When you pay for a website, you get to see your vision come to life. When you invest in marketing collateral, you get to see and feel the finished assets in your hand—professionally written and perfectly on-brand with your business. But with something like search engine optimization (SEO), you’re paying for an intangible product—something that provides results, but not something that you can physically see.
Because SEO is an intangible marketing service, it’s hard for many B2B businesses to see why it’s necessary. Why should a portion of their budget go towards SEO services? Is it worth it? First, let’s take a closer look at SEO, what it is, and why it’s important.
What Is SEO and Why Is it important?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic through a variety of marketing tactics. Driving more traffic to your website will ultimately help you to convert more website visitors into leads and turn those leads into your customers. In short, SEO is a great way to increase revenue and grow your business.
Optimizing your website may involve a variety of activities including adding content, editing and updating content, modifying HTML, performing indexing activities, link building, and more. Typically, digital strategists and content creators work together to optimize a website to rank well in a search engine.
Here are the top 10 reasons why SEO makes sense for your B2B business.
1. SEO increases your website traffic
Say goodbye to the days of only receiving leads through word of mouth or referral. With SEO services, new customers find your business on their own simply by searching for what you offer. If you aren’t currently optimizing your website, SEO can open up an entirely new avenue of lead generation. The best part? Website leads are already looking for what you offer, you just have to sell them on working with you. If you want to get organic traffic to your website, SEO is the way.
2. Organic search is the primary source of web traffic
Organic traffic is the traffic on your website that comes from visitor searches on different search engines. The best way to increase your organic traffic is through SEO. The more you optimize your website, the more your website will appear as a top-ranking page in search engines for specific keywords.
Why is it so important to increase organic traffic with SEO? There are many reasons, one of the biggest being that organic search is the primary driver of website traffic to business sites. If you’re relying on word-of-mouth and social media to promote your website, this is not enough. The number one thing that will drive more traffic to your business website is SEO.
3. Good B2B SEO makes the sales cycle shorter
We’ve already established that SEO helps more users to find your business online, but this isn’t the only advantage. When users search for a product or service online and land on your website, they are already looking for what you offer, you just have to sell them on working with you. Unlike B2B appointment setting, you aren’t reaching out to people who may have no interest in buying at that time, SEO services bring customers to you who are ready to buy.
A good SEO strategy makes the sales cycle shorter because you don’t have to sell people on working with you. Users will find you organically and have all the information they need to make an informed decision and ultimately complete a conversion or engagement on their own.
4. A good SEO strategy builds trust and credibility
The goal of SEO is not only to drive more visitors to your site but to establish a strong foundation for a beautiful website that is easy to navigate and offers a great user experience. People trust Google. If your website shows up on the first page of a search (a result of great SEO), you instantly gain credibility from a user. You can establish even more credibility with great content and optimized on-page elements.
5. Most consumers research before making a purchase
A strong SEO strategy is essential for any size business. Studies show that between 70 to 80% of people research a company online before visiting the business or making a purchase with them. If your competitor is outranking you and has a better reputation in a search engine, they could be winning a lot of business. With a better strategy, these could be new customers for your business.
6. Good SEO means a better user experience
Every business wants to rank well in search engines and increase their organic traffic, but very few realize that optimal user experience is a huge part of getting there. While there are many factors that play into SEO—great content, backlinks, website speed, and so on, user experience is definitely one of them.
Google is incredibly intelligent and has learned how to interpret whether sites offer a good user experience or poor user experience. A positive user experience is critical for website success.
Here are a few factors that influence user experience (UX):
- Content is useful and satisfies user intent for the search
- The site is easy to use and navigate
- You must establish yourself as credible to readers
- Make your website desirable (focus on image, identity, brand, and other design elements)
When optimizing your website, user experience should be a top priority.
7. Local SEO = increased traffic and conversions
Local search has become a fundamental part of small to medium-sized businesses’ success. Local SEO focuses on optimizing a business’s online presence so that its web pages will be displayed by search engines when users enter locations for its product or services.
For example: “SEO services in St. Louis”
Local optimization focuses on specific towns, cities, regions, and states to establish a reputation for a brand at a local level. If you want to promote your business at a local level, local SEO can be a huge help.
8. Win the click against competitors and stay top of mind
Your business needs SEO for the simple fact that it can help you outrank competitors. When you get more clicks, you win more business and increase your revenue. If people are searching for the product or service you offer, you want them to come to your business, not someone else’s. Optimizations help you win the click against competitors and stay top of mind with prospects who are in the market for what you offer.
9. A B2B SEO strategy is cheaper than paid advertising
Sure, SEO services cost money, but they’re actually relatively cheap when compared to other services. Plus, while it may take time to see results, the payoff is well worth it. Not only will you improve your brand’s image with a beautifully designed website and great content, but you’ll also see an increase in website traffic. You shouldn’t see SEO as a cost, but more as an investment that will add value to your business for years to come..
10. SEO continuously produces results
With great SEO, you’ll consistently see web traffic increase over time, something that you can’t achieve with paid advertising. Paid advertising offers a quick fix, a way to generate leads in a pinch, whereas SEO is more of a long term strategy. You can write a great blog today and still be seeing the impact of it years later. The more time, effort, and budget that is committed to SEO, the longer a website will be a force to reckon with in its market.
Bottom line and the number one reason you should care about SEO— it works. If you want to see the true value of a strong SEO strategy, trust a team of experts with your content and optimization needs.
Abstrakt Marketing Group helps businesses get found online with SEO services, helping them to increase top of mind awareness with customers in their target demographic. Are you ready to grow your business and drive more traffic to your website? Contact our team today!
