The Numbers Behind Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is one of the most important parts of any successful digital marketing approach, but many businesses don’t really know just how important it is. Take a quick look at the numbers below, and you’ll have a better idea about what SEO entails and why it matters so much!

• SEO has become so important because consumers are using the internet to shop more and more each day. Search engines allow consumers to find the businesses they want and they also allow businesses to reach consumers who don’t even know they exist! It’s estimated that around 44% of all shoppers start their searches with a site like Google or Bing.
• Content marketing focuses on creating high-quality content — be it written content or visual content — which provides the audience with useful and entertaining information while also helping SEO. It’s definitely more of an investment than traditional advertising, but it is something that provides a big return in investment. At the end of the day, content marketing costs 62% less than conventional advertising, and it produces three times as many leads.
• Social media marketing is another big part of SEO campaigns, with Facebook and Twitter coming out on top. YouTube is growing very quickly, though, and it’s actually the third-largest search engine today. This means that consumers automatically go to YouTube when they want to search for something — which means that consumers are more interested in visual content than written content these days.
• Email marketing is sometimes considered a more traditional SEO strategy but it’s still very effective and can work in seamlessly with social media marketing. Email marketing, oddly enough, might even be growing in popularity because it seems to be more convenient and effective for mobile device users. 48% of all emails are opened on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, and this number continues to rise. Although social media marketing is great for building up a brand, email marketing is around 40 times more effective when it comes to building up an actual consumer base.

One of the coolest — albeit frustrating — parts about search engine optimization is that it’s always changing. But for the businesses that know how to make it work, SEO can be very beneficial.