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Search Engine Optimisation Guide Part 1: Benefits | Part 2: Drawbacks | Part 3: Myths | Part 4: Ranking Factors | Part 5: Costs

When search engines first existed as clunky online directories, no one could have predicated their future potential. In the early years of the internet, it was easy to get to the top of Google as competition didn't exist. After all, people still used the Yellow Pages to find service providers. As the potential was realised, more and more businesses built an online presence. Consequently competition is far greater, and now business owners are aware how many people use the internet for purchasing, it's no wonder everybody is desperate for a slice of the pie. Our Ultimate SEO Guide covers the benefits and pitfalls of Search Engine Optimisation, providing you with invaluable advice on how to get started.

Part 1: Benefits

Introduction

Search Engine Optimisation is the process of building and maintaining a website in a way that will improve rankings in search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft's Bing. It has transformed the world of marketing as promoting your business on search engines put you in front of people actively searching for what you provide.

Search engines gain a huge amount of traffic. Within the UK, Google gets over 8% of all traffic. Another massive website is the BBC, but it gets a tenth of traffic that Google does.  More and more people use the web for research and purchasing, and their starting point is always a search engine. It's less a case of should you be thinking about Search Engine Optimisation, more like why aren't you thinking about it!

Opening Markets

The great thing about search engines is that it opens up your business to the whole world, 24/7. Not many businesses can afford a global TV campaign, but Search Engine Optimisation provides a similar impact for a fraction of the cost.

It is unprecedented to see a platform where small businesses can take on huge conglomerates, but with Search Engine Optimisation, you can. By focusing on niche keyword phrases, websites can avoid the competition for broad ones, whilst still receiving the amount of traffic that they can cope with.

Credibility

Just like with a fancy website design, people associate a high ranking website with credibility. Just by being No.1 in Google, it helps the chance of people purchasing from you.

Establishment

Once the initial work is done, maintaining good SEO practices can reap massive rewards over a long period of time. This means more traffic and sales without increasing expenditure.

Cost Effectiveness

Many larger business use Pay Per Click to bid for the alluring high traffic broad keyword phrases such as 'football'. This leaves smaller businesses, who can act quickly that these huge behemoths, to optimise for more specific keyword phrases, like 'nike football boots'. And this is why SEO is so cost effective compared to other forms of advertising. Not only are you only advertising to people who want your product or service, but it's cheaper than advertising in a magazine or newspaper.

Measuring

One of the great benefits of marketing online is that you can see how a user got to your website and what they did when they were there. This provides valuable insights into the performance of your website. With Search Engine Optimisation, you can learn what keyword phrases result in the best Return On Investment (ROI). Data you can see includes:

		Which search engine brings the most visitors
		What pages visitors look at
		How much time they spend on your pages
		How many move on straight away

Usability

SEO also promotes good practice for usability, because the easier a site is to navigate for users, the easier it is for search engines to log as well. This means your website will be indexed quicker, and more in-depth. This helps to rank your website far sooner. An optimised website will also load faster, so creates a better experience all round.