Why is SEO Important?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the position of a website within search engines results pages through the implementation of on and off page SEO tactics. Its aim is to get a website or webpage placed in the #1 position in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for the keywords and keyword phrases being targeted. For example, Nike will want to appear in the #1 position for the search query ‘sports brand’.

The reasons for making sure your business’ website appear in position #1, or at least on the first page of the SERPs are numerous. Firstly, almost all consumers now surf the internet on fact finding missions before they make a purchase. Browsing paper directories, responding to banner ads and paying attention to billboard messages has become something of the past. We now make all enquiries for products and services through search engines like Google and Yahoo.

Looking at the habits of people using search engines it has been found that 90% of people will never actually look past the first page of search results. Moreover, staggeringly 42% of people searching on Google always click on the #1 ranking page. The image below shows how the rest of people click.

Can you afford to miss out on consumers who are willingly searching for your product or service online

You will notice that results that appear on the third page of Google do not even score a single percentage point. If your business’ website is not present on at least the first two pages of Google, to some extent your website is invisible. Liken it to your physical shop-front being down a back lane where no one goes! If your business’s website does not appear on the first page of the search engine results pages and your competitors are imagine how many customers you could be missing out on. You need to be ranking on page 1 to be making the most of the demand in your industry.

 A powerful SEO campaign will increase the amount of targeted traffic and potential customers to your website dramatically.

A powerful SEO campaign will increase the amount of targeted traffic and potential customers to your website dramatically. The ‘State of Digital Marketing’ 2012 surveyshowed that SEO is the #1 channel for developing leads online with almost 60% of digital marketing companies surveyed saying that it makes the biggest impact on their lead generation efforts. Imagine the sort of money you could be making if you were ranked #1 on Google for your targeted keywords.

Having your business’s website appearing on the first page also creates a feeling in the consumers mind that your business is a well-respected brand that is highly authoritative in its industry.

It is often thought that applying SEO best practices to a website is a highly technical skill that only a trained expert can implement. If you continue to read this blog, I will show you exactly how easy it is to implement the most important SEO best practices to your own business’s website, dramatically increasing its position in the search engine result pages in the process.

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By Josh Hamit @hamit