SEO. You’ve heard the term, you know it has something to do with marketing, but you’re still not quite sure why your business should worry about it. Is SEO important? Do you even need it?

Whether your business is large and national or small and local, SEO—search engine optimization—is a huge part of making sure your company is marketable. But, what exactly is SEO, and what is it used for? Well, today we’re going to find out.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimization—a set of guidelines a website can follow in order to optimize it for search engines, thus improving the website’s rankings. This means the better your website’s SEO, the higher you will be on a search engine’s rankings list. 

Take Google for instance. When you use Google to search a topic online, its search engine looks through every website to try and find something meeting that criteria, then compiles a list of the most relevant material. The better optimized your website is, the more likely you are to be at the top of that list, and the more likely you are to get traffic on your website. 

Why is it important?

• Provides Credibility 
  When consumers search for material online, they trust sources which appear towards the top of a search engine ranking. The farther down the list they go, the less credible sources seem. If your business appears at the top of these lists, consumers will trust your company.

• Boosts Traffic
  While website traffic itself doesn’t increase your business earnings, it does increase the probability of earnings. When your website is closer to the top of search engines, your business will receive more traffic, in return increasing the number of customers.

• Has a High ROI
  Like many internet marketing strategies, SEO has a high return on investment. Unlike traditional marketing and advertisements, SEO is an inbound marketing strategy, meaning you only market to people who are looking for your products or service. You don’t have to first convince them they need your product, you just have to convince them your business is the best. This means for a small initial investment, your business can continue to get returns long after.

• Gives Customer Insight
  With an SEO analytics tool, your business can receive valuable insight on what your customers are searching, how they browse, their word choice, when they’re most active, the region they live in, everything. When SEO gives your business information such as this, you can continue to use it in other marketing strategies, both online and off.

How can you apply it?

Your company can start utilizing SEO right now! Many marketing companies offer SEO programs and materials your business can use to boost search engine rankings. Whether it’s on your website, blog or downloadable materials, SEO can be applied throughout your online presence to increase your rankings.

When it comes to marketing online for your small business, be sure to consider and take advantage of search engine optimization. When your company proves to be at the top of its field (and the top of the search list) your website traffic will increase and your business will grow because of it.