Aug
Top 10 Reasons to Use SEO: 2011 Edition
This is an update to the original list I wrote a couple of years ago. I felt it was necessary to update this list as a number of statistics and sources are outdated from that post. So, without further ado, here is the 2011 version of the top 10 reasons to use SEO:
#10 – According to data from Search Engine Land, there are 2 million search queries performed per minute on Google. A total of 98.8 billion search queries are performed across Google, Yahoo, and Bing in a given month. 40% of queries are local searches.
#9 – According to Avinash Kaushik of Google, 14% of clicks on a search results page are on PPC ads, while 86% of clicks are on natural search result listings.
#8 – 9 out of 10 people use a search engine when looking for products and services.
#7 – Over a quarter (27 percent) of small businesses have a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plan in place, up from 19 percent a year ago. It is only going to get more competitive!
#6 – Online marketing is currently 13.3% of all total advertising spend.
#5 – Online advertising spend expected to be $36.3 billion by 2014 and has seen an average of 10% growth year over year.
#4 – Forrester estimates that both US online retail will grow at a 10 percent compound annual growth rate from 2010 to 2015, reaching $279 billion in 2015.
#3 – Everything is measureable, since you can utilize tools like Google Analytics.
#2 – Your website is a virtual salesman that works 24/7/365, no sick days or paid time off.
#1 – Best way to initiate a direct response as it is the only form of marketing that puts you in front of targeted prospective customers who are looking exactly for what you offer at a point when they are ready to buy.
Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.Related posts:
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There is really only one reason for SEO.
To get to the top of the heap so you can make money.
Best,
Reg
nbs-seo.com
Regarding your item #6 (that online marketing is 13 percent), do you mean money just spent on SEO? Or on *all* online marketing compared to brick-and-mortar marketing? If so, that totally floors me, because I’m trying to think what I would spend the remaining 87 percent on. Can you clarify that a little bit, please?
Hi Justin,
SEO is getting more necessary in online business today. It is a marketing strategy that online entrepreneurs should not ignore. I learned a lot from the stats you provided. Thanks.
Tiffany
Are these numbers based on US figures. For instance:
#9 – According to Avinash Kaushik of Google, 14% of clicks on a search results page are on PPC ads, while 86% of clicks are on natural search result listings.
Does that apply to the whole spectrum of Google searches is that an American trend?
It was interesting to know that 2 million search queries performed per minute on Google. 2 million per minute definitely is a very huge number. The 2011 version of the top 10 reasons to use SEO completely makes a lot of sense.Online advertising is going to be used by more number of users.
I believe this is all of Google.
Hi David, this is all online marketing compared to direct mail, television ads, billboards, radio ads, etc.
Very useful highlight on SEO.Looking forward for more information about SEO on the site.
Interesting site to go on through.SEO has a great role for influencing business in internet ways in today’s date.
According to your statistics it is quite clear that the power of SEO is not going to under estimate if someone wants to stay in the wave of web. Your analysis is strengthen this fact.
Simple but very informative post about SEO. This only explains that SEO will never die rather will keep getting bigger and stronger through the years.
#8 is truer than true. It’s a solid fact. Even I do this myself. I even search for simple candy deliveries. I search everything on the internet before asking anyone first. There are more than 10 ways to use SEO but the ones you stated are definitely the common reasons why people use SEO.
I like #2, well websites do get sick sometimes – when the server is down
LOL good point Mia.
SEO can only become more of a necessity as sites enter to compete for the terms.
SEO continues to evolve, and we professionals must adapt or perish.
The term ‘SEO’ is bandied about when it has no relationship to ACTUAL SEO work.
For the last couple of years, surveys have been showing a large % of SEO pros consider on-page work as a minor part of the packages.
This has changed.
On-Page is the key.
The WAY you layout your pages counts as much as the content.
Google wants to see relevance, and there are really very few ways to present it.
Google has again told us that linking is not a major factor in SERPs. If we eliminate link building as a SEO plan, most of the SEO factors migrate to the site.
Google also tells us that link-building to influence their SERPs is against their TOS.
Best,
Reg
nbs-seo.com
Well, seo is becoming a necessity now for most websites. Most of the people search for the websites in natural listings rather than the paid one.
