What is SEO?
And why do I need it?
80%
95%
What is SEO and why do I need it?
of web searchers prefer Google
of clicks come from the first page of search results
Take a moment and think about the last time you wanted to learn or buy something online. If your first instinct is to head to Google, you're in good company: 80% of searchers prefer it. How often do you click an advertisement or head beyond the first page of results? As the first page of search results earns over 95% of clicks, it's a smart idea to make sure your site appears in those results when your customers are looking.
2.8%
Only
of searchers click on ads
How often do you click an advertisement or head beyond the first page of results? Data shows that results that aren't ads (known as "organic" results) earn twenty times as much traffic as paid ads; across all US searches, only 2.8% of searchers click on ads.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is dedicated to guiding web searchers to your site naturally (no ads required) on sites like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
What makes SEO so difficult?
Getting more people on your site doesn't mean much if those visitors aren't qualified. For SEO to work really well, you need to guide the right searchers to your site, and make sure you offer the answer they were searching for.��Here's an example. If someone were looking to buy a new pair of sneakers, you wouldn't expect them to show up at your cupcake shop and spend any money. Maybe they'll be in the mood for a cupcake at some point, but that's not what's on their mind—right now, they want shoes. You wouldn't chase them down the street and beg them to buy your cupcakes.
What makes SEO so difficult?
The same idea applies to people visiting your website: your site shouldn't show up on Google for people searching unrelated topics. You want to spend your time and money attracting the people most likely to become customers; it's efficient, smart, and just good business. A good SEO strategy is tailored to your business goals, builds trust in your brand, and supports almost every other aspect of marketing. You could plaster advertisements on every billboard in your city, but if your website doesn't show up when people open up their phone and search for you, that ad spend is wasted.��It isn't impossible to learn SEO and DIY it, but it is a full-time job and requires a huge amount of self-education to implement it, keep up with industry trends and changes, and measure the success of your efforts.
SEO is unique.
Traditional marketing is focused on outbound messaging. You craft a message, distribute it to likely targets, and hope the people seeing your advertisement are in the right frame of mind to make a purchase.��Digital ads do the same thing as traditional print ads—they're just online.
SEO is unique in that it invites potential customers into your world—it doesn't interrupt theirs. By optimizing your site to be the answer that appears on Google when they're on the hunt for information, you're focusing on a form of marketing that speaks to a highly relevant audience—an audience that looks at your brand with intent, rather than boredom or irritation.
How does SEO support my marketing efforts?
SEO works to increase your site traffic and brand authority by inviting highly interested visitors to explore your pages. Generally speaking, depending on the business goals you're chasing and the customer intent you're targeting, those interested visitors are more likely to convert by making a purchase or becoming a lead.
Beyond reaching people who are ready to purchase, practicing good SEO will help searchers unaware of your brand prepare to become customers in the future. It's an incredibly powerful tool in that it can target people at any stage of the marketing funnel.
77%
of consumers are positively influenced by online search.
Online search is almost twice as likely to have a positive impact on purchasing decisions as traditional ads.
SEO also plays nicely with practically every other marketing effort you invest in. Searchers who see your brand in the organic results are more likely to click on your ads; searchers who see your outbound efforts like direct mail or hear your radio spots can find you easily online.
Source: Consumer Survey Reveals the Efficacy of Inbound vs. Outbound (https://moz.com/blog/consumer-survey-reveals-the-efficacy-of-inbound-vs-outbound
How does it work, and what am I paying for?
Good SEO spans a number of different disciplines and requires a wide variety of skills: technical requirements to ensure your site can be found online, a deep understanding of your target customer, a talent for content creation and development, strategic planning and execution, and more. The search engines that determine where your site ranks in the results run on incredibly complex algorithms; the secret to unlocking your site's potential lies in matching those algorithms with equally complex problem solving.
How does it work, and what am I paying for?
SEO isn’t a one-and-done task. It's an ongoing process that supports your site for the duration of its existence, a process that will differ widely from business to business and site to site. It's as unique to your own business as your mission statement or your quarterly goals, and deserves the same level of care and consideration if you want it to be effective.
How does it work, and what am I paying for?
An SEO specialist will oversee and execute various tasks:
How does SEO make me money?
Keyword search volume
CTR
Conversion rate
Conversion value
ROI
This is the estimate of how many people are searching a phrase per month.
Click Through Rate is an estimate of how many clicks a search result will get. Results higher on the first page of the SERPs tend to have a higher CTR.
Percentage rating of how many people tend to convert to customers or leads on your site.
The dollar value you place on how much a single conversion is worth.
A 2015 survey showed that over 93% of respondents searched online for information about a company or product in the prior week. That's a lot of opportunity for a brand to harness. ��You'll likely encounter some version of this calculation to help you visualize the potential return on investment of SEO:
How does SEO make me money?
10,000
.13
.0235
$100
$3,055
Keyword search volume
CTR
Conversion rate
Conversion value
ROI
According to this calculation, if you put time and effort behind your SEO, you could potentially earn $3,055 per month by ranking for a single high-purchase-intent query. Multiply that by every product you sell, and you’ll start to understand the powerful impact organic search can have on your revenue.
It’s not quite as simple as that, though.
Search results are volatile, subject to changes Google might make or to competitors applying their own aggressive SEO strategy. The presence of other SERP features, such as ads or rich answers, can also impact the estimated click-through rate, as can brand authority, direct advertising efforts, the difference between mobile and desktop search results, and more.��Any calculation that purports to show you the actual revenue you'll receive as a result of SEO efforts should be taken with a grain of salt. There are endless factors influencing rankings, and it requires an expert's close attention to keep up with them. Having an agile SEO strategy that can roll with the punches and grow alongside your site over time is the best way to safeguard the revenue you'll earn from SEO.
It’s not quite as simple as that, though.
Each and every business will have a unique experience with SEO, and estimations for ROI are often just clever guesses. Earning quality site traffic will almost surely bolster your business's bottom line, but think of it this way: when was the last time you thought about the ROI of billboards, TV ads, or direct mail? There are correlations to show that those outbound advertising efforts likely work, but it's hard to assign a specific number to how much money they've earned you.
What are some red flags I should watch out for?
When it comes to SEO, anything that sounds too good to be true is often a reason to do a double-take and reassess the situation. Here are a few common warning signs to watch out for.
Guaranteed results.
The lasting success of a good SEO strategy depends on too many variables to promise specifics results. If someone claims they’ll definitely rank your keywords in a certain position on Google, then they aren’t being honest with you.
Claiming to know secret optimization techniques.�
While good SEO isn’t easy, it’s an open and well-researched field. Anyone who claims they can achieve results for you but can’t or won’t explain how should be approached with suspicion.
Guaranteed revenue.�
There are lots of calculations that can help predict the impact of SEO on your bottom line, but it’s a volatile field, subject to sudden changes by Google and the constant improvements your competitors make to their own sites.
What’s next?
Now that you've got a good handle on what SEO is and how it can work to support your business, you'll want to make a decision. Is it something you can handle yourself? There are no shortcuts to success when it comes to SEO, so make sure you’re able to commit resources and time to doing it right.��Running your business is a full-time job and you may not have the bandwidth to wear another hat. If that’s the case, it’s a good idea to consider hiring an SEO agency to develop and maintain a search strategy for your site. We can help—let’s talk about what you need and how we can get you there.
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