What Are the Benefits of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

There are many benefits to investing in search engine optimization (SEO) in order to grow your website or business.

Many people know of “higher rankings” and “more traffic” as benefits of SEO, but the advantages go far beyond these. That’s because SEO involves a holistic website marketing strategy.

If you are hesitant to invest in SEO, consider these benefits to help you decide whether you should implement a search engine optimization strategy for your website.

Higher Search Engine Rankings

The most obvious (and well-known) benefit of SEO is a higher ranking in the organic search results. In implementing SEO, most websites aim to rise to that #1 spot for their target keyword – a term they suspect will drive visitors to their website.

For example, if you are a digital marketing agency located in Seattle, you’d likely want to rank for “Seattle marketing agency” so that when users search this term, you are the first business to pop up. By utilizing SEO, you increase your chances of ranking at the top spot.

However, ranking your website isn’t always simple. You should consider a variety of SEO strategies in order to outrank the competition and drive more traffic to your website.

More Organic Traffic

Another obvious benefit of SEO is the ability to generate more organic (unpaid) traffic. This means you can implement SEO and gain traffic from search engines without investing in paid ads.

This is a huge plus for website owners who want to do their own SEO or open up a new channel to drive traffic to their site. With over 7 billion searches per day on Google, most businesses can’t afford to sleep on this massive source of traffic.

If your target audience uses Google to find products, information, or services online, then you should use SEO to attract some of that traffic to your own website.

Improved User Experience

Some of Google’s own Ranking Factors include taking into consideration the overall user-friendliness of a website. In other words, search engines want to rank websites that provide a great experience to users.

By implementing SEO, you necessarily improve the user experience (UX) on your website – making your site easier to navigate. This means users can find the information they’re looking for, venture to other pages on your site, and, ultimately, convert into a lead or customer.

More Leads from Search Engines

As the saying goes, you shouldn’t “put all your eggs in one basket” when it comes to your marketing. If you rely on one traffic source or source of leads, then you risk losing business if anything were to happen to that platform.

By investing in SEO, you open your site up to another source of high-quality leads. After all, there is no better lead than someone who is actively searching for the goods or services that you offer.

More Conversions (Sales/Subscribers/Clients)

By improving the user experience on your website and attracting higher-quality leads, you significantly increase your chances of converting website visitors into leads, sales, subscribers, or clients.

If a user is actively searching for the services you offer, then they are much closer to making a purchase than someone who sees a random ad on social media, receives an email from a new company, or receives a cold outreach message on LinkedIn. With SEO, you attract new customers to you.

In the end, this means more bang for your buck, as you generate more business from your marketing efforts.

More Local Visitors/Customers

With local SEO, you increase your business’s visibility in the local search results. This means if a user is searching for businesses near them, your business is likely to pop up on Google Maps or in the organic search results.

When this happens, the user may decide to give you a call directly through the email in your Google My Business listing or visit your business in-person. If your business relies on local traffic (both online and foot traffic), then SEO is the way to go.

Increased Brand Awareness

As a new or small business, getting noticed can be hard. But with SEO, users can search for a product, service, question, or term and be directed to your website, even if they have never heard of your brand before.

This means that even “the little guy” can have a chance of outranking bigger companies and attract more brand awareness over time. This is all without having to invest more in paid ads, posting tons of content on social media, or cold-calling potential customers.

More Customer Reviews

Search engines consider positive reviews as an indication that a business does good work and provides amazing service to its customers, and this gives search engines an incentive to rank the website high in the search results.

When you get started with SEO, you’ll work to generate more reviews for your business – both increasing your rankings and boosting the authority of your brand. Getting more positive reviews is one of the top benefits of implementing SEO on your website.

Better Mobile Accessibility

Mobile SEO is essential if you want to drive as much traffic to your website as possible. Since so many users (over 50%) use mobile devices to search for things online, you can’t afford to ignore mobile optimization.

Launch your SEO strategy to start attracting more traffic from any device. By having an attractive, mobile-accessible website, you keep users on your site for longer and boost your rankings in the search results.

Can you think of more benefits of SEO? See the benefits for yourself by leveling up your SEO efforts today.