SMB Corner: Essential SEO Benefits for Small Businesses

Start-ups and small businesses can be hectic places to work. It seems like you have to do everything all at once, and there simply is not enough time in the day. More often than not, that means that you must prioritize certain operations over others. And though launching a website is often seen as an essential first step, developing and using a high-quality search engine optimization strategy might take a back seat.

An SEO agency is your best friend here. Rather than trying to learn all the intricacies of the various elements of SEO, you can simply discuss your goals with an expert and trust them to do the rest. In this article, we will show you some of the main benefits of SEO for small businesses, so that whatever you choose to do–work with an SEO agency or try this on your own–you know how important digital marketing is.

Want to learn more about the Digital Authority Partners approach to SEO? Watch this video!

First Off, What Is SEO?!

SEO is an acronym for search engine optimization! And while it is often used as a catch-all term for any number of digital marketing activities, at its core it’s about getting your web page as high as possible on the search engine rankings so that you increase the quantity and quality of the visitors to your pages.

That means that when a web user enters a query related to your business, industry, sector, product, or services into a search engine, your page pops up on the list of results, ideally at the top of the first page.

Why is SEO so important? Because a lot of searchers simply do not look beyond the first page  of search results. That means that if you are not ranking on page one, you are severely limiting the amount of traffic that you are exposed to.

Even if your business is not engaged in selling online, the chances are good that a significant portion of your customer base will come to you having found your web presence – because most consumers research purchases and services online before shortlisting and finalizing their transaction.

What Are the Benefits for Small Businesses?

Getting your SEO exactly right can not only increase the traffic to your business, but also act as a client pre-qualifier.

For example, If your company shows up in search results for queries that are not 100% appropriate to what you do, then you are getting traffic that you neither need nor want – and that could be harmful to your position. The more that the search engine algorithm sees users visit and then leave your site rapidly, the more it will consider your site to be either untrustworthy or without authority, both of which will see you lose position.

Getting your keywords exactly right, however, means that you will show up when you are actually a genuinely good result for the search intent. That means that the people that are visiting your site will be more likely to interact with what they find there – and then you can start working on perfecting that experience so that click-throughs become customers.

User Experience Is Key

That user experience is essential to helping not only establish your company as a good result in search engine algorithm terms but also in growing your business. Your business could be the single greatest result a user could ever wish to come across, but if your site loads slowly, is difficult to navigate, does not have a natural flow to the text, and is not secure, they will move on to the next result–and you just lost a customer.

Consider your web page user experience as your storefront. You would not open the doors to potential customers if your store was a mess and no one could find anything, so apply the same logic to your home and other landing pages. Make them as accessible, user-friendly, and attractive as possible – your conversion rates will almost immediately improve.

Other Benefits of SEO

SEO techniques can also have other beneficial effects on your business, particularly in the early stages of growth. Take, for example, social media and content marketing: two core parts of the SEO mix. Not only will these activities help your landing pages to soar up the rankings, but they will also extend your brand reach.

Ultimately the goal of SEO is technically to get your site ranked at the top of page one of Google results, but in reality, the point of it all is to get you as many customers as possible – so those followers on FaceBook and the people that are reading your blog pieces are a fantastic benefit of good SEO.

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Another benefit is that you will get immediate feedback from the marketplace. Because SEO is an ongoing activity that requires monitoring and management, you will be able to see how trends are changing almost in real-time and be positioned to adapt your business as necessary – whether that is something as simple as adjusting your approach to the market, or something potentially more complex like introducing a new product or changing up your supply chain.

Reacting faster than your competitors and with a response more in tune with what your customers want is a great way to stand out as a leader in your field – no matter how big your organization is.

In Summary

One of the primary benefits of SEO is that it does not have to break the bank. Great SEO–and digital marketing–take a lot of time and effort. And when you hire the services of an expert, you get a return on investment that is simply unfeasible in any other advertising or marketing discipline.

To find out more about SEO for small businesses, and to discuss your specific needs, get in touch with Digital Authority Partners. Our award-winning team has helped hundreds of businesses of all sizes and in a range of industries, and we can help you to reach your growth goals too.