In regards to digital marketing, search engine optimization, or SEO, is arguably the most difficult form to pursue. Having said that, it shouldn’t discourage anyone or any business from beginning an SEO campaign. In reality, SEO is not necessarily difficult, but rather it is very time consuming. Every once in a while here at Firestarter SEO, we have clients who come to us hoping that SEO will be the silver bullet that helps save their business especially given the aspects of the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic. SEO is what we consider to be a “long-term play” when compared to other forms of digital marketing such as PPC (pay per click). The following blog post will provide some insights into the SEO process in order to understand how “difficult” it is.
SEO Takes Time
SEO is a form of digital marketing that seeks to help businesses and their websites get to the first page of Google. Studies have shown that 75% of people never go past the first page of results when doing a search. What this means for those considering SEO is that it can take months, if not years, to get to the first page. The reason for this is due to a number of considerations. Among these considerations are topics such as how long your business has been around, if you’ve done any kind of SEO in the past, and how competitive your industry is amongst other things. You can never really know how long it will take to begin seeing success until an established SEO provider audits your website.
The Firestarter Process
At Firestarter SEO, our clients generally begin seeing real, measurable growth around the 4-6 month mark. Sometimes this can be a bit of a shock to our clients who wonder how it can take so long. The simple answer is that while making changes to websites such as fixing technical errors or strategically placing keywords within the content, it can take a while for search engines like Google to process the information and ultimately determine how to rank it. Over time and with an experienced SEO provider working their magic, Google will eventually recognize that you’ve been taking a more active approach to your website, have put in the effort to clean up coding errors on the back end, and have been establishing yourself as an authoritative member of your respective industry. When this happens, you’ll generally begin seeing a large uptick in website traffic and by this point will likely be enjoying the return on your investment.
Recap
While SEO is a relatively difficult process, it shouldn’t discourage anyone or any business from investing in such a crucial aspect of marketing. With the ongoing pandemic, we are seeing that SEO is becoming even more invaluable as time goes on as a result of so much business moving online. The important thing to keep in mind when considering SEO is that it’s a lengthy process, can become time consuming, but will ultimately work wonders for helping a business establish an online presence, generate new leads, and grow well into the future.
