The Importance of SEO for Business Growth In 2021

Contrary to popular belief, SEO is anything but an outdated concept. As the world’s reliance on the major search engines continues to grow, so too does the importance of an effective SEO strategy.

In order to stand any real chance of keeping up with your competitors, you need to show SEO the priority it deserves. The SEO landscape may have changed over the years, but an investment in organic search marketing can be just as beneficial today as it has ever been.

Primarily, there are five ways you stand to benefit from a strategic investment in SEO in 2021:

1. Essential Visibility

SEO continues to play a role in the visibility and prominence of all online brands and businesses. It is worth remembering that the vast majority of online traffic (more than 95%) is directed by the major search engines. Unless your SEO is up to scratch, this is all traffic that will be channelled elsewhere; it is something that is unlikely to change at any point in the near future, so is worth focusing on right now.

2. Google’s Increasingly Sophisticated Algorithm

Google has made remarkable improvements to its algorithm over the years, resulting in an online search system that is capable of analysing and interpreting websites in incredible detail. No longer is it possible to get away with a rudimentary SEO strategy that only covers the basics, unless every inch of your website is effectively optimised for SEO, you will be overtaken in the rankings by your competitors.

3. Keywords Are Still Everything

If you can rank prominently for relevant keywords, you are doing well; keywords are everything when it comes to online search, irrespective of how they are used. Every web user in the world conducts countless searches every day using keywords and search terms of relevance to their requirements. Competition is ferocious, but getting it right with your keyword selection/implementation strategy can pave the way for incredible reward.

4. SEO Creates Better User Experience

Or at least, effective SEO that complies with Google’s guidelines creates a better user experience. Today, the major search engines allocate rankings exclusively on the basis of the UX and the quality of the site in question. Striving for SEO greatness is not about appealing to machines; it is about creating a flawless user experience Google can confidently recommend. The days of ‘tricking’ crawlers into showing preference to your site are over. Today, it is all about the quality of the UX.

5. An Improved Digital Marketing ROI

An investment in strategic SEO can boost your digital marketing ROI for two reasons. Firstly, successful search marketing is renowned for generating an outstanding ROI in its own right. Secondly, much of what contributes to a successful SEO strategy can be conducted and managed in-house for free;  publishing quality content, outreach for link building purposes, multi-channel promotion of your most important pages, all easy to take care of yet immensely valuable as part of an SEO strategy.