you when they need you.

Two things distinguish the outbound methodology and the inbound methodology. One is aggressive and is more likely to annoy your potential customers. The other is subtle and subconsciously makes the company’s services available to the customer any time they need them.

The second difference is that; customers obtained from the inbound methodology are more likely to convert than those obtained from the outbound methodology. To build a strong brand, you need to show your customers why they should trust you, and you have to let them come to you.

4. Stay ahead of your competitors.

If there is one thing that lets you stay ahead of your competitors regardless of how long they have remained in the field, it’s SEO. With Google ranking, there is one rule that matters, you snooze, you lose, and this is where you can beat your competitors at their own game.

What do I mean by this? When searching for keywords, the best step you need to take is to research your competitors. Doing this provides you with information such as the keywords they used on their websites to rank higher.

If your competitor uses ‘Roofing construction ideas’ and other keywords for their roofing company, then it means that you could do the same to help you rank better. 

This can be easily done via the Rank Intelligence tool in BiQ.

Choose to create a new profile using your competitor’s website URL.

You will see all the keyword ranking data from your competitor’s site. Set the parameters you want; perhaps you are only looking to steal their keywords that are ranking in the top 10 and with a search volume of at least 100, so go ahead and set that up and create a view.

Once you have that, you can easily export the data out as a CSV to further sort through the keywords using your chosen tool, like Excel. 

An even better way to also set up the same parameters for your own URL and then export them out to compare in the same excel sheet. Which gives you even more control to filter and zoom into the data. 

Now that you know what keywords your competitors are ranking for, you can create content targeting those same keywords to steal it from them. 

Or, if you are both ranking similarly for the same keyword, now you know where you should work on to keep or boost your ranking. 

This SEO strategy allows you to spy on your competitors’ strategy and what they are up to. You can easily identify low-hanging fruits and use them to your advantage.

5. Improve user experience and usability

User experience or UX is used to refer to a person’s experience as they navigate your website. It’s used to determine whether users find your website valuable. Usability refers to how easy it is for users to interact with your website. It’s functionality, ease of learning, number of errors, etc.

Improving your website’s user experience and usability increases your index on SERPs, increases your website’s traffic, and boosts conversions. A website with a great user experience hooks the user, increasing conversions, recommendations, and returns. So, how do you do this?

One of them would be to check your content performance. You need to check how your content performs in the search engine and how searchers perceive your content. 

You may use Content Intelligence to uncover that information. 

First, enter your content URL and the target keyword in the search box. 

Content Intelligence will start to analyze your content and show you all errors that can be further improved. Make sure to switch to the Analysis tab on your top right corner. 

The ‘WordVector SEO’ will show your keyword performance. While the ‘Fundamental SEO’ tells you the on-page SEO performance.

They’re a lifesaver if you want a quick insight into how your content is performing. It will unveil all critical SEO errors in your content. 

Both the Edit Needed and Good tab shows errors that have impacted your search rankings. Start fixing the errors in the Edit Needed tab because it needs your attention more than the Good tab.

You will see a list of errors and the actions you need to take to fix them. 

The WordVector will mainly go in-depth to analyze your content performance against the top 10 SERP content in relation to your target keyword. It will tell you exactly which paragraph has lesser relevance to your overall content. 

You may use the keywords suggested on the tool to improve each paragraph’s relevance to the overall content.

As you may have noticed, Google favors content that gives its searchers the most relevant and accurate content. By improving your content relevance, it will improve your ranking and, most importantly, user experience. 

6. Use local SEO to improve local traffic, engagements, and conversions.

Why is SEO important to local businesses?

Local SEO can be used to drive more customers to your local business. Using local SEO can help you achieve this fit by helping businesses increase awareness, customers, and the sales that come as a result.

However, more businesses are hopping into online marketing strategies to increase their profit margins, and it’s increasingly becoming more competitive. If you do it right, though, you could still curve yourself a niche and grow as a business.

How do you do this? ThinkWithGoogle’s statistics show that 98% of searches online are for people trying to get local services or products. 76% of people who call local businesses will visit said businesses within 24 hours, and 28% result in a purchase.

Tailoring your SEO to your local searches will help you get more customers in your local SEO. The first step to do so would be to find local keyword opportunities. 

Using BiQ’s Keyword Intelligence, you can select your preferred locations and languages.

The keyword research tool will show you the list of relevant keywords the local people are using. 

