Is it worth the time and money when Google’s algorithms change regularly, and paid advertising offers much faster results? Many actually claim SEO is “dead.” To determine if SEO is worth the resources and investment, you must carefully consider what you want from SEO investment.
SEO is not what many say it is. SEO is not a static product nor the magic answer to all your business problems. SEO is a craft that must always be adapted to the current requirements of search engines.
There are three factors to consider when deciding if SEO is actually worth the investment.
What can SEO do for your own company?
You’ve probably heard that SEO can increase your sales, but that’s only true if the rest of the marketing mix is right. SEO helps you get more visitors to your website. No more and no less. Whether they then also buy or make an inquiry depends on whether their products or services offer a benefit for your target group on the one hand and whether their website invites you to make a purchase or make an inquiry on the other.
For SEO to increase your sales, your website must be able to channel organic traffic and convert it into leads.
Is organic traffic better than paid traffic?
Well, let’s define “better” first. Some people think faster traffic is better traffic. Other website owners consider the quality of traffic to be better. Also, many business owners consider the cheapest traffic to be the better option.
This allows traffic to be divided into three categories:
- Website traffic speed (faster = better)
- Quality of traffic (more conversions = better)
- Cost of traffic (cheaper = better)
SEO delivers slower traffic than paid/PPC
If traffic speed is a big concern for you, then SEO is not the best path to go initially. SEO takes time. When you do SEO for your website, you are essentially trying to gain popularity. When a website or page goes live, it’s one of the millions that went online that same day.
So is SEO worth it in this case? If the speed of the result is more important to you, then PPC might be a better option at this stage.
SEO often delivers higher quality visitors compared to PPC
People don’t trust ads. Ad blindness and the ever-growing list of ad blockers tell us that people are fed up with ads. You can’t even go to a fast-food restaurant anymore and not be lied to about what you’re ordering. How many times has your burger actually looked like the picture on the drive-thru menu? Exactly.
Over 70% of people enjoy scrolling past ads to see organic results because organic results inspire more trust than paid ads.
This trust is transferred to the visitor of your website. The visitor knows that your website deserves its ranking – and was not directly paid for it.
As long as you’re targeting the right keywords on the page and providing value once the visitor hits the site, your conversions will be higher with organic results than with a paid visitor.
So is SEO worth it? If you care about the quality of your visitors and want to instill a better sense of trust, then yes, SEO is worth it.
SEO delivers a more cost-effective visitor than PPC
With PPC models, you pay for every single click. When someone sees your PPC ad on Google, Facebook or LinkedIn and decides to visit you, you pay for it. Cost per click (“CPC”) is a variable rate that depends on the quality of your ad and the competition in your space.
Due to the increasing competition in the advertising space, the average CPC has been increasing in almost all industries for years.
SEO, on the other hand, is not based on a per-click basis. Once your website ranks on the first page of Google, you will start getting organic clicks.
So is SEO worth it in this case? Do you want to reduce the cost per acquisition of your leads? If yes, then YES, SEO is worth it.
How much does SEO cost?
For example, let’s get the idea out of your head that SEO has a “cost”. SEO is an investment in your business.
You’re building an asset by developing a website and content that will last as long as your business exists. Every dollar put into an SEO campaign will yield results that stay with your business.
On the other hand, paid ads (PPC) can generate leads faster, but they disappear immediately once you stop spending money on them.
SEO is an investment. So how much should you invest in SEO?
The amount will vary from agency to agency and industry to industry. Typically, you should expect to pay $300-$500 per month for local, low-competition, local SEO in one site.
In addition, recommendations in the range of $1000-$6000 per month apply for search engine optimization with multiple locations and national and stronger competition. Which investment is right for you depends on your goals, the lifetime value of your customers, and how you are currently spending your marketing budget.
So is SEO worth it? The investment of time and money
If your marketing budget allows, SEO is an investment that should be started sooner rather than later. Time is a precious commodity in SEO, and the longer you delay investing in a successful SEO campaign, the longer it will take to start getting free traffic.
If you are a small one-person business, then SEO is still a very important investment, but it may make more sense to do SEO yourself than to hire an agency to do it for you.