Why SEO is Important to Small Business
As the digital-first landscape continues to reshape consumer behavior, it’s no longer feasible to ignore SEO’s influence on the way we now do business, including small to medium-sized enterprises. By investing in small business SEO services, you’re giving your brand a competitive advantage over your bigger competitors.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a practical digital marketing strategy for businesses of all sizes. With an estimated 5.5 billion searches per day on Google, small to medium businesses can’t afford to miss out on this traffic. Having a good SEO strategy in place allows small businesses to build brand awareness, improved their online visibility, and better target their ideal customers.
Investing in trusted SEO solutions in Maryland brings multiple benefits to your small business. To learn more about the benefits of SEO and its importance to small business, continue reading.
Understanding SEO for Small Businesses
“So what is this SEO for small businesses? And how can I benefit from it?” is a question we often receive from business owners who are venturing in SEO for the first time.
Think of it this way: search engines serve as referral engines or tools that provide searchers (your potential customers) the best answers to their questions. For your small business to succeed online, it’s important that searchers find your business website on the first page of the search engine results pages (SERPs).
For small businesses, the primary SEO areas to consider are:
- On-page optimization. This basic optimization includes meta descriptions and page titles.
- A fast, well-structured, and mobile-friendly website encourages users to browse through it longer.
- Content marketing. Informational blog content puts you in front of a wider audience and gives your business credibility.
- Authority building. Highly correlated links guarantee stronger SERPs results.
4 Top Benefits of SEO for Small Businesses
1. SEO Builds Trust and Credibility Online
Well-established businesses often have strong customer bases that were built over a period of time. But as the younger generation takes over the market, you need new techniques to target them. Otherwise, you put your business at risk of missing out on business opportunities.
The ultimate goal of SEO is to build a strong foundation for you to make connections with your customers. An effective SEO strategy establishes your authority and credibility as an online business through digital optimization techniques customized for your business.
Effective SEO strategies also help you improve your Google Expertise, Authority, and Trust (EAT). EAT is a rating designed to make sure your website and its content are trustworthy and authoritative. Human reviewers influence all EAT-related tweaks to Google’s algorithm. These reviewers sift through thousands of websites and evaluate them according to Google’s quality rater guidelines (QRGs).
While quality raters have no impact on how individual websites rank, their findings are often cross-referenced with SERPs, ensuring a high ranking for all websites with high-quality content and coding.
With a good EAT score, you foster a sense of trust by proving to potential customers you are credible. Searchers actively look for trust signals. If you are a figure of authority in your industry, they will surely purchase from you.
2. SEO Improves Your Discoverability
SEO continues to be a driving force in 2020, so it’s more important than ever for you to optimize your pages for search. Research shows that more users are buying goods and services online. The data indicates that 88% of buyers conduct online research before they make their purchases.
When your business doesn’t show up at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs), you miss out on valuable connections and potential leads. And with more businesses going online, on-page optimization is essential in helping your business rank higher in SERPs and driving more traffic to your site.
A good SEO strategy improves your online visibility by moving you up the rankings. With a combination of relevant keywords, compelling content, and a well-designed website, you can optimize your online presence for SERPs.
3. SEO FOCUSES ON SEARCH INTENT
Search intent is the reason for an online search. Is the searcher looking for information? Do they need to find a solution, or are they looking to purchase a specific product or service? Understanding the different types of search queries can help you provide the right content to target and connect with your ideal customer.
Here are three types of intent-based search queries:
- Informational query – searchers are looking for information or answers to questions about a specific topic.
- Navigational query – searchers are looking for a specific website (or webpage), like YouTube or Facebook, and prefer not to type the direct link into the navigational browser.
- Transactional query – searchers have identified the products or services they want to purchase and want to complete the transaction.
Small to medium-sized businesses who optimized for search intent will have an easier time targeting the right audience, getting more qualified leads, and converting their ideal customers.
4. SEO Saves You Money
SEO is a cost-effective and sustainable digital marketing solution for all types of businesses. It allows you to actively promote your business online through multiple platforms, reaching out to targeted audiences who are already actively looking for products and services online. SEO’s inbound nature helps you drive more traffic to your website using relevant content and keywords based on search intent. Ultimately, this will lead to more qualified leads and improved conversion rates.
5. Improve Your Conversion Rates
An increase in conversion rates is why SEO matters for your small business. SEO-optimized websites are easier to use, load faster, and display properly on all types of devices. User-friendly websites are likely to grab the attention of potential customers.
6. Stay Competitive with Other Businesses
If someone within your area does a mobile search for your products, theoretically, your business will appear on the SERPs with your competitors. One of SEO’s benefits for small businesses is that it ensures your good ranking on local and organic searches.
7. Build a Bigger Community
In terms of why investing in local SEO is important for small businesses, think of the term shop local. If your brand is all about “love local” and “taking pride in home-town products,” you need to make sure that you reach potential shoppers within your walking distance who love local.
For this reason, showing up in local search results matters. Apart from growing your local following, local SEO presents potential sponsorship opportunities.
BOOST YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE WITH AN SEO STRATEGY
Don’t fall behind the competition. SEO is no longer optional in the digital-first landscape. Hire a professional to help you build your online presence. Athena Integrated Marketing is here to help you unlock your full online potential with the right SEO strategy custom-tailored for your business.
With over two decades of experience in digital marketing, we have the skills and resources to develop a strategy that works for your business. We conduct comprehensive research on your existing online presence to come up with a plan that improves on it.
Find out more about our SEO solutions. Get in touch with us for a FREE discovery call and SEO audit.