I don’t see any reason why an internet marketer should not use SEO for the success of his or her online business. It’s necessary. Without SEO, it’s impossible for your online biz to succeed.
Very useful highlight on SEO!
so thanks
I can’t image a company thriving online today that isn’t at least aware of SEO impact.
It’s a critical part of allowing people to find you so they can purchase your product or service.
Not focusing on SEO is the same as opening a store and not telling people about it.
I’m sure that next year surveys will be even more optimistic according to SEO part in the gross costs of expenses at enterprises. It’s obvious that quality SEO is the best way to earn money.
I don’t see any reason why an internet marketer should not use SEO for the success of his or her online business. It’s necessary. Without SEO, it’s impossible for your online biz to succeed.
Thanks Nicholas. This isn’t just for internet marketers though, this is for businesses in general.
great list , its hard to believe that some people just expect their page to rank at the top or get new customers with doing some work in SEO or hiring a professional
Great post, Justin!
Given that my recent online marketing campaign (my first so-far moderately successful one!) is entirely SEO-based, I could not agree more!
I made the mistake before that so many ‘gurus’ want you to fall for of buying their product to learn how to teach other people how to do affiliate marketing without ever really learning how to do it yourself! This always involved marketing yourself as a product (think Chris Farrell) long before you know anything!
Now I’m following the advice of an actual super affiliate who follows a largely SEO-based plan of attack–and I’m a believer, since I’m page one and already made quite a few sales in the first week.
For a newbie, I really recommend SEO as the way to start. Time-consuming and not that exciting, yes, but it’s very straight-forward, easy to understand and implement. If I was still trying to market myself today…I don’t know where I’d be!
Thanks Christina and congratulations on your recent success!
Thanks Justin at least after reading this article the SEO people will get an job,but it was great to read your article.And after mentioning top 10 reasons why companies should use SEO the fortune 500 companies will also focus on SEO.Justin, i would like to know what is your opinion about Web Analytics?
SEO is the keynode to establish your presence in the online venture.The visits and goals achieved by organic search is far more relevant and genuine than PPC or Ads.
The facts you illustrate here is really awesome and also the statistics you mention is really encouraging for SEO to take a great move forward. Thanks for the post.
We have been in and out in the first page of google. One keywords matters in how much we earn in our company.
Well nice information about SEO.It shows that SEO is going be larger in future and has became necessity for every website to boost their business.Without SEO it is impossible for your business to get succeed.Thnaks for highlighting the SEO.
SEO is one of the marketing strategy that online or internet marketers should be consider. This is so popular in online business today. An informative posts about SEO, thanks..
Personally I think this list kinda sounds more like “reasons to have a website” than “reasons to use SEO,” with the exception of point #9. If only 14% of SE clicks goes to paid ads, those who rely on Adwords are not only spending a fortune – they’re also missing most of the action.
@Infrared,
Both are interchangeable.
There is little reason to have a website if it cannot be found.
The PPC users ARE spending fortunes.
They ARE missing most of the action.
However they do not have to be good enough to beat out thousands or millions of other sites vying for a top 3 position.
WOW: “A total of 98.8 billion search queries are performed across Google, Yahoo, and Bing in a given month”
And I thought the internet was becoming saturated
SEO is absolutely the way to go, particularly for those new to IM. It’s time-consuming but pretty straightforward.
I’m new in the last year and have to say that I feel that all the fuss about the Panda update was overblown–majorly. It is not the end of SEO, it’s simply the end of dishonest, lazy marketers and spammers who don’t want to put the work in and use dishonest marketing practices.
Although there’s a lot of competition for just about everything these days, it’s still possible to succeed at SEO if you choose your keywords wisely and put the work in.
So it’s nice to have an article by a pro who’s not knocking SEO, Justin–pretty unusual these days!
SEO is a very powerful marketing strategy. And I still don’t get why there are still businesses out there who haven’t yet included this in their marketing strategies.
Great post, Justin! I only see internet marketing, especially SEO, continuing to grow. With our world going virtual and everyone having electronic gadgets, this isn’t surprising.
Personally, I prefer shopping online. And yes, I do click on the organic results, not the PPC.
SEO seems to be an effective tool for online marketers. It is really important to know how to maximize your skills and continuously learn through reading because every now and then things change online.
its nice to have a stat like this, thanks for the info. but don’t you feel that google must be finding ways to suppress seo techniques, infact its true that ppc holds 14% and organic search is 86% but google is working on algorithms to suppress seo.
