If you’re trying to grow your business in 2015, here’s a choice you can make that’s highly likely to pay off: Focus on search engine optimization in the coming year. There’s quite a bit of misinformation about SEO floating around — both hype and backlash — but the bottom line is that hiring an SEO services company might be the best investment you make all year. Here’s what you need to know:
- SEO Is Simply Vital for Online Growth
As search engine ranking algorithms improve, some have hailed the forthcoming “death of SEO.” It’s true that many of the old SEO techniques need to be laid to rest. But SEO itself is more important than ever. The ranking algorithms are becoming “smarter” in that they look at sites more as human users would. But that doesn’t mean you can just leave your rankings to chance.
Search engines are by far the portal guiding the most Internet experiences, and 70% of the time, users click on organic, rather than paid, results when they search. Together, this adds up to mean that while paid marketing has its place, SEO is still the most important factor in growing an online presence.
- Brick-and-Mortar Businesses Need SEO Too
Some brick-and-mortar businesses neglect Internet marketing strategies because they seem irrelevant. After all, if you sell frozen yogurt out of your neighborhood shop in Scottsdale, it doesn’t really matter where you rank when a Pennsylvania teenager Googles “frozen yogurt,” right? This confusion comes from a conflation of classic SEO and local SEO. It’s true that ranking on the keyword “frozen yogurt” might not matter (unless you’re hoping to expand your store’s reach nationally, in which case it might), but it matters very much that when users in your area use Google or a maps app to search for frozen yogurt shops, the search engines know right where your shop is.
You should consult a local SEO company for an in-depth explanation, but the general summary is that instead of optimizing your website with keywords and content, local Internet marketing is all about building “citations” for — or references to — your business. The most important aspect of this effort is making sure there are many instances of your business name, address and phone number (called your NAP) online in important places.
- SEO Is an Expanded View of Branding
For most companies, this is good news: SEO is more about building your brand than it is paying a company of tech-savvy folks to do some incomprehensible Internet wizardry. In fact, any company that promises instant results or can’t explain its processes probably isn’t on the up-and-up. An SEO services company is becoming, more and more, an Internet marketing agency.
This means that you can stay involved in the process the whole time, consulting with the professionals and adjusting your brand image as you go. It also means that you no longer need to choose between dedicating resources toward SEO or traditional marketing. The same strategies can bring people to your website and turn them into customers once they’re there.
Do you have any tips on choosing an SEO services company that is keeping up with the times regarding their SEO strategies? Share your ideas in the comments.
Helpful research also found here.
