Why A Growing Business Needs SEO Services

Launching a business is like gambling; entrepreneurs are expected to take calculated risks in situations with unknown outcomes. Either way, the organization can only thrive or dive into this highly competitive field.

As of 2021, there were about 333 million small- and medium-sized enterprises worldwide, according to Statista. It’s unknown how many are new, but according to estimates, less than half of start-ups survive the five-year mark. Inflexibility, failure to satisfy a need, and a bad business plan or marketing strategy are a few of the primary reasons for such losses.

Besides a groundbreaking product or service, businesses must rely on search engine optimisation services (SEO) for online visibility and effective marketing. After all, you can only sell if you know how to reach your target audience. However, a recent survey has shown that almost half of small businesses have yet to invest in SEO services for various reasons.

If you’re still on the fence about getting SEO services, read on to discover what SEO services are, how they can help your growing business, and the services they offer.

Allow us to start with the obvious question.

What do SEO services mean?

SEO services encompass the various strategies offered by individual freelancers, consultants, and representatives from SEO agencies. The good thing about hiring the best SEO company in Melbourne or elsewhere is that you can get customised plans that fit your requirements and budget.

But how do search engines come up with search results? Website scanners, also called crawlers or bots, look at more than 200 ranking factors, some bearing more weight than others. According to Search Engine Journal, the world’s most-used search engine considers the following elements essential in ranking web pages:

• High-quality content
• Mobile usability
• Page speed
• User experience
• On-page optimisation
• Internal and external links

Most SEO techniques can be grouped into three primary classifications: on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO. While most companies offer strategies that fall into any of these categories, some SEO services are specialised, as you’ll discover in the next section.

Why a growing business needs SEO services

SEO involves numerous techniques that help businesses appear higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). Some optimisation methods may be too technical for non-SEO experts to understand and implement, and it’s easy to make costly mistakes if you don’t know what you’re doing.

At the very least, SEO is a complex and time-consuming activity that could easily become ineffective unless you have an in-house professional to monitor, update, and enhance your strategies constantly.

Below are a few reasons your growing company needs SEO services to expand further.

1. 1. SEO services ensure your website traffic is boosted

Being on top of SERPs provides small businesses leverage against large corporations with well-funded marketing campaigns. That’s because online searches have become an integral part of the purchasing process, with about half of consumers using search engines to search for a product or company before making a decision.

When your company shows up on the top spot, you’ll likely gain 28.5% of the total clicks, while the second placer will probably attract 15% more web visitors. SEO agencies exist to help rank your website higher in search results and, consequently, higher website traffic.

1. 2. SEO services provide expert skills and knowledge

Do-it-yourself SEO is possible, but it’s easy to miss some important elements that boost your rankings. Remember that there are over 200 ranking factors. Although some might be more important than others, it can be hard to outdo the competition without the necessary skills and experience to do the job.

Technical SEO, for instance, requires specific skill sets related to HyperText Markup Language (HTML), CSS, user interface and experience, content development, image optimisation, videography, and so on. And that’s not counting off-page, on-page, and local SEO best practices.

1. 3. SEO services let you understand customers better

Great customer experience is important for SEO and the entire business operations. According to a 2018 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey, 32% of consumers will choose another brand after a bad experience with a certain company.

Companies can gather valuable insights into customer behaviour and preferences through various SEO tools, including SERP analysis, search query data, and other metrics included in the analytics data. This, in turn, can help your organisation enhance marketing strategies and use appropriate messages to the right consumers. With an artificial intelligence-enabled system, your growing company can predict consumers’ needs and tweak your products and services accordingly.

1. 4. SEO services could positively impact your customer’s purchasing decision

About 53% of purchasers use online search engines to start the buying process. These users want to make the best decision by browsing through and comparing products and services.

In this critical stage, SEO can impact purchasing decisions by showing up on the top of the SERPs, uploading valuable knowledge about your company’s offers, and engaging in copywriting to persuade your prospects. Another good SEO strategy is automating feedback gathering and uploading these online. Word-of-mouth advertising and referrals effectively influence buying decisions—90% of people are more likely to trust recommended products.

Ranking highly on the search engines also gives a positive impression on your company, which increases the chances of consumers choosing your offers rather than your competitors.

1. 5. SEO services know what it takes to build trust and credibility

SEO’s impact on your business may require months, but building trust and credibility take longer. As a growing business, you may have the best product or service in your area, but your online presence must also demonstrate trust and reliability.

