SEO is one of the most integral parts of contemporary businesses, but it is still highly misunderstood.

As a small business, if your website does not appear at the top of the search engine result page (SERP), it’s not fulfilling its purpose.

There is a massive amount of content on the Internet claiming that the potential of SEO has been saturated now.

You should include various forms of content to make sure your brand stands out. Read 4 Ways Video Can Improve Dentist Practice’s Dental SEO to learn how dental practices can utilize video content to improve search engine rankings.

Instead of focusing on contradicting opinions, you should leverage SEO for the growth of your small business by gathering the correct information.

There’s no alternative for constantly appearing in front of your customers.

When the same set of people see you repeatedly on the Internet for a query relevant to your industry, they form an image of you as a leader of the industry and a trustable company.

SEO is one way to get this done organically. Though it takes a little time to reflect the actual results, to be fair, the growth rate of your small business improves drastically.

Below are some of the reasons why you, as a small business, should consider investing in SEO.

Social Media Won’t Be Enough

Social media plays a prominent role in the small business marketing scene.

There are so many platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn that can produce effective results.

There’s no doubt why marketing experts recommend using these platforms.

However, when you look at the big picture, social media is never enough to market your small business on its own.

Search Engine Land did a study that found more than 50% of the website traffic comes directly from Google.

The study also found that social media platforms account for only 5% of the total traffic.

This means that even if you manage to capture all the 5% of the traffic, you’re still missing out on what search engines have to offer.

Moreover, Google’s search algorithm only included quantifiable data.

And because Google doesn’t have access to social media metrics, they are disconnected from the search rankings.

Sticking and working on social media is great for spreading brand awareness.

It’s even better if you want to use it to improve your customer service by getting in touch with your audience directly.

However, social media platforms do not provide enough traffic and quality leads for conversion– and conversions are what drive your business to grow.

If you wish to see your small business website performing to its full potential, SEO is the way to go forward.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

A group of people do not believe in the capabilities of SEO and think it is ineffective because of the time it takes to reflect the results of a campaign.

It’s true about the time it takes, but it’s not true about ineffectiveness. SEO takes around 4-6 months to show a significant increase in web traffic.

However, slow and steady changes are not always bad for your business.

When you’re working with something that can provide results like SEO, your goal should never be short-term.

By focusing on long-term growth, what you’ve invested in SEO will more than pay off in increased ROI.

It’s understandable that many small business owners want to grow as quickly as possible.

However, disregarding imperative initiatives such as SEO because they take time, is not optimal.

The best approach is to target both long and short-term goals strategically by using SEO and SEM together.

Rise Above Your Competition

It can be heartbreaking to look at the relevant keywords of your industry and see that your competitors are on top of every SERP.

What hurts, even more, is not finding yourself anywhere near the top. You can’t sit idle and do nothing about it.

Instead, you have to start from somewhere. You can’t appear above them if you don’t have a robust SEO strategy in place.

These highly-ranked competitors can provide you with a great cushion when you’re just getting started.

The huge advantages that you’ll have over them are the research they already did for you, and their laziness which sooner or later kicks in when you are at top of the SERP for a significant amount of time.

Find the chinks in their armor because no one is perfect for matching the algorithms of the search engines. This weak link can easily be targeted with a robust SEO strategy.

You already know what your competitors are doing with their SEO. This knowledge has already won half the battle for you.

Using this knowledge, you can find loopholes to beat them. No one will see you coming until you suddenly start getting more clicks than those sitting on the top.

Local SEO: Increased Engagement, Traffic & Conversions

Mobile phone domination has made local search more important than ever.

It has become a fundamental part of small businesses to target the local market.

The aim of local SEO is to optimize your business– its local and digital property– so that its visibility increases.

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The increasing visibility brings your audience a step closer to the transaction.

It also aims to align your business promotion strategies with specific neighborhoods, towns, cities, regions, and even states for better message delivery.

If you want to promote engagement locally, you should optimize the knowledge graph panel of your brand, listing on Google My Business, and of course, social media profiles.

You also need to put a strong emphasis on the reviews on Google My Business and other relevant sites for your industry.

It’s a Cost-Effective Investment

To clear it upfront– investing in SEO does not cost a fortune for everyone. To be fair, it’s relative, but generally, it is not expensive at all.

You might find it difficult to believe, but you can actually rank number one on the search engine result page without having a dedicated budget for SEO at all.

For small businesses, it’s not ideal to pay the way to the top. But by being strategic with SEO, you can reach there after a significant time.

SEO is about how patient you are with your investments and how smart you are with your marketing campaigns.

If you are not an SEO expert, you’ll have to rope in an expert. But even this is not expensive considering what it brings to the table.

What you invest in SEO will deliver a better ROI and generate more business.

The role of SEO has expanded for businesses of every scale. And you need to invest in it if you want to sustain yourself in the industry.