16 Reasons Why SEO Is Important for Your Business in 2022

Do you ever look on the third page of Google when you need to find something? Most likely, you never go that far in your search. And so do most people – which is why SEO is so important. In short, Search Engine Optimization is the process you need to increase your website’s visibility.

For most businesses, being on the first page of search results means standing up over competitors. On average, people make over 40,000 search queries every second – more than 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion per year. As a matter of fact, Google is the most visited website ever. But, if you think about it, how many times do you use Bing or Yahoo for your search?

Since its first appearance in 1997, Google is the first option to research and purchase a product or service. However, the search stops on the first page. At least, that’s the truth for 90% of respondents in the Searchengineland report.

If you are running an online business, and your audience can’t find you between the results on the first page, you lose customers. As easy as that.

But if you are still wondering why is SEO important, here are 16 reasons why you should start to work for your business:

What Is SEO?

As we said, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. To put it simply,  it’s the process of improving your webpage to increase your online visibility. The better your SEO is, the more people will find you doing their online searches.

Search engines use bots to scroll among thousands of web pages and give the most relevant answer to search queries. If your content is relevant for the search engine, your page will show up in the first index results. SEO is an essential strategy for digital marketing because it allows you to build your online authority and grow your audience – transforming your leads into buyers.

The Significance of SEO in Website Design

When talking about SEO, there is another thing to consider: the significance of SEO in web design. If your website is unclear, or not mobile-friendly, people will likely leave the page and purchase a similar product elsewhere. The design of your home page matters as much as marketing and SEO strategies. We have been talking about the importance of attracting new visitors. But you also want to keep them on your site and purchase your products.

From the sizes of your images to tags, features, and colors, any element of your website must support the user experience. Visual appealing helps your ranking and keeps your visitors engaged and active on your page.

Why Is SEO Important For Your Business

1. Increase Organic Traffic

When you run an online business or an eCommerce, your first goal is to attract people to your website. The more people visit your page, the more new customers are likely to purchase your products and services. Considering that 53% of website traffic comes from organic search, SEO is your most effective tool to attract customers.

Source: Sistrix

If your website ranks for relevant keywords, the more traffic you’ll receive. This is why you need SEO to end up on the first page on Google. Just consider that the first results on Google search have a 28.5% click-through rate. And if you pass the tenth result, the rate drops to 2.5%.

2. Brand Authority

SEO doesn’t only help with organic traffic but also with the brand authority. People tend to trust more websites appearing on the first Google page of Google, and just a few carry on their research on the second page – to be exact, less than 1% of searchers look for links on the second page.

Source: Backlinko

Generally speaking, people trust the first results to answer their query and eventually to purchase a product. Therefore, unless you are an established brand like Amazon or eBay, you must work to appear between the first results. Most likely, new customers will find you typing specific keywords rather than your brand. And if people start to see your page at the top of their searches providing helpful information, they will trust your brand and purchase on your site.

3. Target Audience

As we said, potential customers are likely to find you searching on Google. Using SEO to target specific keywords means to target your audience and attract real potential customers. For example, you have an eCommerce of sustainable clothing. Using keywords related to zero waste style of life, you can attract a niche audience that will likely come back to your page for more information.

Building your brand awareness also means targeting ideal customers, creating an audience that will rely on your page for certain products and services. And they will likely come back to your page for more information and purchase the products they need from you. With the right SEO strategy, you can specifically target your buyer persona and grow your business over time.

4. User Experience

To make SEO strategies effective, your website needs to have optimized content to facilitate your users’ navigation. Improving your user experience will help you keep visitors on your page. If people stay a long time on your page, SEO bots will see your page as relevant, increasing your ranking. And, more importantly, it will increase your sales.

Source: Databox

As a matter of fact, 70% of marketers think that SEO is better than paid advertisement at driving sales. Optimizing content also means branding your company. People can relate to your web design, attracting better leads that are more likely to convert into paying customers.

5. The Research/Buying Cycle

SEO supports your business goals at a better ROI. As we just mentioned, SEO-generated leads have a 14.6% close rate, and outbound leads, like direct mail or print advertising, only a 1.7% close rate.

With the right strategy, you can attract potential buyers looking for better deals or new products. Using keywords and long-tail keywords, you can end up where your customers are searching. Once you are a stable presence in their research, you can direct their buying cycle to your page.

6. Offline Sales

Source: Think with Google

Another reason why SEO is important is that it helps with offline sales. You won’t be surprised to hear that people often check shop websites before going physically in there to purchase an item. In addition, they use Google to compare prices, local businesses, check inventory, and, more importantly, read reviews. In the last few years, these online search queries that used to take place in a shop increased by 15%. So, a solid SEO strategy helps both online and offline sales.

