Every year, businesses of all sizes spend more marketing businesses online. For the first time ever, ad spending broke the $600 billion threshold in 2022, and it’s expected to go much higher this year and for years to come.
What if we told you there are ways to reduce your digital marketing expenses in the long term and potentially see better results? Let’s talk about some common reasons to hire an SEO agency in 2023!
What Is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website content with the goal of ranking higher on search engines like Google. Essentially, Google’s algorithm uses hundreds of factors to determine where you rank on specific keywords.
Moreover, they also base this on the user’s search intent, location, and several other factors. This is why you don’t get information on nail salons in Mexico City when you search for running tracks in Boston. This programming is what makes Google function so accurately.
So, the goal of SEO is to rank for relevant keywords with your target audience. For example, if you sell catering massage services, you would want to rank for terms like “spas near me” or “deep tissue massage in Ann Arbor.”
While there are several more intricacies, SEO is mostly done through website improvements, content marketing, and a few off-page factors.
What Does an SEO Agency Do?
Not all SEO services are created equally. You may purchase a comprehensive package that gets your website, content marketing, and other strategies up and running. Conversely, you may hire specific services like blog writing or technical touchups.
Therefore, we can’t make blanket statements about all SEO agencies. However, some of the most common services include:
- Content marketing
- Link-building
- Website development and maintenance
- UX/UI improvements
- Citation cleanup
- Reputation management
- Local SEO
- Keyword research
- Competitor research
- Technical audits
There are plenty of other potential examples. Still, all of these together would make for quite a comprehensive SEO strategy when executed correctly!
1. You Aren’t Seeing Search Engine Results
Of course, the most important reason for SEO is to, well, optimize for search engines. If you aren’t seeing your website on Google searches for important keywords, then you need to invest in SEO.
Whether you’re trying to rank for a competitive keyword like “used car” or something specific like “2015 Toyota Avalon near me,” the benefits of ranking high on Google are hard to understate. If your website isn’t appearing for the target keywords of your choice, then SEO is the best way forward.
If you don’t know which keywords you want to verify, it’s simple. You can either brainstorm and write a list and search for related keywords on an online keyword tool or run your competitors’ websites through an online keyword checker. This will get you started on your list.
Without these important keywords scattered throughout your content, how will anyone find your website? Unfortunately, nobody will find your website by searching its name if they don’t already know it. Therefore, you need to utilize the keywords that will drive relevant, organic traffic!
2. Your Website Isn’t Receiving Much Traffic
Low-traffic websites can benefit the most from SEO. Search engine traffic is one of the most overlooked domains for generating new traffic. It’s also the best!
Did you know that 68% of online experiences start with a search engine? That means that you’re missing out on more than two-thirds of your potential traffic without an SEO strategy. Why limit yourself?
Now, every business and industry will have different ideas of how much traffic they need. A global eCommerce store will require more traffic than a local pet supply shop.
However, if you aren’t meeting your traffic goals, then you will need to improve your SEO as soon as possible. You can use free tools like Google Analytics to track your website traffic, see where it’s coming from, and learn which adjustments you need to make!
3. You’re Overspending on Ads
If you’re spending your marketing budget on expensive ad campaigns, that’s a tell-all sign that you need professional SEO and social media services. SEO is one of the best ways to diversify, broaden, and strengthen your digital marketing strategy. That’s true whether you’re a multi-billion-dollar enterprise or a small startup.
SEO and PPC ads couldn’t be further apart and in the best ways possible. The most important distinction is that ads are great for building short-term traffic, whereas SEO can generate long-term, sustainable traffic. Think about it.
With ads, you only get what you pay for. You pay a designated amount per click or per view. With low conversion rates, you can even lose money.
Conversely, SEO is a great way to diversify and reduce your need for paid ads. It offers a “light at the end of the tunnel” where costs dramatically reduce.
Moreover, that’s because a successful SEO campaign can continue generating traffic and revenue for years to come with minimal upkeep. Once you start seeing success, it’s a lot easier to maintain your ranking. Also, there’s no limit to how much you can earn from it.
As a result, SEO is a perfect way to reduce ad costs. Yes, it does require an initial investment, but costs dramatically reduce over time!
4. You Have Low Conversion Rates
If you’re losing money on ads, emails, and social campaigns, then you need SEO. SEO tends to have some of the highest conversion rates because people trust organic search results.
You’ve likely experienced this from the user side. When you search for something on Google, are you among the 94% of people who skip the paid ads in favor of the organic results? Do you tend to trust the organic results more?
