With the explosion of digital marketing, terms like keyword, landing page, meta-tag, alt-text and SEO are becoming second nature, so much so that almost all new businesses assume there is an inherent need for them to invest their efforts into establishing a comprehensive SEO strategy. Whilst this is true for the majority of cases, sometimes you shouldn’t do SEO for your website, and here’s why:

  1. No Fish in the Sea

When no one is actively searching for your product, whether due to a lack of knowledge or limited interest, your site will perform the same regardless of how well you optimise it for search engines.

In this case, your time is better spent in raising awareness of your product with a targeted PR campaign, through pay-per-click social media advertising or targeted content marketing. If successful, people will begin to search for your terms, which is then the time to focus on decent SEO practices.

PR campaign

Running Facebook Ads may be more beneficial than working on your search rankings. Simply put, Facebook focuses more on brand outreach, while Google directs attention to converting leads,” meaning that if you’re looking to generate interest in your product, social media advertising, known as paid social, is great for generating interest. Afterwards, you are free to capitalise on it with SEO strategies or Google Ads, but Facebook ads cost less per click than Google’s service.

  1. Your Business is Local

Local businesses receive less traffic than corporations and conglomerates, easily explained by the fact that rich companies pay large for effective advertising. It’s true, though, that many people explicitly search for results in their local area; 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information, while others record that “near me” or “close by” type searches grew by more than 900% from 2016 to 2018.

Business is Local - SEO campaign

Google’s algorithm separates local searches from generic ones, in efforts to present people with more relevant and useful data. Therefore, business owners are often mainly competing with similar businesses within a certain area. As a result, you should focus on providing a quality service that generates positive reviews or support your website with PPC advertising (on formats like Google Ads) rather than set-up a full-forced SEO campaign.

Oftentimes, you can experience benefits from an integrated approach, using both SEO and PPC. However, for local businesses, it’s usually more practical to prioritise PPC adverts because majority sales are driven by individuals searching in one specific region, meaning a low-click, high-conversion method like PPC suits a tight budget and generates more revenue. Or Google My Business, which is great for local.

  1. You need Fast Results

Whilst there is no definitive answer on exactly how long an SEO strategy needs before it starts working, it’s definitely not a quick solution. Some suggest it takes 2 to 3 months for low-competition keywords, whilst others are adamant it will take at least 6 months. Google themselves advise a timeframe of 4 to 12 months.

Fast Results SEO

One thing is for sure, SEO is a slow accumulation, a gradual building of trust between site and search engine, which naturally takes time. If you need a rapid response, paid advertising offers far faster results, which can be measured instantly.

Users literally need only register with an ad platform, or enlist the services of an agency and they can begin seeing noticeable changes in site traffic and customer conversion.

Final Thought

If you search for some SEO literature, you’ll find the market is heavily saturated with countless guides on why exactly you need it, and how best to do it. There are thousands of establishments reaping the rewards of SEO. Yet, if your business model doesn’t suit it, work towards making the improvements that will better situate you in a position to execute later SEO strategies.

When your business does require an effective SEO solution, building it by yourself can be a daunting, unmanageable task. If you’re unsure of the uses and implications of SEO, what exactly Google Ads are, or simply need some assistance in employing a suitable marketing strategy for a site or business, contact Shtudio (of course), a skilled and trusted marketing agency based in Sydney. Not because we’ll sell you something you don’t need, but because we’ll put things in perspective for you and help you get on the right track.