6 Reasons Why SEO Will Be More Important Than Ever In 2023

Growing your online business can be simple. That is if you know how to do it.

The issue is that you're faced with multiple ways to market and grow your business but how do you know what the right channel is.

From branding your business to social media and building your email list, there are so many places you could spread your time (and money) to promote your business.

But what if there was one single easy marketing channel that was free to implement, required minimal maintenance and captured users right when they were ready to buy?

Now that would be a marketing channel that would be pretty challenging to say no to, right?

It would mean you could focus your time and energy in one place to market your entire business instead of on meaningless tasks like social media that barely impact your bank balance.

That's right, you could reach a large interested audience and grow your traffic, leads, sales and money in the bank on autopilot all with one marketing channel.

Consider this...

...if your website sat in first place in Google for keywords related to the products you offer and you scored 29% of the traffic for everyone who searched for each of those keywords, how much of a difference would that make to your profit margin.

Comparatively, as little as 2% of people could be seeing your social media posts and these people aren't likely clicking across to your website and or even interested in what you offer.

Unfortunately the likes of Facebook, Instagram etc. are running a business and prioritise showing ads over organic posts, leaving little room for your posts to be shown to your audience.

Ready to ditch shiny object syndrome A.K.A Reels dance trends and say YES to a cash injection every day of the week?

Say hello to Search Engine Optimisation better known as SEO, which is all the steps you take on (and off) your website to score those top positions in Google for your chosen keywords.

Unfortunately, your website doesn't just magically appear in the Google search results once you've created it. There are steps you need to take to get seen by people making a search.

Not convinced it’s for you?

Besides the obvious, let me take you through six reasons why SEO will be more important than ever to focus your marketing efforts on 2023.

1. THIRD-PARTY COOKIES ARE COMING TO AN END

Marketers and business owners for many years have been tracking what users do online, collecting data and using it to help target ads to the right people based on their behaviour using third-party cookies. This is about to come to a screaming halt, making advertising much more challenging.

The easiest way to collect data about your audience going forward is via your website. This is first-party data meaning it’s information you directly gather from customers, clients, or students hitting your website. Without any visitors or traffic to your website, it will be mere impossible to collect any of this type of data, reinforcing why you need to implement SEO STAT.

Investing in platforms where you own your following e.g., your website and email list is the way forward. Remember: your social media followers can be taken away from you at any time. Don’t leave it too long to build up an audience you own.

2. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY CHALLENGING AND EXPENSIVE TO DRIVE RESULTS

Organic social media is basically dead. Reach rates of posts are at an all time low with air time being given to paid ads because they increase the profit margins of these social media giants.

Secondly, the extinction of the third-party cookies upon us. The means paid advertising is becoming harder and harder to get results without expert help and strategy adjustments. This equals more wasted ad spend for unseasoned advertisers.

In contrast, SEO is the gift that keeps on giving. It is one of the only marketing channels that can continue to pay dividends well into the future without any financial injection required and minimal maintenance like posting every day. Did someone say time and money savings?

3. SEO GIVES YOU A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

With all the changes happening within the marketing ecosystem, you can bet your bottom dollar that your competitors are likely investing in SEO, which gives you every reason to as well.

First position in Google gets over 29% of the traffic in search engines, so it’s important you outrank your competitors here and secure that market share. With a recession on the rise, you can’t afford not to be in Google, especially if your competitors are. Get in and start building your website traffic before they do.

4. MOST WEBSITE TRAFFIC COMES FROM ORGANIC SEARCH (GOOGLE)

There are many ways to get traffic to your website from paid advertising to social media, email campaigns, plus so much more. Majority of all website traffic comes from organic search engines like Google and it’s ABSOLUTELY free. So, if you haven't set up your SEO, you’re missing out on a whole lot of free and highly targeted traffic, sales, and revenue. Implement an SEO strategy today and start getting a steady flow of FREE, ready-to-buy visitors delivered straight to your website doorstep.

On that point, did we mention that there are an estimated 5.6 billion searches a day on Google and 70-80% of these going to organic search results (not paid). Complete no brainer, right?

With these kinds of stats you should be running to add SEO to the top of your business to-do list.

We said run not walk.

5. YOU CAN TARGET PEOPLE AT ALL LEVELS OF THE SALES FUNNEL

Unlike majority of other marketing channels, SEO is one of the only channels where you can target users from when they first need something and become aware of your brand right through to when they buy. It covers the entire buyer journey from brand stranger right through to biz bestie.

SEO attracts visitors to your site based on keywords, rather than demographics, interests, and behaviours like most advertising strategies.

Keyword searches quickly tell us the main reason for a search by a visitor and where they are in the buyer journey. For example, if a user asks a question about the best way to get more traffic to their website versus a direct search for an SEO program, we can easily determine that they are at very different stages in the buyer journey.

Understanding the path our customers, clients or students take and the keywords they search at the different stages of the buyer journey means we can create content (and add the appropriate keywords to our website) that speaks to them no matter where they are at in the process. Of course, you do this with the intent of leading them closer to a purchase.

6. COMPETITION IS FIERCE AND YOU NEED A WAY TO STAND OUT

Ranking first place in Google can elevate your brand’s profile dramatically. It not only helps build long-term brand equity but builds trust with your audience. If search engines like Google grant you first place in their prestigious search engine because they ‘trust’ you, then why wouldn’t your audience trust you too. Not only that but being visible and trusted by search engines like Google is great PR for your business and will pay off big time.

CONCLUSION

Apart from the time it takes to implement SEO, it doesn’t cost ANYTHING at all to implement. Search engines crawl your site 24/7 and have the potential to match you with users searching for content, products, and services just like yours. All you have to do is show up.

Ready to increase your traffic, sales and money in the bank with minimal effort? If you’re not on page one, you’re likely giving the sale to your competitor.

Future-proof your business today and implement a strategy that can lead to exponential growth.