Internet is now regarded as a contributing factor to the growth of creative economy. Every new and existing businesses now consider Search Engine Optimization as a key marketing tool. Even for small businesses, investing on SEO is important work that need to be considered periodically — whether they have big or small budget to do it properly.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is crucial for any small business website! You may recall, we previously mentioned the importance of investing in SEO – in which we explained that having a professional help you with SEO can definitely make a difference, especially if you don’t understand the complexities behind SEO (which can get confusing for anyone). Having your content updated regularly and correctly (with SEO) will get your page on the map and found (and hopefully on the first page of Google!).  Every new and existing business really needs to consider Search Engine Optimization as a key marketing tool – whether you have a big or small budget to do it properly.

Today, we are sharing with you 10 SEO Facts – in hopes that all small (or medium sized) business owners will better understand just how important it really is for your website – and use it!

1. Google is the leader: Google has become the top search engine – receiving 57,000 search requests… per second! Most people searching, don’t usually click on “page 2” of search results. So – you need to be on page 1, and only proper use of SEO will get you there!
2. Traffic boost: Searches provide 3x more traffic to your website than social media. If you can’t be found on page 1 of search engine results, you are missing out on tons of traffic! ( However, Social media needs to be integrated in your SEO strategy – don’t let that go!)
3. Page speed matters! We live in an age where we need information quickly.  In fact, 40% of users will leave your website if it takes more than 2 seconds to load! A 1-second delay in speed will reduce your page conversion rates by 7%! Also, if your website is slow, search engines like Google will penalize you and drop your ranking! Make sure your website is up to speed! (We can check that for you!) FYI: Walmart increased its revenue by 1% for every 100ms of page speed improvement.
4. Mobile optimization = sales: 40% of users search using only their smartphones on an average day. 51%  of those users discover a new company or product while searching on their phones – however, 2 out of 3 will leave your site if it is not optimized for mobile! Your website needs to be optimized for use on mobile devices or you will lose those sales! Keep in mind: 46% of consumers will NOT return to your website if it is not mobile friendly!
5. Increase profits: Good SEO and PPC, together, can increase traffic by 25% and profits by 27%!
6. Voice searches: There has been a recent increase of 10% when it comes to voice searches (after a new algorithm update by  Google) Make sure that you can be found on search via voice search!
7. Billion dollar industry: SEO spending is expected to reach over $80 billion by 2020.  If you are ignoring your SEO, your competitors will be the ones winning!
8. Content is king: Creating valuable and amazing content can be one of the most difficult parts of your SEO strategy – but it is one of the most important things you can do!  Blog posts over 1,000 words tend to receive more likes and shares and ranks higher on Google! The more you update your website content (ie: blog posts) the more Google and other search engines notice you!  If you are stuck – don’t worry! Did you know that updating and republishing old blog posts with new content and images can actually increase your traffic by 111%?
9. Visuals are important: Having visuals on your landing page increases your likelihood of showing up on Google’s first page by 53%.
10. Don’t skip on KEYWORDS: A huge “must” in SEO is making sure you are doing tons of keyword research! You need to know what keywords in your industry and niche are going to help you get found in searches! 70% of traffic to most websites comes from long-tail keywords. Search queries are usually 4 words or longer – so make sure you are maximizing these words! However, don’t overuse keywords in titles of blog posts and web pages. Make sure your meta descriptions include your target keywords!

Investing in your SEO strategy can make or break your marketing! If your hope is to be found on page 1 of Google searches, then you need to pay attention to your SEO! Can you do it yourself? Of course you can! However, it can become very overwhelming if it is not in your wheel-house of specialties.