How Does SEO Work? - Do I Need SEO?

SEO is the art and science of getting a website to the top of the search engines by making the website more relevant. Why is it important to be on the top of the search engines? Take a look at the following statistics:

• The top spot in Google for any given search term gets 42% of the clicks
• The second spot gets 22% of the clicks
• The third spot gets about 10%
• The percentage drops as you go further down the page
• Only about 20% of people look at the second page of the search results
• Almost nobody goes to the third page

With that said, if a term is searched 100 times per day, the site in the first slot will get about 42 clicks. The site on the very bottom may get 2 clicks. Which business will have more visitors and therefore more potential profit? You've got it. The site closest to the top of the first page of the search results.

So is SEO worth the effort? That depends. Let's look  at this hypothetical example:

Tim is a locksmith in Boynton Beach Florida. He has a nice looking website that is search engine optimized, and is in position number 2 on the first place of Google for the search term Boynton Beach Locksmith. The term is searched 880 times per month (that is currently an accurate estimate). The second position should receive about 200 clicks (visitors) each month. If one out of 10 visitors decides to use his services, Tim will get 20 jobs per month. His average job is $100.  So Tim stands to do about $2000 per month in extra business from this keyword. If he was in the number one position, he would do twice that amount of business. If he was on the bottom of the first page for the same term he may only get one click per month, and do only $100 in business. But all would not lost. Tim also ranks well for the term Locksmith Boynton Beach, Key Cutting Boynton Beach, Change Locks Boynton Beach, Certified Locksmith Boynton Beach, etc. And even though he is not in the top position for any of his terms, he is making a nice living and his website has become his favorite marketing tool.

Imagine that Tim is able to get his site to the top of Google for 5 great keywords.  And, he has a respectable site that adds to his credibility and convinces people to do business with him. It could mean the difference between having a full-time thriving business, and looking for a job working for his competitor. Right? Absolutely!

Now imagine Tim gets really aggressive, and has an SEO firm work to get him on the fist page of the search engines in more than one position for each keyword, and also in the sponsored links area of Google. He could find himself as the top locksmith in his area. That boat he was thinking of getting could finally become a reality.

Is the Internet really that powerful? You bet it is.

Does this strategy work for every business? Probably not. If you sell ice cream from a truck it could be a waste of time. But for most business, a proper website and good SEO can make or break a business in today's world. Do the math and see if it makes sense for your business. If it does, then find a capable web designer with lots of SEO experience and get to work on building your future. Or stand by and wonder why your competition has all the business.