SEO, the acronym for search engine optimization, is one of the most commonly used terms when it comes to businesses and the steps of creating an online presence. By definition search engine optimization is described as the process of building up the number of guests to a single website, by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing.

Therefore, SEO is critical for a company’s bottom line as you can not generate revenue if your website does not have visibility. In order to take your business to the next level, SEO is an essential step in online marketing. If you are a growing company, here are four reasons why SEO is critical for your business no matter the size.

Primary Source of Website Traffic

SEO is critical to driving potential customers to your website. SEO is comparable to how freestanding stores in a mall pay extra to lease stores in highly foot-trafficked areas. Search engine searches are a primary source of “foot traffic” for a website.

Build Credibility

For the average person, seeing a website at the top of the search results page demonstrates to them credibility and of trustworthiness of a site. You want to create authority over your competition as the superior choice and SEO helps achieve that (along with a reliable product or service). The building of authority over your competition will take time, yet it will establish a firm foundation for your business.

Increase Engagement, Traffic & Conversions

Although traffic and engagement is a large part of the goals of SEO, however, the end game is conversion optimization. Once you get the traffic directed over to your website, you have to convert their visit into cash flow for the company.

Start by making sure you have the right design layout and content on the site; such as, does your web page load quickly, is your site mobile-friendly (extremely important as most consumers are now online through their smartphones), is the site easy to navigate, and does your website have valuable content that meets the needs of the users?

Track Your Customers

If your website is correctly optimized including mobile index optimization (Google’s priority now) it will increase traffic to your site. Between Google Analytics (a tool that is almost a mandatory to have set up) in conjunction with your host sites analytics, a business can track important information about their visitors such as their location, the time of days they are most active, how much time they spent on a page, which page, in particular, they visited, etc.

This information will help you discover your target market so that you can focus your advertising on them, and determine the best strategies based on the analytical data your business receives versus trying to make an educated guess. By taking the time to learn who your customers are, the better product or service you can provide to them.

Effective, quality SEO on a company’s website is beneficial to the brand and their digital marketing efforts. Bing digital is considered to be strong at developing and implementing the necessary data to build a brand’s online presence.