The average consumer is familiar with Google, and they typically trust that it offers relevant high-quality information. Therefore, if they find your website on it, this will help them feel secure in their decisions. Over time, this will ultimately lead to higher conversion rates.
Moreover, there are plenty of strategies for improving conversion rates with SEO. Offering high-quality content marketing is the best solution.
For example, let’s say you run a car detailing shop. You could have plenty of content on your website about how to deep clean a car.
From there, when people find this organically, they may see details on the process and challenges, and you can then position your services as the solution. You can use a strong call-to-action (CTA) to convince readers to check out your shop. Doesn’t that sound better than being one of the 5,000 ads that person sees in a given day?
5. You Need to Build Brand Awareness
Smaller startups and enterprises seeking to scale need to build brand awareness. It’s not the easiest task in the world, but the benefits are well worth it.
Again, organic traffic starts on an initial note of trust. This helps build positive associations with your brand from the beginning of the user’s journey.
As a result, building a clear and recognizable brand identity with a professional SEO strategy to spread the word is the best way forward.
From there, if you can follow up your reach with high-quality content, then you will build positive brand associations among your target audience. This will take time, but it will keep your brand relevant, recognizable, and reasonably secure for as long as possible. Even niche brands can have substantial levels of recognition within their target market.
6. Your Website Has Poor User Experience
If your website has poor user features, slow response times, or other issues, then you could benefit from SEO. The reason is that Google’s algorithm is designed to find high-quality content on high-quality sites. Therefore, any boost to your SEO is a boost to your website’s user experience (UX).
Everything from page loading times and mobile optimization to accessibility and security is essential for SEO and UX. Remember, you create content for users, not search engines. Make sure that your site is accessible and user-friendly for the best results!
Also, we should note that some of these can make or break your strategy. For example, most users will leave a website after only a few seconds if it hasn’t loaded.
Make sure your website is designed for users on any device, as that’s the foundation of your entire strategy. If you don’t know about your current performance, you can use Pagespeed Insights to test your website.
7. Your Business Needs a Reputation Boost
How is your online reputation holding up? Do you even know?
From your Google Business Profile to your Yelp and BBB reviews, your online reputation matters. 9 out of 10 consumers research brands before doing business with them. If your online reputation is negative, it may hurt your business more than you think.
Fortunately, most SEO services will help with online reputation management. These services include managing your business profile listings, website reviews, and more. Again, this will help you build a positive brand association over time!
8. Your Website Has Issues
If you conduct a free SEO audit and find that you have technical issues, SEO services can help. Some of the most common issues include:
- Duplicate content
- Excessive redirects and errors
- Canonical linking issues
- Heavy files
- Robots.txt files
- Poor page structure or XML sitemap
The list goes on. It’s hard to find a website with none of these issues present somewhere on their sites. However, working to reduce these issues can make a world of difference in your SEO strategy.
Having a professional SEO expert go through your site and get rid of these areas can immediately begin to improve your rankings. If you’ve kept your content marketing strategy up for months and haven’t seen results yet, there’s a good chance that technical issues are the cause!
9. Your Website Doesn’t Have Backlinks
Without a sufficient number of backlinks, your website is confined. It’s hard to break out of an SEO slump without links from other sites.
Backlinks, links from other sites to yours, serve as a vote for your credibility. Google’s algorithm is unbelievable, but it can’t instantly fact-check everything on the internet. How would they know who’s right and who’s wrong?
Consequently, Google relies on other websites to vouch for your credibility. The more authoritative the website, the better. That’s why your neighbor’s blog could write the most comprehensive article ever on any given topic but it will never beat a quick draft from The New York Times.
Building backlinks requires high-quality content on a high-quality website. With the help of some clever link-building strategies, you can build organic backlinks as soon as possible!
10. You Can’t Get Ahead
If your competition is ranking for your target keywords but you aren’t, professional SEO services are a must-have. Even if you just use them to get the ball rolling, an SEO agency can help give you the competitive edge you need to get ahead of the competition.
Consequently, if you find yourself reaching a plateau in your strategy or you can’t break out of page 2, then it’s time to get help.
Hire an SEO Agency Today
Now that you know whether or not your business can benefit from SEO, hire an SEO agency today. The sooner you do, the sooner you’ll see results for your organic traffic.
Yes, SEO takes time to come to fruition, but the results can last a lifetime. Set your business up for success today!
Keep reading our blog for our latest digital marketing tips, and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or for help with your strategy!
