According to the online ad network Chitika, page one of the search results get 95% of all search traffic. The top result usually yields around 32.5% of the clicks. The 2nd place result receives around 17.6% of the clicks. By comparison, the 7th place result sees around 2.2% of the search traffic. Even the top of the 2nd page only yields around 1.11% click-through rates.
Based on these numbers, you can see why just a few positions can make or break some online businesses. For a popular term like “laptops”, which could easily have hundreds of thousands of searches EVERY day, just the difference between #1 and #2 position could potentially be millions of visitors per month.
At this point, you may be thinking “How can Search Engine Optimization benefit my business?” Let’s dive in to answer that question and some others that you may have about Search Engine Optimization.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
First, let’s go over exactly what Search Engine Optimization is. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing both the quantity and quality of the traffic coming to your website through organic search engine results. Quantity is important because more traffic = more potential customers. Quality of the traffic is important because you want to get your information to a user that is looking for it. If you are selling Windows computers, for example, you may not want to receive traffic searching for “Residential Windows”. The goal is to get the website in front of the “right” visitors who are searching the “right” keyword.
How does SEO work?
SEO is an ongoing and complex process that involves optimizing various aspects of a website. Google’s search algorithm currently uses over 200 factors when considering how pages rank in their search engine, including domain age, site content, backlinks, title and heading tags, social media presence and many more. On-site factors, such as title and heading tags are much easier to optimize than off-site factors, such as backlinks. One of the most influential factors to a site’s ranking is the overall site content. Google favors sites with updated, relevant and fresh content. A blog is generally a good way to build relevant content for your site. In the SEO process, the factors are tweaked and tuned over the course of time to achieve and maintain higher placement in the search engines, thus yielding more traffic and other benefits that go along with SEO.
How can SEO benefit my business?
For most sites, organic search traffic is the main source of website traffic. While social media is growing and is vital to most businesses, search is still king. Besides the traffic aspect (which is covered above), there are several ways Search Engine Optimization can benefit your business:
Establishes and Builds Trust & Credibility
As a consumer, it builds trust to see a website at the top of a search engine. Most visitors don’t give it any thought as to how or why some sites are up there, but if Google is considering that particular business is the leading authority on that topic, it gives that particular business more credibility and authority in the eyes of the consumer.
Increases Local Visibility
By optimizing for a smaller geographic area, people can find you more quickly and easily. This could be done at a city, county, state or even national level. Also, the more targeted the audience is, the lower competition generally is. This can lead to better results from the SEO process in a faster time.
Competitive Edge
If all of the other factors are the same, an e-commerce shop that has its pages ranking well in the search engines will generate more sales than a shop that doesn’t have the pages optimized. This can give a business a major edge over its competitors. This competitive edge alone can be a reason to pursue SEO.
In conclusion, Search Engine Optimization is something that very few businesses think about, but most can actually see some benefit from it. If you want to learn more about our Search Engine Optimization services, feel free to Contact Us or give us a call at 901-475-0275.