Search Engine Optimization, SEO in short, is become a must-have strategy for all businesses worldwide. Not investing in good SEO is equivalent to conceding to your competition and handing them over your market.
Considering that 81% of search engine users search for a product or service, it is no longer a choice
but a necessity for all businesses to be found for what they offer.
Data fromWearesocial Via Global Web Index Datareportal
Here is how the competition is beating you to the precious client’s pocket if you are not doing SEO in Kenya right now.
Most businesses have a budget for marketing, and sometimes it is so refined, that it is a percentage of the revenue they generate.
Compared to conventional marketing, SEO is waay cheaper and provides a much higher return on investment. When well done, the benefits of SEO last even for years.
To put this in real terms, SEO is like owning a property then renting it, but marketing is like leasing property then subleasing it. With SEO, you get more returns for your investment, over a longer period of time.
#2. Your Competiton Gives Customers A Better Experience
Search Engine Optimization is not only about getting people to click and come to your website, it is also about having them take the desired action.
Actually, good SEO is more than just how well a website or a brand gets found on search engines, but also how well the traffic they attract gets served on their website.
Websites that load fast, resolve well on different devices and are easy to read and navigate, tend to hold the attention of visitors longer and get them to become clients, returning visitors, and subscribers.
Here is a sample of the metrics that go into good SEO. Notice how high on the list user experience is (time on site, pages per session, and bounce rate).
Data from SEMRush
Isn’t that a bummer? On top of getting more prospects that you, they also get to close more?. That is simply because traffic from SEO is what is termed as warm or hot traffic.
This is because people click on search engine results with the intent of transacting. They are looking when they are ready to buy. 81% of search engine queries are for products or services.
This means people are out there looking for your products or services but it is the competitor who is serving them.
#4 Your Competition Is Future Proof
If there was a way you could future proof your business, would you invest in it?. That is exactly what SEO does for a business.
SEO is a very dynamic field, Google, the largest search engine with over 70% share of the traffic this year, changes it’s ranking algorithm thousands of times annually.
If you are already doing SEO for your business, you are well adapted to make the adjustments that allow you to still rank well in search engine results.
SEO helps websites build brand authority and credibility with search engines and thus potential clientele tend to trust them more.
Websites with a clean and efficient user experience, easy to navigate and that is full of relevant products or services enables a website to be classified as trustworthy by search engines. Just like trust in the real world, it takes time and consistency to build.
Therefore the best time to invest in SEO was last year, but the ext best time is now.
I should probably have started with this point. This is because this is the biggest factor in search engine ranking.
There is a saying, that if you want to kill someone and be sure they wont be found, just bury them on page 2 of Google search results.
A recent study shows that the first three organic search rankings result in nearly 40% of all click throughs. If you are not familiar with the technical terms in this article, maybe you can start with this blog to brush up on the terms.
This means that being on page 1 of search engine results is a sure way to get a lion’s share of organic traffic.
Local Search, is a relatively new field of SEO, born by the increased use of mobile devices. Local SEO aims to make your business findable in the locality where it is situated.
SEO pros do this by optimizing the brand’s website and its content, including local citations and back links, as well as local listings relevant to the location and business sector a brand belongs to.
To promote engagement on the local level, SEO pros optimize a brand’s Knowledge Graph panel, its Google My Business listing, and its social media profiles as a start.
User reviews on Google and other sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor and Home Advisor provide Local SEO with oomph.
Considering over 99% of internet users are on mobile, then Local SEO is the next big thing in SEO implementation that has to be on point.
Customers will continue to search for your product or service. That’s one of the biggest advantages of the internet from a buyer perspective. The question is, are they finding you or your competitor?
Brands that make use of SEO will be the biggest winners in this.
Feel free to reach out to me on info@nathanielndegwa.com for a free SEO analysis and report. I promise to get you set up and running in the competitive space of Search Engine Optimization.