SEO spending to hit new highs

The amount of money being spent on promoting businesses through SEO is set to hit record highs – outpacing predictions made even before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Search engine optimisation is one of the most effective and cost-efficient methods of building a profile online, and during the lockdown period it has been one of the few ways in which organisations have been able to reach new customers.

Despite the global pandemic and the tough economic consequences, industry insiders calculated a more than 5% increase in SEO spending throughout 2020. And once the lockdown is behind us, and people are allowed to return to normal life, this growth in spending is only expected to accelerate.

When potential customers go online, whether through desktop or mobile, looking for products, reviews or other information, more than half of the time they start with a search query. In all likelihood, more people will find you through Google than will type in your address, click your social media links or be sent a link from a colleague or friend – combined.

And yet most search engine users never scroll down beyond the first few results, and hardly ever click onto the second page. SEO, then, should be a crucial part of any marketing strategy.

So where is the money being spent? There are several ways in which an SEO campaign can boost your ranking. Here are a few of the most important:

Researching keywords: It’s crucial that your website features the same keywords that potential visitors will search for, but this isn’t always as predictable as it might first appear. There are different ways in which people search (speaking versus typing, for example) and the more in-demand a keyword is, the more it could cost for you to utilise it. Finding the right balance is a science in itself.

Quality content: Search engines prefer to point their users towards quality websites, with fresh, insightful and up-to-date content, so it pays to invest in regularly updating your site.

The right hosting package: A website needs to be stable, always available and free from niggles such as security flaws and over-the-top advertising to rank well on search engines.

Links from around the web: A key way that a search engine can determine the value of your site is to see what your peers think. If a lot of good quality websites are linking to you, then you’re likely worth ranking highly. Building links around the web, including through other blogs, Google’s business listings services or relevant directories can be a fruitful exercise.

Here at eBusiness UK, we have recorded a bumper year in new contract wins, with many ambitious businesses – new and old – recognising how valuable SEO can be in marketing their brands and achieving their growth targets.

We develop individual, bespoke plans for each project and have been delivering measurable, real-world results for more than 20 years. Talk to us today to find out how our SEO services can help your business succeed.