Why is SEO Important?

If you’re a small business owner, SEO for your website might be the last thing on your mind.

After all, small businesses face a lot of challenges right out of the gate. They don’t have a solid stream of revenue yet, and they’re typically fighting to hold onto a reliable customer base. Big companies can easily poach those customers and convert them every step of the way. To combat the forces working against them, small business owners must have a solid grasp on their marketing options and use every tactic available to be successful — and that definitely includes SEO.

In the past, it might have been enough to simply hand out fliers on the street. It was the cheapest way to get the word out fast, and it was even pretty effective. Today, you won’t hear businesses shouting on the street corners, and that’s because we’ve found far more effective ways to reach wider audiences.

SEO Today

In our modern world, we’ve gone digital — and the cost-effective way to spread the word online is search engine optimization (SEO). This is the practice of optimizing your website so that it has a better chance of being found when someone does a search through major search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing.

SEO isn’t always top-of-mind for business owners when they create a beautiful website, however. They simply put the web address on their business cards and they’re ready to rock, right? Search engines will automatically recognize it, won’t they?

Nope! Websites like Google, Yahoo, and Bing have algorithms that filter through thousands upon thousands of websites to determine what is relevant to a user’s search. If your website doesn’t contain anything that will get picked up by these algorithms, your odds of being found by a user are slim to none.

The Impact of SEO

This might not seem like a big deal because other marketing methods can have quick turnarounds, while SEO is a long-term strategy. Though this may be true, many of these tactics lead to internet searches for business’s names. If the website is not optimized, searchers will have a hard time finding your website. These days, if a user can’t find your website, they’ll simply use another business that they found in the search results instead.

It happens all the time.

So, how do you fix this issue and get your website at the top of users’ searches? Consulting an SEO expert is a good place to start. They will tell you what is currently preventing your website from appearing in search results and what changes you can make.

Patience is Key with SEO

Keep in mind that SEO is a long-game marketing tactic. It can take weeks, or even months, for optimizations to take full effect and enable consumers to find your company’s website. If your business is established, you can optimize your website to improve your search results quickly, but if you haven’t opened your business yet, consider layering in SEO during the build-out of your website. This will give your business the best chance to rank quickly for your key market terms.