In a world where the digital landscape evolves by the second, understanding why your business needs SEO is paramount. Brands that grasp the intricacies of organic search and execute a strategic approach are gaining a competitive edge amidst technological advancements like AI. Factor in the seismic shift caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which propelled millions of consumers online, and the significance of SEO in today’s marketing ecosystem becomes undeniable. It’s not just about improving searchability and visibility; SEO is the cornerstone for comprehending and engaging with your audience authentically, paving the way for sustainable growth in an ever-changing digital terrain.
The need for quality SEO keeps increasing.
Brands that execute an organic strategy the right way are standing out early and often – and it’s more important now than ever, thanks to the emergence of AI and other technological innovations.
Blend those emerging technologies with the tumultuous few years that made up the COVID pandemic – where millions of consumers were pushed online to do their business, make purchases, and stay entertained – and you can begin to scratch the surface of SEO’s importance in marketing’s modern-day ecosystem.
SEO is the most viable, sustainable, and cost-effective way to both understand and reach your customers in key moments that matter.
Doing so not only helps build trust while educating the masses – it also establishes an organic footprint that transcends multiple marketing channels with measurable impact.
But while it will certainly improve a website’s overall searchability and visibility, what other real value does SEO offer for brands willing to commit to legitimate recurring or project-based SEO engagements?
And why does SEO continue to grow into a necessity rather than a luxury?
Here are 15 reasons why businesses need SEO to take their brand to the next level – regardless of the industry or business size.
1. Organic Search Is Most Often The Primary Source Of Website Traffic
Organic search is a massive part of most businesses’ website performance and a critical component of the buyer funnel, ultimately getting users to complete a conversion or engagement.
Google owns a significantly larger portion of the search market than competitors like Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, and many others.
That’s not to say that all search engines don’t contribute to a brand’s visibility – they do. It’s just that Google owns a considerable portion of the overall search market. Thus, its guidelines are important to follow.
But the remaining part of the market owned by other engines is valuable to brands, too. This is especially true for brands in niche verticals where voice, visual, and vertical search engines play an essential role.
Google, being the most visited website in the world (and specifically in the United States), also happens to be one of the most popular email providers in the world.
YouTube is the second most-used search engine, with at least 2.5 billion people accessing it at least once a month, or 122 million people daily.
We know that a clear majority of the world with access to the internet is visiting Google at least once a day to get information.
Being highly visible as a trusted resource by Google and other search engines will always work in a brand’s favor. Quality SEO and a high-quality website take brands there.
2. SEO Builds Trust & Credibility
The problem for many brands is that building trust and credibility overnight is impossible – just like in real life. Authority is earned and built over time.
And, with the AI revolution we’ve experienced over the last year showing no signs of slowing down, building real credibility has become even harder to achieve – and even more critical.
Following Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines is vital to ensure successful results when creating content for your audience.
The goal of any experienced SEO professional is to establish a strong foundation of trust and credibility for a client. It helps to have a beautiful website with a clean, effective user experience that represents a quality brand with a loyal customer base – or at least the potential for one.
A brand of this nature would be easily discoverable in search with the right SEO strategy. The more channels you’re comfortable publishing on and partnering with, the more discoverable you will be.
This can also be attributed to being a respected brand offering quality goods or services to customers, being honest and forthcoming with the public, and earning the trust and credibility among peers, competitors, and other stakeholders.
This becomes a lot easier to succeed with when the brand already has trust signals tied to it and its digital properties.
So many varying elements contribute to establishing that authority with search engines like Google. It starts with building that credibility with humans.
In addition to the factors mentioned above, authority is accrued over time as a result of aspects like:
- Natural links.
- Positive user behavior.
- Machine-learning signals.
- Optimized on-page elements and content.
But now, in the age of AI, establishing that authority continues to become even more complicated and difficult to do.
Yet still, doing so the right way will do more for a brand than most other digital campaigns or optimizations.
Establishing a brand as an authority takes patience, effort, and commitment that relies on offering a valuable, quality product or service that allows customers to trust a brand.
3. It’s An AI Battlefield Out There & It’s Getting Even Harder
Since what seemed like the overnight emergence of AI going mainstream and becoming available at every person’s fingertips, search engine results pages (SERPs) are now more competitive than ever.
Organic real estate keeps shrinking.
Bots, scrapers, and other AI-led technologies are stealing content and regurgitating things they learn along the way, which are often inaccurate or confusing, all while clouding the competitive market with duplicated or plain awful content.
Real SEO – including thorough keyword research, industry analysis, and competitive benchmarking to create high-value content for your customers and loyalists – allows brands to stand apart from the lowly regurgitated spam that floods our SERPs daily.
The challenge of optimizing websites and content for search engines that are relying more on their own AI technologies to enhance the user experience within their platforms than they ever have before is just another layer of complication exemplified by the emergence of AI.
It’s no secret Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) hasn’t exactly been the magic touch to take search to the next level. And, in some instances – up to this point – SGE has even taken Google backward in terms of user experience and information retrieval on a boatload of varying topics and queries.
SEO will undoubtedly help brands navigate and distill – and stand out among – the search engine noise that is littered with D-list content and AI-generated mediocrity.
4. Good SEO Also Means A Better User Experience
User experience has become every marketer’s number one priority.
Everyone wants better organic rankings and maximum visibility. However, few realize that optimal user experience is a big part of getting there.
Google has learned how to interpret a good or unfavorable user experience, and a positive user experience has become a pivotal element to a website’s success.
Google’s Page Experience Update is something that marketers in all industries will need to adhere to and is part of their longstanding focus on the customer experience.
Customers know what they want. If they can’t find it, there will be a problem with that website holding up against the competition, which will inevitably surpass it by offering the same, or better, content with a better user experience.
We know how much Google values user experience. We see the search engine getting closer to delivering answers to search queries directly on the SERP every day, and it’s been doing it – and expanding its integration – for years.
The intention is to quickly and easily offer users the information they are looking for in fewer clicks.
Quality SEO incorporates a positive user experience, leveraging it to work in a brand’s favor.
It also understands the importance of leveraging Google’s updated on-the-SERP-delivery tactics for high-value content that has garnered significant traffic and engagement for sites in the past, but is now losing significant portions of it to the SERPs themselves.
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Original article published on searchenginejournal.com
