A lot has changed with SEO over the years, impacting the marketing strategies of both small and large businesses. Between 2010 and 2019 alone, there were 13 major updates to the Google algorithm related to SEO. In 2021 and 2022, a number of additional updates were made, such as the link spam update, helpful content system updates and the page experience update.
Overall, the Google algorithm undergoes about 12 changes per day! With all of these updates, it can be hard to understand how SEO practices still remain relevant and important to rankings. But they do.
Why Good SEO Still Matters
Google processes over 8.5 billion searches per day. With so much content on the web, it’s Google’s job to deliver the best results. People continue to trust Google because it delivers the relevant, high quality content they’re looking for. So, while SEO is certainly not dead, it is changing.
Here are some reasons why good SEO still makes a difference for your business website.
Visibility and rankings
One of the most important functions of SEO is to increase visibility, which means making it easier for people to find you when they’re searching for something you offer. The higher you rank on the search results, the more likely people will see you and click through your site.
Web traffic
Another important function of SEO is to increase traffic to your site. Google search gets about 32 percent of clicks and moving up just one spot can increase your CTR by 30 percent! Many brands focus on getting a Featured Snippet, or 0 position, because it’s ranked first. To improve your chances of moving up, you’ll need good SEO practices.
Page authority
Authority is important to users, which is why it’s becoming more important to Google. People prefer to use websites that are trustworthy, high quality and relevant. Scores range from 1 to 100, with higher numbers being more trustworthy. Improving your link profile with good linking practices is believed to be a way to increase authority.
Improved visitor experience
You spend a lot of time creating high quality content for visitors to read, but they won’t be able to find it without SEO. Using the right keywords, making your site responsive and increasing page load times are all ways to improve the user experience, reduce bounce rates and improve conversions.
SEO is important because the search engines can’t do everything on their own. SEO helps Google understand your website, rank it accordingly and determine its authority, which ends up bringing the right traffic to your site. To make sure that you’re using SEO properly and keeping up with the best practices from the latest updates, schedule a consultation with WSI Internet Partners.
