This year, search engine optimisation became a hotter digital marketing trend than ever! With businesses from every industry flocking to get up and running online, even the most old-school brands have realised the necessity of embracing digital marketing technologies.

SEO isn’t the scary, techy practice it gets a reputation for being. In fact, SEO is like your new business BFF for understanding and connecting with customers when it matters most – all without breaking the bank!

Lots of brands and businesses are starting to get that they need SEO to up their online marketing. They can see the difference it would make to their business and are hoping to imporve their success with this (fairly) new tool.

Sure, SEO works wonders for a website's searchability, but what extra value can solid SEO add to your digital brand?

Check out these 10 reasons why your small business definitely needs SEO in order to reach the next level.

1: Organic Search Should Be Your Largest Source of Website Traffic

Organic search - finding your website by searching key words and phrases on search engines - is the biggest player in how well businesses' websites do. If you want your website to do well and bring in new leads and clients regularly, you need to be visible in online search.

We all know Google's the real MVP in the search game – way ahead of the Yahoos, Bings, Baidus, Yandexes, DuckDuckGos, etc.

And guess what? Google isn't just a search giant; it's also the most-visited website globally (especially in the U.S.) and the go-to email spot for a whopping 1 billion users.

Basically, if you want info, you're probably hitting up Google daily. So, being on their good side with killer SEO and a top-notch website is crucial for online success!

2: SEO Builds Your Brands Credibility & Improves Consumer Trust

Alright, let's talk trust and credibility. SEO isn’t just about making a website look good; it’s about laying down the groundwork for a site that's not only a joy to use but also has a rockstar level of visibility in searches.

Building authority with search engines, especially Google, is a bit of an art. It's not just about having a killer website; it's about ticking the right boxes over time. Here's the recipe for authority:

• Natural links (no spamming).

• Users loving what they see (aka not bouncing).

• A website that's optimised with keywords, accessibility functions and more.

And let's spill the SEO tea – having that level of authority with Google and other search engines is like a superpower for an online brand.

But here's the catch – just like anything worth having, trust and credibility won’t come overnight. These things take time to establish. Following Google's E-A-T guidelines (that's Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) over time is key for success.

Becoming a brand authority needs patience, effort, and dedication. It's about delivering a product or service that's top-notch, so customers can't help but trust your brand.

3: SEO Is About Delivering an Exceptional Experience to Your Human Users

So, everyone's chasing those high organic rankings and mega online visibility, right? But here's the plot twist – creating a fantastic user experience is the real secret to great SEO, and not many brands are catching on to this fact.

Search engines have become pretty savvy at figuring out if a website is a joy to use or a headache for it’s users. And guess what? Happy users are the secret to an SEO successful site.

Google has something called the Page Experience Update, and it's something all small businesses should pay attention to. Why? Because it's all about keeping the focus on that sweet customer experience and not overcomplicating your SEO.

Customers aren't here to play games. They know what they want from your website, and if they can't find it quickly and easily, you’ve lost them. This will inevitably lead to a loss in performance for your site and it’s SEO score.

Google has evolved over the years into an answer engine, dishing out the key info right on the search results page. Why does it do this? To make life easier for users!

Believe it or not, you and Google want exactly the same thing. You want Google to push the right customers to your website, and Google wants to offer up the best possible results for their search users.

Quality SEO isn't just about keywords and rankings; it's about creating a user experience that leaves a lasting positive impression.

4: SEO Plays a Big Role in the Buying Behaviour of Your Online Customers

An ofter overlooked part of the SEO process is research. A solid understanding of exactly who your customer is, what they want, what their goals are etc helps you create impactful SEO that reaches your customers where they are.

And get this – when you nail it, SEO can massively impact your purchase cycle.

Think about it: for a connection to happen, brands need to be visible where the right people are searching.

That's where great SEO comes in, cranking up your brands visibility and making sure customers find not just answers but the businesses (hopefully your business) with those answers.

5: SEO is Very Cost Effective Digital Marketing

The great thing about SEO is that while it does require some investment at first (this could be money, time or learning, however you choose to invest) the results last a long long time.

The return on investment for great visibility in Search Engines is so high, in fact, that great SEO should be seen as an investment in the bottom line of your business and not as a marketing expense.

ROI on SEO can be massive. The average business gains over 55% of their traffic through organic search.

While the exact ROI percentage can be difficult to track, most small businesses will begin to see the benefits of this work within a few months.

6: The Benefits of Good SEO Can Last Years, Even Decades!

That’s right! SEO, unlike marketing on social media, will build your brand for years to come.

Social media is a fantastic tool for building and audience and growing your brand, but it requires a lot of regular work to keep it tipping over and growing. SEO on the other hand requires much less hands-on time.

Creating occasional new content and following some simple SEO best practice rules can do as much for the growth of your brand as weeks and months of social media posting.

If you’re short on time and in need of long term results, SEO is the place to focus.

7: Analytics Tools Make SEO Simple to Measure & Track

While measuring ROI in SEO isn't as straightforward as the instant gratification seen in paid search, thanks to meticulous tracking and analytics, virtually anything can be quantified.

Navigating the intricacies on the back end of your website can be a real challenge, and connecting the dots between SEO effort and outcomes is rarely (if ever) straightforward. However, delving into the nuances of how specific actions influence performance and growth is very much worth the time, and ideally, provides positive outcomes over time.

For small businesses learning SEO, understanding where you started and how far ypu’ve come through analytics and metrics is an addictive challenge.

8: SEO Helps You Understand Your Customers

By following the in-depth analytics data presented by SEO, you can create a deeper connection with and understanding of your customer.

This allows you to target them more with content they’re actively seeking, while also ensuring all of your products and services are aligned to their needs.

The more you understand about your customer, the more you can serve them. This ensures they keep coming back for more and your brand grows as a result.

9: Long Tail Keywords Allow You to Compete with Larger Businesses in Search Results

Keywords still play a huge part in SEO. Long tail keywords are more like key phrases - longer strings of words that have lower competition for search. This means you can target these more niche long tail keywords specifically and compete with larger brands in search results!

Use tools like Answer The Public and Google Ad Words to find high-search, low-competition long tail keywords to target with your SEO and secure a top spot in those all important search results.

10: SEO Increases Your Online Visibility

Getting visible online is a necessity for all small businesses in 2024 and beyond. Increased visibility improves your brand awareness and acts as PR, but it’s also about more than that.

More visibility means more leads, more conversions and more sales. We can think of business like a numbers game. Getting a good number of leads, conversions and sales is reliant on you getting enough eyes on your content to make those numbers happen. This is what SEO is all about. Bringing more people into your business at the top of that funnel so that they can become leads, conversions and eventually, sales!

We all know that solid SEO is the key to getting visible on Google and being discovered by more dream customers than ever before. But where to even start?

Start with Soar, obvs!

We've created our signature SEO course especially for busy female founders just like you.

In as little as 30 minutes per week, Soar guides you through the search engine skills required to start boosting your visibility, gathering enquiries and selling your offers consistently through your website.