Why SMEs should double down on SEO
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The Coronavirus pandemic has impacted the economy in unprecedented ways. Sure enough, the SME sector felt the brunt of the fallout as countries went into quarantine in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. Now as restrictions begin to ease up, businesses will need to take this time of recovery to rethink the way they engage their audience.
Indeed, it only took three months for many brick-and-mortar enterprises to close down. On the other hand, some were able to thrive as they migrated their marketing efforts online. And seeing as consumers are encouraged to stay at home throughout this pandemic, the reliance on eCommerce has been amplified.
This only proves that SMEs should start maximizing their digital marketing efforts and putting more effort into understanding crucial strategies, starting with search engine optimization. Here are a few takeaways on why SMEs should make more time for SEO:
Boost overall digital marketing campaign
When it comes to promoting your products and services online, it’s important to develop a strong web presence. SEO involves improving your brand’s position in the search engine results pages or SERPs. This gives the advantage of attracting more customers than anyone else since people often click on the first set of results they see. With an effective SEO strategy in place, you can improve the way you create and distribute your promotional messaging to the right audience.
Improve website experience for potential customers
A website is an essential channel for SMEs, considering the fact that eCommerce transactions are becoming even more widespread. With this, you need to improve the overall design and functionality of your website. This is possible through SEO since making your website more visible online involves making crucial changes to appearance and performance. For instance, Google rewards sites that take no less than three seconds to load and have well-crafted text content. By improving your website along these lines, you also provide customers a more engaging and valuable experience as they navigate from webpage to webpage.
Build a strong client base
Another way SEO can help SME is that it allows for a deeper level of audience engagement in the form of comments or reviews. Aside from these immediate benefits, keyword-rich reviews can also help build trust, allowing your brand to attract more qualified customers.
Boost your social media efforts
SEO can be a powerful means of improving an SME’s social media efforts. As you optimize your website for Google, your brand also gets more traction in channels like Facebook and Twitter. When people see your brand in the SERPs, they are more likely to follow your social media pages and engage you wherever you are online. This also leads to greater trust and a more stable brand presence.
We are living in a climate where innovation is incessant and SMEs will have to focus on exploring opportunities that SEO provides. Only then can they make important strides in terms of attracting new customers and expanding their products and services.
