The advent of search engine optimization has given entrepreneurs an entirely new way of marketing their businesses. Practically the whole world is now using search engines to look for all sorts of products and services. With SEO, any brand gets the chance to reach these same people and get those much-needed leads and conversions.
However, many businesses that have tapped digital strategists to optimize their websites are beginning to pay not enough attention to their search engine rankings. Some are even neglecting their rankings outright. Why?
No Instant Optimization Success
One common reason why entrepreneurs suddenly lose interest—in organic search, at least—is pure and simple impatience on their part. If there’s one thing that’s certain in search engine optimization, it’s that positive results take time. Unless they opted to do search engine marketing or SEM, there would be no such thing as instant organic SEO success for them.
Organic SEO efforts bear fruit at least four months later, in most cases. The results would not even be anything to write home about at that point. And once you do reach Page 1 of search results, you still have to work hard to maintain your ranking. After all, you have competitors, and they won’t stop optimizing their websites until they can wrest that high SERP ranking from you. If the competition sets aside a budget for SEM and pays to put up ads on Google and Bing, you are going to eat their dust for the foreseeable future.
Overpromising SEO Firms
Then again, it’s highly likely that some entrepreneurs are neglecting their search rankings because a less-than-reputable (and probably well-paid) SEO firm promised them the moon and got only a few lunar rocks at best.
In all likelihood, they thought they could get quick positive results because that same SEO firm gave them that assurance. And when their SEO efforts blew up in their faces, they swore to themselves that they would never touch anything remotely related to optimization ever again.
SEO Information Overload
Many entrepreneurs who have dabbled in SEO have never heard of such a thing before. Some even regard it as some sort of sorcery. And when the avalanche of information about SEO and its myriad theories and conflicting information came rolling down on them, it just got too overwhelming that they quit.
No one can blame them for feeling that way. After all, SEO is a relatively new field, and it seems to be evolving by the day. In SEO, what may work yesterday may become useless tomorrow. Keeping up with the constant changes can sometimes make your head spin.
Why Search Engine Rankings Still Matter?
Whatever the reasons for some entrepreneurs for not taking them seriously, the fact remains that their search engine rankings in search results still matter.
Keep in mind that the number of people using Google, Bing, and other search engines to find products and services from a wide range of industries will continue to rise.
Without any SEO, or better yet, SEM, on your part, your business won’t likely make it to the first page of search results. No Page 1 ranking means you will be missing out on leads and conversions big time.
The rise of mobile is yet another compelling reason why entrepreneurs should never abandon their SEO and SEM efforts.
There are now more mobile users than desktop users, which has been that way for years. Mobile users are practically inseparable from their smartphones and tablets, and they do most of their shopping on their devices. When they search for information on specific products and services, they would want answers right away, ready to spend their money.
If you don’t make any effort to make it to Page 1, you’re going to have a hard time getting in front of all these mobile users. Add the fact that the competition is getting more intense, and your chances of getting a share of that mobile pie are practically nil.
No matter how you look at it, doing well in search engine results—organic or paid—can help a business improve. With high search results rankings, your website becomes more visible to search engines. The more visible you are, the better your chances of exponentially boosting your leads and, eventually, conversions courtesy of a steady stream of customers.
Your business should make getting a slot on Page 1 of search results a priority. You can do organic SEO or spend more on paid search, or both. To give you a better idea of what SEO and SEM can do for your business, check out the infographic below. Focus your attention on the numbers to get a clear understanding of why you need to work on those search engine rankings.
