Is SEO Really That Important for Your Business

Nov 23
09:54

2009

Andrew Strauss

Andrew Strauss

  • Share this article on Facebook
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Share this article on Linkedin

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of improving your website's rankings in search engines for keywords that relate to your site or business.

mediaimage

This is done by tailoring your content to ensure that the search engines know exactly what you site's all about,Is SEO Really That Important for Your Business Articles as well as by improving links to your site from other sources.

It is, without doubt, a process that requires ongoing maintenance and either a time or financial commitment. So is it really worth doing? If your site is a blog just for fun, or a personal site with no reliance on traffic whatsoever, then SEO is probably entirely unnecessary for you. But if your business relies on traffic to your website, simply overlooking SEO could be a pretty dire business mistake.

Let's say, for example, that you're a travel company specializing in Mediterranean cruises. If someone is typing into Google, 'Mediterranean cruises,' then there's a good chance that that person is either interested in or actively seeking to book one. Surely then, from your perspective, you want that person visiting your site and booking with you. Whether or not this happens will depend largely on where you feature in the search results. If you are on the first page of the Google results for that search term, then you have a greater chance of that person visiting your site than you would if you were several pages back.

And finding someone with the know-how when it comes to running your SEO campaign needn't be particularly difficult either. A good start is finding out which of the consultants offering the service are ranking in your area. For example, if you're looking for a company in Delhi, typing in 'SEO Company Delhi' would be an easy way to start. Given the service that SEO companies provide, it probably makes little sense to recruit a consultant who is not even able to get his or her own site onto the first page!

So for anyone who relies on their website to generate leads or business in any way, SEO is a crucial part of their marketing plan. This is particularly apparent given that your competitors may already be embarking upon such a campaign, thus leaving you lingering behind in the search results.