Your target keyword’s search volume could be 1,000 in your preferred location and possibly less than 100 in another. That’s simply because of the different demands in different places. 

So choose the keyword that has high volume but lower competition. I know it can be quite challenging to decide which keyword to use. That’s where you can sort the keyword value in Keyword Intelligence.

A high-value keyword means it will bring more traffic to your website at a lower competition. 

One local rank tracking tool you can use is Grid My Business. This tool allows you to identify any business or location’s local search ranking as long as it’s listed on Google My Business. You can use it in more than 256 countries and 35 languages. 

This local rank tracking tool will help you identify what search queries you can add or add more to your website in order to rank higher on the local search ranking. After you’ve identified them, the tool will help you monitor the rankings and provide you with regular updates so you can track your SEO progress. 

7. Lower your customer acquisition cost

The end game of any business is to lower customer acquisition costs and increase conversions or sales. SEO does just that. 

Since SEO is relatively cheap, it brings more awareness to your website without spending a large amount of money, and when done right, it could lead to more conversions and more sales than traditional marketing.

Using SEO for customer acquisition is slowly changing. To keep afloat, you have to change with it. There are two ways you could do that. First, you need to write engaging content that readers can connect with. Not just click-bait. Next, you need to start using long-tail question strings.

What are long-tail question strings? Well, these are phrases with a syntax that mirrors the way we talk. These keywords are gaining preference because electronic devices have become more personalized, leading to the increased popularity of voice-related searches.

Instead of searching for the ‘most beautiful wedding dresses,’ they may instead search for a more personalized question since, in their psychology, they may as well be asking their friend a question.

You may use the Advanced Filter features in Keyword Intelligence to find your long-tail keywords opportunities. 

To lower your customer acquisition cost and stay ahead, you have to figure out how your customers search for products and services in your field.

8. Reach users in all buying stages

The different stages of buying are known together as a conversion funnel. The funnel’s shape is an inverted pyramid with awareness at the top, followed by consideration and decision. 

This is where keyword mapping is essential. You need to deliver the right content to the right buyer journey.

You could use different keywords for different sets of customers to answer their various needs. Using a set of keywords for visitors on the awareness page and leading them to relevant explanatory content will help you convince them better.

For instance, searchers searching for Adidas online coupon on the internet are already looking in the decision stage; they are interested in making a purchase. You may want to provide content that can boost their motivation to take out their card and click the purchase button. 

But the question is, how do you know what they are looking for? What is the searcher’s intent? 

Fortunately, you may use BiQ’s Keyword Intelligence to check the keyword’s intent. 

Let’s say you want to know the searcher’s intent when searching for ‘content marketing.’ Type them into the keyword tool.

It will show you the estimated keyword intent percentages based on the total number of related keywords. 

The keyword has an informational intent from the example above, which means the searchers are in the awareness stages.

Since the searchers are looking for more information, you can create informational content such as ‘why do you need content marketing?’ and ‘top content marketing examples.’

Scroll down, and you’ll be able to identify each keyword intent so that you can understand your target audience better.

That is a great help because it eliminates assumptions and guesswork to identify the searchers’ intent.

Using this technique could help you generate more conversions and build a relationship with your potential customers for later purchases.

9. SEO is relatively cheap

SEO is relatively cheap when compared to other marketing strategies. For instance, with pay-per-click, you’ll have to pay Google for every click through to your account. This is expensive, and it does not assure the business that the click-through will lead to conversions.

SEO may be slow and may seem like a hard job. However, it’s not as risky as other strategies. You won’t have to invest a lot of money, and even though the rewards do not come immediately when they eventually come, they won’t stop. It’s a zero-risk marketing strategy that works!

Although SEO needs a lot of time and development, it will be more beneficial in the long run. Compared to other online marketing strategies, SEO is the only marketing strategy that, when done right, delivers more than it takes, which is why it would be a great choice in the long run.

Conclusion

As seen, SEO has several benefits which, if exploited properly, could bring you various benefits such as increased traffic, conversions, and a higher ranking in the google search index. However, it is a long-term investment strategy that needs to be nurtured.

The important thing about using SEO is that apart from the quantifiable and provable results, the marketing strategy allows you to grow your website. 

As technology continues to evolve, SEOs, too, will continue to deal with new ways of searching. Make sure to keep yourself updated with the new SEO trends and armor yourself with the changes. 

I hope this article answered your questions about why SEO is important to you.

Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions.