As a small or medium-sized (SME) business owner, the importance of using SEO- Search Engine Optimization cannot be over-emphasized.

Reaching the first page of a search result is the target because it can massively increase website visits, sales, and revenue.

Providing and selling superior services and products isn’t enough for small businesses to survive online. A search on any search engine will show you competitors who are perhaps providing substandard goods and services at a higher price, and yet, they seem to be above you on SERP (Search Engine Result Page). The reason is that they are making use of SEO to further their business, and you are not.

When thinking of SEO, people immediately begin to calculate the thousands of dollars needed for it or perhaps think of getting an in-house SEO Specialist. This line of thought is overly-exaggerated and not actual.

Most small-sized businesses are competing at a local level against competitors around them. The main aim of SEO for any small or medium-sized business is to increase visibility, which will bring more visitors to your websites and lead to more inquiries, sales, and revenue.

What Is SEO, and Why Does My SME need it?

SEO means Search Engine Optimization. It is the continuous process of improving your online presence. It is getting traffic from organic and natural search engine results, leading to more visibility, increased user traffic to your website, and more clients.

In a sentence, SEO aims to improve your website’s position in search results pages. The higher you are on the search engine result page, the faster you reap SEO benefits.

A few years back, as a small or medium-sized business owner, you probably would have had a budget for advertising in your local newspaper or radio and relied on word-of-mouth advertisements to get new customers. But in this age, things are a bit different.

These days, consumers or clients get things they need a bit differently. Whatever they need is easy to get through a Google search or any other search engine. Be it a new restaurant, mechanic shop, law office, electrical store – they are just a search away.

To get your share of consumers as an SME owner means your business has to be visible when someone searches using a keyword related to your business. You can either pay ads (PPC) to feature on a search engine or SEO.

It is vital to note that SEO is different for online and offline businesses. The SEO strategies employed are entirely different. For instance, a mechanic shop can focus on building SEO within a 35-mile radius. At the same time, an online e-commerce store that can cater to customers from anywhere globally should have a different SEO strategy.