*This article was originally posted in August 2019 but was updated in September 2023.
With approximately 70% of the world’s website traffic going through Google, a strong SEO strategy is required if you want to find new customers.
I’ve had many people, both friends and clients, ask me why is SEO important and if it’s something they really have to worry about. My answer is always the same: yes, it’s essential, and it isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer.
Keep reading to learn the top five reasons why SEO is not just beneficial but essential for businesses of all sizes and niches.
What Is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s the process of improving (or optimizing) your website to rank organically for searches on search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and many more.
You’ll often hear digital marketers talk about how important it is for your business, but why is SEO important?
Why Is SEO Important?
The fact remains that SEO is important to your business. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, your ideal customer, or your business size: your website and company will benefit from a strong SEO strategy.
1. Increase Your Organic Traffic
One of the biggest reasons why SEO is important is because it will increase your organic traffic. Increasing organic traffic to your website (organic meaning you don’t pay for the traffic) allows more people to find, and go to your website.
It’s no lie that organic traffic is a primary source of website traffic, no matter the industry. Whether you’re a lawyer, sell e-commerce products, or run a lawn care company, you will receive most of your traffic from organic search.
Most searches come from Google, followed by YouTube (which Google owns), so having a good SEO strategy for Google is imperative to getting visitors to your website. That’s not to say you shouldn’t worry about your rankings on other search platforms. Just that if you follow Google’s best practices, you’re most likely going to be all set on the other platforms.
2. Improves The Quality Of Your Website
Part of increasing your SEO comes by improving your website. Google has best practices they look for when deciding where to rank your website, and the more you follow, the higher you will rank.
For example, one of the ranking factors Google considers is how fast your website loads. By increasing your website load speed, you offer a superior experience to your users, keeping them on your site. Google also notices that your site is fast, making it more likely to rank higher than slower sites.
To get a full overview of your site and see what Google recommends you to fix, try using their Lighthouse tool. It’ll run an audit on your site and tell you where you can improve.
3. Increases The Trust Of Your Brand
By ranking higher, people are more likely to trust you. Think of it like a storefront. When you walk into a store, and it’s messy, there are no employees, and it smells, you’re not likely to stay, let alone return.
Same with your website, if you’re on the 10th page of search results, your website loads slowly and isn’t mobile friendly, people will leave and never think about returning.
If you walk into a store and it’s clean, there are employees there, it’s brightly lit, and you feel comfortable, you’re more likely to stay and return. When your website loads quickly, you can read everything without zooming in, and it has the information a user is looking for; they’re likely to stay.
Need help determining if your site follows best practices? Consider getting a website audit to understand exactly what needs to be updated.
4. SEO Best Practices Are Constantly Being Updated
Google updates its algorithm thousands of times a year, really. It’s hard for you to keep up with your customers, let alone keep up with all the Google updates.
You have to be proactive with your monitoring of major algorithm changes or hire a professional to do it for you. If you fall too far behind, it will be much harder to bounce back rather than stay on top of it as the changes occur.
5. If You’re Not First, You’re Last
If you’re not on the first page of search results, you’re not getting clicks to your page. Think about it: When did you last go to the second page of your search? Chances are you can’t remember.
While Google recently released continuous scrolling when you search on your desktop, many people are using their phones, meaning they still don’t go to the second page.
So SEO is important to keep you on the first page consistently to maximize the amount of clicks to your website.
How To Start With SEO
Have I convinced you that SEO is important? Then, it’s time to take charge and start! The first step to any SEO plan is understanding who your ideal customers are, their questions, and what they look for when online.
Then, you’ll need to do keyword research to make sure the content you create has people looking for it. Once you know the content you need to create, it’s time to start writing.
If you’re brand new to SEO, I recommend hiring a professional who knows the ins and outs of content writing and can help you hit the ground running.
Level Up Your SEO Strategy
These are just five answers to the question of why is SEO important, but there are many, many more. SEO is an invaluable strategy when marketing your website digitally. It’s also one of the best ways to find new customers.
If you’re ready to take your SEO strategy to the next level or get started with a fresh, new SEO plan, contact me today! I’ve been helping small to medium-sized businesses rank on the first page of Google for years, and I can’t wait to help you, too.