Why Do We Need SEO?

This is what your traffic numbers would be like if you use SEO, and if you don’t.

You may think that being listed on the 2nd or 3rd page is good enough.

But the truth is, “virtually no search visibility is considered” by then.

With SEO, it’s not just about ranking #1 on Google. It’s about ranking at the top, relevant to what users are searching for.

For your website to rank higher in Google’s pages, your content has to be seen as very relevant (through Google’s eyes), to justify the price that you paid to get your website designed in Singapore.

There are many ways you can stay relevant.

For more information about SEO and how it’s done, you can read  The Small Business Owner’s Guide to SEO in Singapore, or The Advanced Guide To SEO in Singapore for more in-depth information.

Before I continue telling you about how SEO helps your business, let me clear 3 common myths.

3 Myths About SEO

1. Quantity Over Quality

No.

Stuffing as many links and keywords as you can will not push you up to the top ranks.

Yes, that was the case in the past, but it is no longer that simple.

Link building and keywords still remain important, but not on its own at least.

Google’s algorithm in calculating a website’s SERP (search engine result page) relies on factors such as the content of your website, meta tags, and social signals as well.

The relevance of all these factors mentioned are taken into consideration.

Thus, you could work wonders with just a few quality links for example.

You may go ahead and try your luck in spamming links, but do it at your own risk!

2. Content Over Social Media

Yeah, content is King, but who is going to see your wonderful content if you don’t promote it?

If you’re not riding on the social media trend, you’ll be losing out on a lot of its opportunities that you can benefit from:

• Building your authority among many different platforms that aids Google in discovering and indexing you.
• Increased visibility and traffic to you as more and more people are using social media on a daily basis.
• Content distribution has significantly moved towards social media platforms, contributing to effective link building.

3. You Only Need To Do SEO Once

There is a misconception of SEO being relatively easy.

Many of us just want the fast route out.

Yeah, some may argue that SEO can be done in a few weeks, but it takes some time to master it.

SEO involves the posting of new content, optimizing those pages, constant improvement of your website structure, attract links and subsequently drive traffic.

That being said, it’s an investment of time, money and resources – a continuous process that you can’t stop as and when you like.

With no consistency, you’ll have link degradation (rotting links), and outdated content which is neither good for your SEO nor your users.

You will also be missing out on Google’s evolving algorithms and get left behind by your competitors.

8 Ways How SEO Helps Your Business

Increased Awareness

“SEO for the sake of ranking will not deliver as well as SEO with the intent to increase brand awareness”.

One of the major factors leading to organic clicks is brand awareness – that comes with being ranked above your competitors.

You can also tailor your SEO approach to specific target audience, and have the right information to be available to the search engines; meeting your customers’ needs.

Better Rankings And User Experience

With SEO, you are automatically improving the user experience through optimizing your website that is better designed for the search engines.

That includes more relevant and quality content that will increase your chances in ranking top ranks and create better user experience.

With improved user experience, comes trust and higher conversion rates from its users.

Stand Out From Your Competitors

Many businesses are created ever so often, and most likely offering similar services to you.

Thus it is critical to stay ahead of the game, and SEO would give you that complete edge by ranking you at the top of the page.

Higher Close Rates Than Outbound, Paid Media and Self-Sourced Leads

Inbound practices (including SEO) naturally become the primary source of leads for any company; from B2B, B2C, to non-profit organizations.

This is most likely due to the fact that people would naturally trust their own judgement and choice (having to come across your page on Google’s results page) rather than being interrupted and persuaded into something (intrusive ads).

Thus, you should leverage on inbound practices such as SEO.

Ranking in Google Search Leads to Increased Visits and Sales

Based on Moz’s research findings, the table above shows the difference in clicks between those ranked from the top to the bottom of the first page, and subsequently the following pages – amounting to 71.33% of the clicks occurring in page 1 only!

You’re completely losing out on a significant amount of traffic just by missing that one rank up to the first page; affecting your online presence.

Additionally, with increased relevance and quality search, sales are more likely to occur as consumers’ needs are met.

Increased Credibility Of The Brand

Google is very particular when it comes to rankings, and thus makes it difficult for businesses to rank up.

As a search engine with the highest amount of traffic, it is deemed as the most trusted source for research.

To be ranked as the top 5 in Google indicates that you have high quality content.

And just by being able to be on the 1st page of Google will give people the perception that you are a key player in the industry.

Otherwise, people naturally create assumptions like “you’re a new business”, “you’re not well known” or “they can’t afford the budget”.

Tap On The Trend Of Consumers Researching Products Online Before Going To The Store

Findings from GE Capital Retail Bank showed that “81% of shoppers research and compare products online before making a local purchase”.

With the adoption of mobile phones, consumers are also actively researching on products on-the-go as well.

With this, it is important that your business would be able get the first page rankings to be easily found.

Google Organic Search Are The Highest Quality Leads

With Google, you are able to evaluate your strategy through analyzing your rankings, traffic and conversions.

This also includes looking at information on the demographics and other engagement metrics used in your website.

Thus, you would be able to measure your ROI and effectively target the right users that are likely to convert to leads for your business.

Conclusion

There are way too many articles about SEO these days that there is no excuse for you to miss out on such an opportunity.

So fight a the misconceptions and myths, and do SEO right!

There is so much your business can gain from doing SEO.