Google has ALWAYS had SEO penalties reggie.
Over SEOing is one and keyword stuffing is another.
As long as they use a system, the SEO guys will reverse engineer it.
best,
Reg
http://nbs-seo.com
I think you’d be crazy not to see that SEO is an effective marketing… it’s been tested and consistently there are results saying that it has helped.
That is a great stuff for seo beginners. i love the IM and want to be achieve huge success in this field.
With so many social media experts rubbishing the benefits of SEO, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to convince businesses of the need for SEO. The fact that the foundations of the marketing strategy need to be in place, i.e. a well optimised and linked to website, before social aspects are added is often now overlooked.
Wow Justin. 3
Way to make a comprehensive list to give entrepreneurs a way into companies that are unsure about hiring an SEO consultant. Unreal
Wow!! Attractive post!
In all this post you make very effective and attractive blog and please I request you to suggest me how to creat this type of blog even also say how to make design and look of your blog.
Thanks for giving us more reason to do SEO as a career and a way of living
All these are facts and you can’t deny that SEO is a very good business as long as there is internet.
There are over 250 million blogs this 2011.And 40% of them serve ads from ad networks and 40% sell text links and reviews. By analyzing their strategy of monetizing their blogs, they must be into SEO. If not they are not making money online.
To add with the discussion, if you have a strong background with SEO if you personally was searching for something it’s much easier for you to find what you are looking for compared to those who don’t have an idea with this SEO thingy.
Very useful tips on SEO
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for updating your old list. Great statistics you presented there. I’m surprised by some of the figures, especially the 10% compounded growth rate of online retail. Seems like that’s where I should be putting my money in the next few years!
Thanks for the list….Really useful to convince a possible new client!
Even before seeing this list, I’ve known that SEO is an up and coming marketing tool that people would be silly not to use… But it’s all a matter of finding the right strategy, because it’s not as easy as some people make it seem – especially not as a DIY project!!
To elaborate on number 7 (if I may), having your site on top of search engine result pages for your targeted keywords today means you are making your brand visible to people online. Even if the competition gets much tougher in the long run and you see new competitors overtaking you on the SERPS, you have already established your brand.
These are definitely some good reasons to use SEO. Our company has recently implemented some SEO practices and we’re already seeing results after not too long… Definitely a good investment!
It is very useful tips..Thank you for giving a lot of reason to do a SEO as a career..Thanks a lot for sharing some of your old list..
I think that #8 says it all – 9 out of 10 people use a search engine when looking for products and services. With that in mind, SEO is critical. Thank you for your post, very informative and it sure does reinforce the importance of SEO.
Hi Justin,
Thanks for the post.
It is great to read that online marketing expenditures are expected to increase even during difficult economic times.
One more reason: SEO is relatively unexpensive! It would cost an online business much more to run an advertising campaign than to run a SEO campaign. Of, course, they’ll just have to be smart and find the ways to save money. It really is possible.
It takes a lot of work, yes, and it is very time-consuming indeed but it really is relatively unexpensive.
SEO definitely delivers the best ROI over the long term but try telling that to the larger corporate buyers –
“88% of online search dollars are spent on paid results, even though 85% of searchers click on organic result.”
Cheers
GOOD Stuff! Always in search for advanced SEO strategies, hey Justin i would like to appreciate for sharing this blog.Highly recommended!
This list is very useful for convincing potential clients who have never used SEO before. I do think the data is US though.
Hi Justin,
Thanks for sharing your SEO knowledge with us. I have been working on SEO for a couple of years now using different methods and they are really helping a lot in terms of site rank and traffic.
Regards the ninth point, it is to be noted that more than 50% of clicks in the organic results concerns the first position, which is why it is the most coveted.
Daniela@Blefaroplastica´s last [type] ..Straordinari risultati con le cellule staminali
I have a question. Do you see this market becoming over-saturated in the near future?
It has been over-saturated for a couple of years now. That said, I think business owners are becoming more savvy with online marketing and are being taken advantage of less. SEO’s who know what they are doing are still at a premium though and expert SEO is not something that is over-saturated.
I thought your post was really good! I think you should post more