“Why Should You Invest in Long-term SEO?” is one of the most common and repeated questions around the Search Engine Optimization industry.

Over the last ten years, Google has increased its focus on user experience and search intent, making this a hot topic. Google’s rollout of RankBrain several years ago made this topic even hotter. But the big question is whether an investment in SEO is worthwhile. In this article, we’ll share with you the benefits of making a long-term investment in SEO. We have included a number of items such as SERP (Search Engine Results Page) features and voice searches that you might not even realize fall under SEO.

Evolving Search Algorithms
According to John Muller, Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst, its search engine algorithm gets refreshed throughout the year. If we take the unconfirmed algorithm updates from Google into consideration, we would see a pattern of an everyday refresh. Truth be told, webmasters around the world report fluctuations in ranking almost every day. The below screenshot shows the rank fluctuations from one of the SEO tools for the last 30 days.

The message is pretty clear that the Google algorithm is evolving every day, and your effective SEO strategy should be revised to accommodate the changes. Additionally, adhering to the Search Engine’s guidelines will help your website visits grow naturally.

Evolving SERP Features
Google keeps introducing new SERP features to deliver users what they are looking for. These changes are most visible in search results, which make every organic marketer optimize the website/content for the new feature. Every time search engines, especially Google, introduce a new SERP feature, it altogether changes the definition of “how to do SEO.” Below is a sample set of SERP features that dominate the search results.

So what does this mean for you? A long-term SEO strategy is critical for making sure you perform well on SERPs.

Evolving Search Intent
With greater penetration of mobile devices, the search intent is evolving, as well. Currently, Local and Voice are changing the game plan. Small businesses should capitalize on local SEO to get maximum visibility. In the past two years, “Near me” organic searches have witnessed exponential growth. From 2013 to 2017, there was a 900% increase in “near me” searches.

Voice search is growing exponentially YoY and is becoming popular with all age groups, especially the younger generation. If you are in the B2C market, voice search optimization should be an integral part of your marketing strategy. The following few points will clearly say where it is leading and why you should capture this:

• The global market for voice search devices grew by 187% in Q2 2018.
• Apple, Google, Xiaomi, Amazon, and other manufacturers collectively shipped 16.8 million units in Q1 of 2018.
• Google sold 5.4 Million Google Home models so far in 2018.
• Amazon had sold 4.1 Million Echo devices by Q2 2018.

Courtesy

One in five searches on a mobile device is now a voice search. According to Google, 39% of people use voice search to find business, store, etc.

Clearly, optimizing your website content for voice is critical.

Your website content should use natural language to make sure your users understand the content with ease. To optimize your content for voice searches, use long-tail keywords and focus on natural language. Keep in mind that most long-tail keywords in voice searches are in the form of questions. Having a Q&A or a FAQ section could be the right place to start.

Competitors are Evolving
Every business competes for better online presence. So, when it comes to online marketing, you face new competitors every day. These aren’t just your direct business competitors but also other websites like Wikipedia, Twitter, etc. These information-focused websites dominate the SERP pages for your business terms across all search engines. The bottom line is that you need to outrank your business competitors as well as the general information-based websites. Regular competitor gap analysis will help you sharpen your sword and get yourself in front of your battlefield.

Brand Building (Economically)
Long term SEO helps economically build your brand by growing your online presence. Remember, an established brand usually stays at the forefront of a person’s mind even after the sale or service is over. Brand building and SEO work toward the same goals with an additional benefit of getting better traffic, targeted audiences, improved conversion rate and profitable ROI.

Hidden Benefits
When you focus on delivering high-quality content based on what your users are looking for, you can considerably reduce your customer-care and sales costs. Here are two recommendations for accomplishing this:

• Focus on common questions of your users/customers in a FAQ section
• Provide tutorials/guides to help customers understand your products and services

Final thoughts:
The bottom line is that if you have a marketing budget, investing in long-term organic SEO should not be a second thought. Long-term investment in SEO is one of the best marketing choices you can make for your business growth. This form of digital marketing will help your potential customers find your website with ease, which will result in targeted organic traffic, higher sales and better ROI.

Interested in learning more about the growing organic trends, reach out to us!