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THE SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING BLOG

5 Big Benefits of SEO for Small Businesses

2/4/2020

21 Comments

 
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SEO is integral to the growth of any small business with an online presence. Click now to read about 5 important benefits of SEO for you and your small business.
Your website isn't just a web address. It's the digital storefront of your business. Without it, you're missing out on a significant portion of your potential customer base. 

This is why SEO is so important to your online success-- it gets you in front of customers so that you can convince them to do business with you. 

Below are 5 Big Benefits of SEO for small businesses that you should be taking advantage of. 
​
1. Create a Better, More User-Friendly Site 
One of the big benefits of SEO is simple: creating a better experience for your customers. 
You see, despite the name, search engine optimization isn't just about search engines. At its heart, SEO is about users.
One good example of this is page speed. 

Often confused with site speed, page speed refers to the amount of time necessary for a page to load. It's a ranking factor in Google's search algorithm, but more importantly, it's a major consideration for your users. 
​
Let's say you have a landing page. The average mobile landing page loads in about 22 seconds. The problem is, more than half of users will leave a page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. 

And if your site loads in 2.9 seconds, it's faster than 50% of the web. Faster than 1.7 seconds, and you're faster than 75% of the web. 

If your page loads faster, customers are more inclined to stay there—especially if they're mobile users.

And that's just one small element of SEO. 

2. Make a Better First Impression
This ties into the second major benefit of SEO: making a better first impression. 
Or, from another angle, the chance to make a first impression at all. 

There's an old joke that page two of Google search results is the best place to hide a dead body. It's crude but accurate--the first page of search results enjoys a whopping 95% of all search traffic. 

Plus, the first organic result sees about 32.5% of overall search traffic, almost double that of the second result (17.6%). 

Let's say that you get customers on your site. You only have about 0.05 seconds (or 1/10th of a second) for users to form a first impression of your site and decide whether they'll stay or leave. 

This is where SEO can help. 

Not only does SEO help you get in a position to make first impressions, but it also gives you the tools to create a website that makes use of those 0.05 seconds. SEO is an all-encompassing practice--it addresses site design, page speed, content, and behind-the-scenes technical details, to name a few. 

When your site is properly optimized, it becomes a powerful marketing asset, showing your website visitors why it's worthwhile to stick around. 

3. Target Quality Traffic with SEO
Better still, SEO doesn't just target traffic. It attracts quality traffic. 

That's because, unlike many marketing techniques, SEO is an inbound marketing strategy. 

Outbound marketing strategies get your content in front of consumers whether they want it or not. For most consumers, this is an annoyance at best--they have little or no interest in your product and few will gain anything from seeing your content. 

SEO and other inbound marketing techniques work differently. 

Instead of targeting everyone, SEO focuses on only targeting users who are interested in the content on your site. Rather than trying to convince customers to buy something, you're providing them with something they want—and are actively seeking out.

Can you see the advantage in the difference?
 
Statistics say that many of us see up to 4,000 ads a day! People aren't going to remember another ad. They're going to remember something that solved a problem for them. 

SEO is all about using your site to do what search engines were made for: providing answers to users' most pressing questions. When a customer sees that you're providing genuinely useful content, they're more likely to come back in the future, refer a friend or coworker, and they are more inclined to buy from you at a later date. 

4. SEO Builds Credibility
This is part of why SEO is so good at building credibility. 
Search engines consider a wide array of factors in deciding how to rank websites, but one of their big considerations is domain authority. Authority doesn't just fall out of the sky--it's something that a website accrues over time due to elements like: 
  • Quality content
  • Quality backlink profiles
  • User-friendly site design
  • Positive user behavior

Just like a real-life relationship, trust and credibility between a website and site visitors take time. It requires you to keep showing up and providing quality for your customers. 

SEO is the art and science of creating a website that is genuinely helpful to customers (while also nudging them in the direction of doing business with you). 

5. SEO Helps You Building a Stronger Brand
Search rankings, brand identity, and trust go together like peas in a pod. 

We said earlier that almost all search traffic lies on the first page of search results and that the most traffic goes to the first result. 

That's because, in the eyes of a search engine, the first result is the result that best answers the user's query. Users know this—think about the last time you typed something into Google and were annoyed to see that the 10th result had nothing to do with your search. 

And when users consistently see a brand at the top of the search rankings for its industry, they're more likely to recognize it. That's invaluable brand recognition when it comes time to attract customers. 

You can put SEO to work for you and your Small Business!  

Ready to capitalize on SEO for small business growth? 
​We get it. It's one thing to know that you should be doing SEO and another thing entirely to actually do it. That's why investing in an SEO expert is one of the best things you can do for your online marketing strategy. 

Want to start the conversation about making your website better than ever?
Use our contact page to get in touch today. 

​Got a question about SEO? Leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you.
21 Comments
Acharya Anu link
7/19/2019 03:37:54 am

I am bookmarked your website for seo. Thanks for writing such a good post.

Reply
Kirk
7/19/2019 11:30:32 am

Thank you!

