Emphasis on search engine marketing (SEM) is growing at an increasingly steady rate. This is a result of slowed growth in viewership in mediums such a network television, and more emphasis being on the internet and web searches. When we want to find something out, or are looking for a solution, we tend to refer directly to an online search engine, and this generates large opportunities for organisations that have the right stuff to fulfil our consumer needs. Today’s blog post is going to focus specifically on SEO – Search engine optimisation – by addressing some pros, cons and the reality, woo hoo!
So what is SEO? Let’s start by clarifying what the heck SEO actually is. Beal (2015) defines SEO as the following: Search engine optimization is a methodology of strategies, techniques and tactics used to increase the amount of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine (SERP) — including Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines.
In more simple terms: It’s what affects whether your website appears/ranks when keywords are used in a search engine. We, as digital marketers, can control SEO to an extent, and it is very impactful when done well. If you’re still confused, this YouTube video by Search Engine Land does a beautiful job at explaining it.
Fun Fact: to ‘google’ (verb) was added to the Oxford English Dictionary on June 15, 2006. You google, I google, everybody is googling! The implication for firms? Get on the SEO bus and make your organisation as google-friendly as possible. If you’d like a list of the most popular search engines, take a look here; but I’m sure you’ve already guessed which one is first. If you haven’t, why not give it a google?! Heh…
The Reality: Your Competitors are Doing It. In 2014, CMO reported that 85% of surveyed retailers said that SEM (SEO and paid) was the most effective customer acquisition tactic. This industry belief suggests that most organisations have put an emphasis on improving and sustaining their SEO. U.S figures show that $9.02b was spent on mobile search improvement for firms, and 47% of respondents admitted to a budget increase regarding SEM within the next year (CMO, 2014). It’s also predicted that by 2018, mobile search spending will account for 85.9% of the US digital search advertising marketing. If you want to be truly competitive, SEO is not something you can ignore. Your firm may provide a better product or service than your competitors, but if you aren’t taking full advantage of SEO, you are neglecting a plethora of growth opportunities (and your competitors are having a fiesta because they’re benefitting from it).
The Pros
- 60% of clicks go to the first result (rankexecutive.com)
That’s a big deal; that leaves 40% for the second and remaining results relating to the keyword. It goes without saying that if your firm is SEO focused, you are potentially investing in millions of sales. More than half of the market is going to put your organisation into their consideration set, and that could bring some VERY nice results! Not to mention, according to digitalmarketingphilippines.com, 70-80% of consumers will actually ignore paid listings in search engines due to organic results appearing more authentic – a big thumbs up for SEO! - Your results are often permanent.
Yes, you will be required to do some maintenance work to keep your high position, but quite often it is difficult for it to be taken away! If you pay an external organisation to program your website to cater to an engine’s algorithm, once you’ve stopped paying, your site won’t suddenly revert back. - Results of SEO, in comparison to PPC, are often lower in cost
Whilst there may be an initial investment, SEO is a long-term payoff. In essence, it is referred to as the ‘gift that keeps on giving’. Whereas PPC charges an amount per user interaction, once your website is in the top searches via an engine, you will be receiving glorious traffic without having to pay per visitor.
The Cons
- Each search engine has its own requirements. Sen (2005) clarifies that a web site optimised for one search engine is not necessarily optimised for the others. For example, if you aim to optimise your website by varying your codes to suit a particular search engine’s algorithm such as Yahoo’s, it may be totally ineffective for another engine like Bing.
- SEO can be a long process
This is a little subjective, because personally I believe the process is well worth the payoff. However, it must be recognised that SEO can be costly and take some time. Whether you decide to pay an external organisation or attempt the process yourself, there are financial and time sacrifices required.
- 75% of search users will most likely never scroll past the first page
That leaves 25% of the market for anything beyond those top searches – which can be disheartening for firms who are struggling to reach the first page (it’s no small task). - Search engines may decide to update algorithms overnight
This could mean that your investment in SEO is out the door quite rapidly, and unfortunately it can quite out of the firm’s control. It means that a significant amount of invested time can be swept away in a short amount of time; clearly a devastating event for a digital marketers.
Source: digitalmarketingphilippines.com
If you’re not confident which SEO tools you should looking at, Marcela De Vivo has compiled a list (2015 edition) of the best SEO tools she’s discovered over her fifteen years as a digital marketer – click here to have a look. Alternatively (and ironically), you could always ‘google’ organisations that offer SEO services.
So, tell me what you think: do you believe SEO is an integral part of any search engine marketing plan? Or should we just stick to paid listings to guarantee exposure to markets? Let me know your thoughts on the topic.
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