Optimisation strategies can help you achieve this because users trust search engine recommendations. The higher your pages are ranked on the results, the more trustworthy you are in the eyes of your audience. And SEO helps you achieve this by optimising content, providing great user experience, strategic link building, and getting good reviews from real customers, to name a few. An SEO agency knows how to build trust and credibility using specific techniques, helping your growing business succeed online and offline.

1. 6. SEO services can boost productivity and efficiency

About 49% of marketers consider SEO the most cost-effective mode of marketing. For instance, traditional marketing schemes and other digital marketing platforms cost a few hundred to a few thousand, depending on various conditions like advertising length, reach, and schedule.

Conversely, SEO services can cost an average of USD$500 (AUD$733.35), although businesses paying more are happier with the results. By hiring SEO services, your growing company will have access to a dedicated professional who can ensure everything is done right from the get-go.

More importantly, outsourcing SEO services means your company’s full-time staff and you can focus on running and operating your business. By paying a reasonable amount, you’ll have access to experts who can positively impact your marketing and other operational strategies.

1. 7. SEO services mean consistent performance reviews and improvements

The world’s most-used search engine can be as complex as it can get. For instance, besides the more than 200 ranking factors, the company makes multiple algorithm updates yearly. SEO professionals are updated on these changes and will perform the necessary tweaks to help you stay ahead of the competition.

Winning at the SEO game takes consistent effort and a proactive approach. When your website is left untouched for months, it may mean you can no longer make changes that help pull up your rankings. So, having experts at your side can make a difference.

For instance, the industry predicts voice searches to dominate in the future, comprising almost 50% of the total searches in the coming years. Because users find it easier to speak than type queries and commands, an estimated 8.4 billiondigital voice assistants are projected to get sold by 2024. With the latest technology and knowledge, SEO service companies can optimise your site’s voice search compatibility this early.

Which SEO services are essential to your growing business?

A business’s SEO requirements vary based on several factors, such as business niche and objectives, current SEO and marketing strategies, overall online presence, target market, and website structure, to name a few.

Similarly, some freelancers may focus on on-page SEO, while consultants may offer technical SEO services. In most cases, SEO agencies will include all on-page, off-page, and technical SEO services, based on different service packages and prices. SEO for small businesses tends to be cheaper but will still depend on your target market and the abovementioned factors.

SEO services in Melbourne or other places typically offer the following activities to boost your business’s SEO performance.

1. 1. SEO audit

After discussing your objectives, an SEO agency in Melbourne and other locations will kick off the partnership with an SEO audit. This activity involves evaluating your SEO techniques and website to determine strengths and weaknesses concerning your marketing objectives. It can also pinpoint specific factors that prevent your company website from ranking on search engines.

As such, all SEO services must prioritise an SEO audit before the start of the project and while the project is ongoing. When done before the planning stage, an SEO audit helps specialists create a strategy that fits well with your organisation. Done periodically, it can determine whether the plan is working and which aspects you need to improve.

1. 2. Competitor analysis

As a new player, you want to hit the ground running and reduce costly business mistakes. Studying the best practices of your more established competitors and improving on these can help you get ahead of the rest. The same holds when creating or fine-tuning your SEO strategies when you’re expanding.

A professional SEO service will analyse your website structure, content, and techniques and compare them with your competitors. Doing so enables professionals to identify gaps and opportunities, for instance, untapped topics and unexplored SEO elements, to improve your content and SERP rankings.

1. 3. Keyword research

One of the more important elements of an effective SEO is the correct use of keywords. There are several considerations in identifying the best keywords to target for your campaign, including search volume, business niche relevance, search intent, and ranking difficulty, among many others.

Free keyword research tools are available online but might come with specific usage restrictions. On the contrary, an SEO service provider will consider your business and the market to narrow your choices, allowing you to target users better.

1. 4. On-page optimisation

On-page optimisation consists of multiple techniques that rank your content and web pages highly in search engine results. As such, it’s an essential SEO service offered by agencies, including using the right keywords, proper formatting, updating, meta descriptions, title, and header tags for search optimisation. Ensuring a good sitemap and improved user experience through faster loading speeds and usability are also included in these activities.

As a fundamental SEO technique, agencies offer on-page optimisation as a basic service. Simply put, an SEO company isn’t one if it doesn’t have this in its arsenal.