Reply
Jenna Hunter link
7/25/2019 06:32:18 pm

I can imagine that SEO can be really beneficial for a business to grow. Making sure the SEO comes from a professional could be really beneficial. It was interesting to learn that trust and credibility between a website and site visitors take time.

Reply
Kirk link
10/24/2019 03:56:06 pm

Thank you Jenna

Reply
Mia Stewart link
8/1/2019 01:04:04 pm

I like how the article explains that SEO can help to make you more credible as it helps to build quality content for your customers. We are wanting to help our small business become more credible for our customers. We will look into hiring an SEO company to help.

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Lloyd Bronson link
9/9/2019 11:34:40 am

I am surprised by the fourth point of your article, which mentions that SEO builds credibility as these aspects will be handled by a professional company. I am looking into starting a catering website with my spouse in the near future but am unsure of where to start. For now, I will find an online marketing company that will work with what I need.

Reply
Kirk
9/9/2019 12:01:10 pm

Hey Lloyd,

Great point.

SEO can help build credibility in the sense that a good SEO company will help make sure you have quality, relevant content that gives the user a better experience. Also, higher rankings tend to help create a sense of credibility. I've had several people say they called us, "because we ranked so high", which again, speaks to the question of credibility.

Best wishes for you and your catering service!

Thanks for stopping by.

Reply
Niall Jenkins link
10/24/2019 01:37:26 pm

My mother and father are looking into ways to improve sales for their small grocery store, which has seen dwindling business over the last couple of years. I found it beneficial that you brought up how SEO allows a company to build credibility with quality content and user-friendly site design in order to draw customers in. I'll be sure to inform them of your article so they can formulate what steps to take next.

Reply
Kirk link
10/24/2019 04:02:59 pm

Hi Niall,

Thanks for your comment. I think their best bet, if they have a small, local grocery store, is for them to focus on setting up a Google My Business (or Maps) page and making sure that it's optimized.

This is so important, and effective, that we have made it part of our local SEO services. Every, local, small business needs to get ranked in the GMB/Maps listing of local business. The reviews and visibility in that list are very powerful.

Kirk

Reply
Dennis Sanchez link
10/25/2019 04:15:08 pm

I thought it was interesting when you talked about how authority is something that a website builds over a good amount of time. It seems that having good website design goes a long way in helping a company gain customers. If I was trying to start a small business, I would probably want the help of a professional marketing company.

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Kirk link
10/25/2019 04:50:45 pm

Thanks for the comment Dennis

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Eli Richardson link
10/28/2019 10:57:18 am

It's awesome hoe the article highlighted that an SEO service helps to make a business more credible by creating quality content for consumers. It would be great if my friend finds a professional so he can increase the visibility of his website. I'll advise him finding an SEO service to help his small business.

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Lyla Peterson link
11/13/2019 12:02:53 pm

I like that SEO targets specific people who are interested in your services rather than advertising to everyone. I know that for me personally, I am more likely to look something up online rather than remember an advertisement I saw previously. In that sense, SEO sounds like a great way to attract potential clients to your site when they are already interested in the product or service.

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Jerry Woods link
11/20/2019 11:32:44 am

It's great to learn that a major benefit of SEO is to make a better first impression on your customers. My brother is wanting to start a small business and he was wondering how he can keep customers coming back to his company. I'll be sure to tell him to work with an SEO company to improve his customer's experience.

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Niall Jenkins link
12/3/2019 10:03:50 am

It was helpful that you mentioned in your article that SEO helps you to build a stronger brand by having your business appear on higher search results in search engines. I'll send your article to my mother. She wants her small liquor store to gain more attention, but she is unsure of how to do so.

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Tyler Johnson link
12/17/2019 02:50:22 pm

That's a good point that a lot of users will leave a site if it doesn't load quickly. I tend to get impatient and try a different site if the first one I try takes forever, so I could see how that could be a problem. My brother and I are thinking about opening a food truck together, and if we get a website, I'll have to make sure to get someone to help me make it as fast as possible so people don't get impatient with it.

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MLA Web Designs link
12/17/2019 11:29:23 pm

Thank you so much for sharing a great article. Keep up the great work!

Reply
DigitalMarketingPro link
12/23/2019 06:04:25 am

Valuable points you share on this blog.SEO is not an easy process it can be very difficult. Your guidelines are very beneficial for me. Thank you so much for what you share on this blog

Reply
Elina Warner link
12/27/2019 06:16:21 am

Useful suggestions...
Every small businessman should be aware of the benefits of SEO to boost productivity.
The internet has emerged as one of the most popular platforms for the promotion of a product or a brand. It helps a lot to generate leads. So, the effective utilization of social media and other types of platforms based on the internet could be a very effective way to attract more customers.

Reply
Globasource link
12/29/2019 11:02:09 pm

Thanks a lot for sharing this blog. Really nice and fresh content. All the information is helpful for us.

Reply
David Johnson link
1/2/2020 01:34:23 pm

My sister is looking at starting a business this year. She liked how you explained that customer experience improves with SEO. We'll have to look into website design services.

Reply

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