How businesses sell products to consumers has absolutely transformed over the past ten years. Traditional brick and mortar business models are falling by the wayside. Today, ecommerce reigns supreme. It also continues to grow at an exponential rate with no signs of slowing down. By the year 2020, it has been estimated that e-commerce will grow to the size of $2 trillion sales.
One thing that is essential to ecommerce success in this technological age is search engine optimization. Also known as SEO for short, search engine optimization allows consumers from all over the world to find your products or services. Its importance can’t be overstated. In fact, you should dedicate a good portion of your marketing budget to SEO. Below are a few reasons why.
Search Engines Are the Gateway to the Internet
Perhaps the biggest reason to invest in SEO is because search engines are the gateway to the internet. The vast majority of internet users use Google to find what they want on the internet. This totals to about 1.2 trillion searches per year. The remainder uses other search engines like Bing and Duckduckgo.
If you can’t be found near the top of search engine results for relevant search terms, you’re going to be out of luck. Chances are competitors will gobble up that business instead. Having strong SEO usually translates into a strong stream of revenue for your online store.
Search Engine Algorithms Are Constantly Evolving
Another reason why SEO requires a lot of attention is because it does not stand still. Instead, the methods and rules search engines use to rank websites in search results are always evolving. Google’s algorithms are certainly constantly being tweaked. Supposedly, Google makes 500 to 600 changes to how its algorithm works a year. That’s close to two changes a day.
For example, you may be aware that link building is an important element of what Google takes into account when creating search rankings. However, how Google counts links towards a website’s ranking has changed dramatically over the years. If you don’t acquire links correctly now, you could in fact be delisted from Google’s search engine entirely.
Google puts a lot emphasis on trying to thwart websites that think they are smarter than the Google algorithm. You need a more subtle and informed approach. Even then, what works today in regards to the algorithm could change by next month. Maintaining a strong ranking requires constant attention.
SEO Can Bring in a Local Audience
One false perception people have is that internet search is utterly generic in regards to physical location. This is certainly no longer the case. Today, search engines are more geared towards local search than ever before. 46 percent of Google searches regard local topics, businesses and things. That’s nearly half of those 1.2 trillion Google searches.
It is true that brick and mortar is beginning to fade. However, if you still do have a brick and mortar arm to your business, SEO can help give it a life line. If you integrate localized key words and key word phrases, your business will begin coming up towards the top of searches made in those locations. Searches performed on mobile devices are especially localized.
Even if your business has no online store at all, the internet is integral to finding it in today’s environment. Most people now look up local businesses before they choose where to shop and eat. Let’s face it. Even though food delivery apps are gaining in popularity, most people still want to venture outside their homes to eat once in a while. Certain kinds of businesses will remain brick and mortar. However, how consumers find those businesses has been completely digitized. Ignoring SEO in this case is still a huge mistake.
Conclusion
Overall, SEO is extremely important for doing business in the modern era. It’s extremely unlikely this will change anytime soon especially with how prevalent smartphones have become in people’s lives. Make sure to make the proper investment into SEO in your marketing budget.