1. 5. Off-page SEO

Similarly, an SEO company must provide off-page SEO, which comprises activities that optimise ranking factors outside your website. This includes promoting your site and web pages on other channels like social media and video-sharing platforms, working with influencers, building backlinks, and content marketing.

After optimising your webpage, an agency can perform off-page SEO by creating shareable content like photos and images or posting them on other popular online channels. Creating an online community or participating in forums can help establish brand reputation and authority, besides increasing organic web traffic.

1. 6. Technical SEO

Technical SEO often requires advanced knowledge, as it looks into the technical elements impacting your rankings and performs the needed interventions. SEO specialists often analyse the site structure and speed, study site maps, and ensure search engine bots or crawlers can properly index and understand the pages. A technical SEO specialist aims to reduce page loading times and improve server response rates to improve web usability and user experience.

1. 7. Local SEO

Aside from the three main SEO categories, small and growing businesses can hire agencies to boost their local SEO. This optimisation targets a business’s visibility in geographical or ‘near me’ searches. Targeting local searches can bring in more qualified leads. According to a survey, 90% of users sought local companies in 2020, with 76% of these searches leading to same-day store visits and 28% resulting in actual purchases.

Showing up on top of these searches enables your organisation to be on top of consumers’ minds once they’re ready to complete the transaction. Hence, an SEO company in Melbourne or elsewhere must provide such a service to attract more customers.

1. 8. Building backlinks strategically

Backlinks, called incoming or inbound links, are created when your website links to another site using anchor text or keywords. Building backlinks is essential in ranking because search engines will assess your content’s relevance, quality, and authority through these.

Getting more backlinks from popular and high-authority sites makes your page content easier to discover. The same holds if another site has cited your content or has linked from you, earning your company site an upvote from search engines and boosting your search rankings.

1. 9. SEO strategy customisation

No business is the same. That’s why you need an SEO company in Melbourne or elsewhere to provide you with the right approach and strategy to boost your business further. Hiring SEO experts who offer pre-designed plans without discussing and auditing your SEO and website performance can prevent you from optimising your returns.

More importantly, note that ranking factors change often, and previous SEO methods may no longer be applicable in the next months or years. For instance, keyword stuffing used to be a popular technique, but search engines have evolved. They will flag your content for irrelevance and engage in unethical SEO practices, negatively impacting your ranking.

1. 10. A dedicated account manager

While free SEO analytic tools are available, you’d still want to discuss with your SEO agency in person to make sense of each metric, like organic traffic and conversions, indexed pages, core web vitals, search visibility, and many others. Having an expert explain the impacts of your SEO strategy is crucial, so having an account manager is ideal.

Regular discussions with your account manager provide valuable insights into what’s working and not, so you can discuss how to tweak your plan. However, note that SEO results can take anywhere from three to six months, so try not to push for big results in the first month.

1. 11. Flexible and updated SEO strategies

While it takes a few months for SEO results to take effect, an SEO company mustn’t rest on its laurels after a positive performance. Optimisation is a long-term and ever-changing strategy, so your SEO provider must have updated skills and knowledge.

An SEO specialist must also be skilled at solving problems and eager to improve. That’s because no matter how perfect your SEO strategy is, loopholes and weaknesses will likely show sooner or later, and a forward-thinking expert can help your growing company jump through such hoops.

1. 12. Content analysis and optimisation

High-quality and optimised content is an important element in SEO as well. If your growing business doesn’t have a dedicated team of writers or content creators, you can tap certain SEO companies that provide such services.

The provider will analyse and revise your content based on the content and keyword strategy. Sometimes, these agencies can have content development and creation teams responsible for producing relevant and fresh material, generating more clicks.

Concluding thoughts

Regardless of your business location and niche, an SEO service is vital in enabling your company to grow and thrive. Online visibility helps growing firms increase brand awareness, boost website traffic, and attract new customers, among many other benefits. Furthermore, SEO can help your site become user-friendly, encouraging engagement and allowing more consumers to trust your brand.

Through SEO best practices, you can establish authority that gets you ahead of the competition. With these advantages, it’s safe to say that SEO is vital regardless of your business’s stage, but more so when it’s growing.

Learning more about SEO services is crucial before considering the best SEO companies Melbourne has on its list or in any location. Experienced SEO professionals can guide you through the process and ensure your strategy fits your targets seamlessly.