7. Local SEO

Source: Brightlocal

Local SEO means optimizing your content for location-specific search. Search engines also look to the user’s location to determine what to show the user. For example, you are optimizing your online page for your takeaway deliveries. Targeting only food-specific keywords will make harder the process of improving your ranking. Using local SEO, you have a better chance of appearing in the first results when people search for takeaways in their location. Local search is one of the most effective strategies to grow your business in specific areas. With Local optimizations, local citations, and backlinks, you can target neighborhoods, cities, or regions targeting your target audience based on their local habits.

8. Measuring

SEO is measurable and quantifiable. You can follow your customer’s purchases and adjust your strategy to increase your leads using tracking and analytics software. In addition, with tools like Google Search Console, you can examine which keywords are driving traffic. Thanks to this analysis, your marketing team can work on these data and improve your campaigns connecting with more customers.

9. Long-term Strategy

Usually, SEO shows the first tangible result within the first year. As a long-term strategy, it allows you to grow your brand awareness with your audience. Even when the market changes, your online presence will keep attracting new visitors. Besides  keywords and  long-tail keywords, you can improve your strategy with:

• Natural links
• Positive user behavior.
• Machine-learning signals
• Optimized on-page elements and content

Over time, your marketing team can build effective strategies at the core of your campaigns contributing to your company’s growth.

10. Understanding Your Audience

Understanding your audience means finding the right key to communicate to them your mission and products. SEO helps you understand your audience by targeting the right keywords. Further, it’s one of the most effective tools to analyze market trends and shift to follow your audience’s actions. SEO data and formats give you a clear idea of purchasing habits and user behavior. Using search query data, SERP analysis, analytics data, and AI insights, you can promote your products and services based on your audience preferences.

11. Avoid Unnecessary Marketing Tactics

As we said, SEO works better than a paid advertisement in many cases. A long-term strategy allows you to know your customers and create plans based on their needs. Rather than investing too much money on sales and ads on Social Media, you can find new visitors with quality content and valuable information. As a result, you can grow your brand awareness and create a loyal audience that will share your content promoting your products and services.

12. Faster Loading

Did you know that 40% of visitors leave a webpage if it takes over three seconds to load? If you didn’t, it’s a crucial factor to consider. Remember when we said that how long visitors spend time on your page impacts your ranking? If people leave your website after a couple of seconds, SEO will think that your page is irrelevant. After all, slow loading time results in a bad user experience. Speeding up your page by optimizing your content improves not only the user experience but also your conversion rates.

Since Google has rolled out core web vitals update, the website’s page speed has become one of the important ranking factors that website owners needed to consider.

13. Stand Out From Your Competitors

Any business has competitors. And to stand out from them, good products aren’t enough. You must ensure that people know about you. Especially for small businesses, SEO is a great tool to compete with more giant corporations. You can build effective and authentic strategies based on your costumes’ analytic data by avoiding paid ads and expensive campaigns. Even with lower traffic, you can create a solid and loyal customer base that will share reviews and comments about your products.

14. Grow With Global Search

As well as working on your local SEO, you can think global. Especially after the pandemic, eCommerce and online businesses had the chance to widen their audience worldwide. Consider that researchers estimate the global SEO services market to reach a value of almost $103. 24 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 20%. Especially if you target a niche market, you can expand your target audience, not in terms of number but geographic expansion. You can target different countries. Your team can slowly grow your online presence in different continents based on your visitors’ actions using specific keywords.

15. Invest For the Future

As we already said, SEO is a long-term strategy and an ongoing process. Investing in SEO strategies means waiting between six and nine months for tangible results. However, once your plan is set up, you can rely on free traffic and a niche audience. Indeed, with paid ads, you can reach more people faster. But just a few of them will stick with your products if your brand is all about pushing sales.

From a long-run perspective, SEO strategies can guarantee you a loyal customer base that not only will stick with your products but will share your content as useful information with others.

16. Save Your Money

Last but not least, SEO is an affordable and effective way to grow your business and online presence. Firstly, you can analyze your customers’ behavior. When you receive traffic on your site, you can check visitors’ actions and adjust your promotion based on them. Secondly,  You can also examine what your competitors are doing, which keywords are targeting, and their strategies. Your team can learn from their success and mistakes, finding the right approach for your product. And once you start ranking, you will have a solid niche audience that will help you increase your brand awareness and stand out from competitors.

Wrapping Up

Investing in a great development team and SEO strategies are the pillars to grow a solid and successful website. However, there is another reason why SEO is important. In the last couple of years, people spent most of their time online. As their queries show, customers are more likely to purchase when a business provides valuable information than just selling a product. So, even if it will take you time, find authentic content and optimize your website to be visible to your audience!

About the Author

Costanza Tagliaferri is a Writer and Content Marketer at  Thinkremote.com , a news media platform about the joys and challenges of remote work. She has covered a wide range of topics, and now she is focusing on technology, traveling, and remote work.