SEO 101: What is it, and how important is it for businesses not selling physical items?
I recently posted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on LinkedIn where I had someone stop by and ask a question about SEO. After spending some time answering it, I figured that it was helpful enough that I'd share it in blog format for you to read.
So, without further ado, here is that conversation:
The Question:
Hello from a fellow Alaskan! I feel like I need a basics 101 of what SEO is and how important it is (or not) for businesses that are not selling physical items.
The Answer:
Hey, thanks for taking time to stop by and comment on my post! Glad to hear from another Alaskan!
Let me try and answer your question as succinctly as possible here (and let me know if you want to dig deeper into any specific part!).
The Short Answer
Edit: After taking the time to answer your question, I realize that my succinct answer is still quite lengthy. Here's an even shorter answer to respect your time!
What is SEO?
SEO is search engine optimization, a method that marketers use to get your website to the first page of Google. (i.e. making sure your website shows up in the right place at the right time)
How important is it (or not) for businesses that are not selling physical items?
I'd say it is just as important (if not more so) as for physical products because you don't have the benefit of having your brand in the physical world as often to remind people to look you up online! How important is important? As important as having a higher volume of clients reaching out for consulting on a regular basis is to you!
For more details, read on into my other comments!
The Long Answer (with examples!)
To your first question. The 101 basics of SEO, what even is it?
In short, I see search engine optimization (SEO) as simply a set of methods that marketers use to promote a business. More commonly stated, it's how a marketer gets your website to rank at the top of page one on Google.
To go in more detail, let me use your example of a business not selling physical items, a comparison might be helpful.
Product Example - Merchandising
For a product or physical item, it's like when you go to a store like Carrs or Fred Meyer looking for Kaladi Brother's Coffee, in your head, you already have an idea of where you assume that product is going to be, (typically you'd look in the hot drinks aisle, likely next to the other coffee). It might be a surprise to you if it was kept next to the cat food in the back of the store. Generally, think merchandising, where products are placed in the store. Usually a Merchandising Specialist would be the one making this decision.
Service/Product Example - Search Engine Optimization
In the digital world, whether with a physical product or your business's website, the goal of SEO is to make sure your product/service/business appears in the right place at the right time. Instead of Carrs/Fred Meyer, you are looking at Google or Bing. Instead of being confused why coffee is in the pet food aisle, your client's press release for their climate and arctic impact minimization efforts might not be showing up in the search results for stakeholders to find. (That or people are calling you asking when the zoo opens!). This is the problem SEO solves, but instead of getting on the phone with the Merchandising Specialist at Carrs, you would be changing code or text on your website for Google's AI website crawlers to find. That's what us SEO Specialists do, we go and implement different methods to get Google's AI a better idea of what your product or service is so it can show up in the right places.
Basically, SEO is making sure that a business's website shows up at the right time at the right place for the right reasons.
Now your second question, this one is a little easier to answer briefly.
How important is it (or not) for a business not selling physical items?
Is SEO important for a business? If you are online, VERY important.
Okay, but how important? If you use your website in any way to attract customers to purchase your product, SEO is important for increasing the volume of customers/orders that find their way to your website. So, however important you deem having a higher volume of customers/sales. I'd say it's pretty important!
But, how about for a non-product based business? In my opinion, in the same way you attract customers to your shopping page, you attract potential consulting clients to your website. So, I'd say it's still just as important because it's one of the primary methods of attracting clients to your website.
Well, I guess I have to do SEO then? Not necessarily, this is where a bit of wiggle room is necessary. For some businesses (product- or service-based), one method of marketing might have a higher ROI than another. It's possible the investment into SEO might be too expensive relative to the return. Social Media might be a better option, or paid ads, or maybe even doing an in-person event!
The Conclusion of the Matter
[This is where I'd pitch that you should talk to a marketing agency to help you figure this out. Hint: We do that at Orange Slice Marketing - it's where I work!]
Either way, there's a TON more to talk about with SEO, so if you want a more general answer, you can read a blog I wrote last year called, ", "What Even Is SEO?" if you want to start digging into it a little bit more!
And of course, if you have any other questions, feel free to send me an email or add a comment to the Linkedin post and I’ll do my best to answer any questions you have!
