Why Do Businesses Need SEO

SEO· Last updated13 Sept 2016
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2 min read

Let’s start with the obvious; what does SEO mean?

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is ranking a specific website on a search engine, the most popular being Google. You will be targeting “keywords” this will be what is searched that is specific to your business, for example, “SEO Weston Super Mare” for this website.

You do this by formatting your website correctly to tell Google and other search engines what your website is specifically about, and this is done by altering the meta tags and titles to target a specific keyword.

So Who Can Benefit from SEO?

Whether you are a local store, tradesperson or national brand, you need to be getting leads from as many different sources as possible. The local tradespeople would usually rely on referrals and local advertorials, whereas national brands tend to rely on PR and active outreach.

Most businesses that are serious have already tried working in the online world, whether you can directly sell to your customer’s through a website or not whatever business you’re in you can benefit from an online campaign.

When you search something on Google, you will see something like this. There is a common misconception for anybody not in the online marketing world, and this is not done by paying Google to show you there, that is something different which I will explain further below (advertising).

Can you see the potential if somebody if searching for a service that you provide and your business comes up first? For example, if you’re a plumber and somebody is searching “Plumber in XYZ” can you see the potential for secure, reliable leads if your company comes up in the first position? Or perhaps you sell goods, “small corner sink for bathroom” would be great to rank for if you sold such things.

It’s like having your store front open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

How Does SEO Compare to Traditional Marketing?

Traditional marketing for local businesses usually involves advertising in the local paper or ad-mag; this is very much a shotgun approach and doesn’t ever tell you how effective it’s been. You’re not targeting people who’re looking for your services you’re targeting an area.

A local newspaper advert reaching an area compared with a Google ranking reaching someone searching for the service

This has been the go-to way of small businesses marketing themselves for many years. However, we’re living in an age where people “Google it” to find everything they’re looking for in seconds.

This about it, if you’re looking for something do you turn to the yellow pages or do you turn to Google, ask your friends, what do they say?

If you would like to find more about how to get the most from your online presence, please get in touch with us athello@arken.digital we offer a no-obligation audit to see the potential of your website before you commit to anything.

Written by
Richard Kennedy
Richard KennedyFounder - Arken.Digital

I have been doing SEO for twelve years, six of them running client campaigns inside other agencies, and the last six running Arken. I started the company because I was tired of the way small businesses were sold SEO: big retainers, fuzzy deliverables, quarterly reports that explained nothing. Arken is my attempt to do the opposite. Plain English, shown work, honest reporting, steady results.

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