Organic traffic is free
The main motivation for small businesses to adopt an SEO strategy is that organic searches, not paid advertising, will be the primary source of your traffic. Companies who pay for clicks have a large advertising budget. Small businesses need to get creative.
Most people stay on the first page
With organic traffic, people visit Google and type in questions or queries related to your product, service, or business. SEO helps your site appear on the first page of Google’s search engine results for selected keywords, alongside the paid ads.
This greatly increases the chances that the link to your page will be seen by people searching for those terms. Most people don’t look beyond the first page of the SERPs, so it’s a great benefit to your site if you can get on page 1.
More traffic means more sales
Increased traffic through organic search means higher conversions. This could mean more sales for your business, downloads of your free eBook, subscriptions to your newsletter, sign-ups, or whatever business goal you want SEO to help you achieve.
Higher ranking implies expertise
In addition to traffic, SEO is important for building trust and credibility. If your site appears in Google’s results, this tells people you’re a legit website that’s worth visiting. More people will see you online and this will help to frame you as an expert in your niche and a reliable source of the products and services you offer.
SEO research provides customer insights
Another benefit is that SEO helps you better understand your customer. Through keyword research, you’ll discover what problems your customers face and what questions they’re asking. Your website analytics will yield valuable insights that you can use to further refine your marketing strategy.
In the end, SEO helps you grow traffic and authority so that you can get more results for the effort you put into online marketing.