I have identified some crucial reasons why search engine optimisation (SEO) can be a major benefit to businesses in the current climate now and going forward.

The cost of SEO is fixed whether you run an in house online marketing team dedicated to search engine optimisation or you hire an agency to carry out the work for you. This compared to pay per click (PPC) marketing; with costs that fluctuate depending on the CPC, impressions and clicks is an advantage.

For those expensive search terms like “credit cards”, “car insurance” and “holidays” brand visibility is a must, with businesses needed to be on page 1 of Google. If you have a good SEO strategy in place you can target these expensive search terms, keeping your PPC budget to concentrate on long tail campaigns aimed at conversion.

Search engines require good quality, unique SEO friendly content to help improve your rankings in SERPs (search engine result pages). If your website is image based and has no content on it at all, then it’s basically seen as a link directory. By having subject specific keyword rich content on your website, you stand a better chance of improving your rankings in SERPs than if you had none at all. Unique content can also makes your website become more sticky, by giving customers relevant information on the product or services that are being advertised, helping them make an informed decision and in turn making them more likely to be returning visitor.

If you are a big brand and you are not on the first page of SERPs for keywords that are related to your brand you will almost certainly lose credibility from your customers. Customers expect to find large brands when searching for those terms, and if you are not seen you will almost certainly lose customers to competitors that are visible.

There are other reasons why SEO is a huge benefit to businesses including the ability to get repeat business, finding relevant pages with little information through search engines and search engine accessibility.

Here I have mentioned just some benefits to a business having SEO as a major part of your online marketing strategy, especially in the current climate. Please give your reasons for having SEO as part of your online marketing strategy or if your views differ from my own.