There are people out there who do not think it matters anymore if your company employs best practices policies when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). They say that SEO is no longer the best way to drive traffic to your website. Do not believe these people. It is as crucial now as it ever was to learn the SEO trade.

Why Should I Learn the SEO Trade:

1. SEO works. Despite what you may have heard, SEO still works. According to Outbrain, this is the top way to get more visitors to your site. Good SEO  beats social media marketing strategies  every time. It is 300% more effective than social media. Most people start their internet experiences with a search engine, at least 93% start there. Most people never scroll past the first page of a search so getting your website listed on that first page is very important.
2. It is an inexpensive way to drive traffic to your site. When you look at all of your options for getting more visitors to your site, from pay per click (PPC) advertising, social media marketing and buying leads through email marketing, the return on investment (ROI) for SEO cannot be beat.
3. Everyone else is doing it. Even if you think it is not worth the effort to learn the SEO trade, your competitors think it is. They may not all handle it in house, many businesses are outsourcing SEO. Regardless of how they tackle their SEO, they are employing great techniques to push their site as far up on that Google or Yahoo search results page. You do not want to cede the best spots on that first page to your competitors.
4. SEO is local. With the rise in mobile technology, people are using the devices they always have with them more and more to find goods and services. People’s use of mobile devices for these kinds of searches is exploding and will surpass what goes to desktop computers and other stationary devices. This is providing companies with a new range of SEO options to promote their businesses.
5. Google and other search engines change all the time. Google tips that worked last year, may not work so well today. This is due to the way they search and find different websites. If you are not carefully building and maintaining all of your content, your site will not be ranked as high in these crucial searches. Remember, content is still king.
6. Search engines are becoming more and more important. When looking for goods and services, even when customers know what they are looking for, they search online for it to see reviews. As it is, more than 60% of all shoppers do some online research into the products and services they buy. More than 100 billion searches done every month. Organic SEO is the best way to get your products and services in front of your customers. More than 70% of all consumers ignore the sponsored results in search engine searches. This just means your SEO plan needs to be spot on.

The top site on a Google search will receive at least 33% of the traffic from any given search, according to a recent Chitika study. You need to learn the SEO trade to make sure that spot goes to your company. SEO could not be farther from being dead. In fact, search engines are becoming more and more a part of our every day lives. Using search engines has become such an integral part of out lives that Google is no longer just a noun, it is a verb. Looking for something or someone? Google it!

When your customers are looking for products and services in your area, they will turn to Google and Yahoo. To make your web site work for you, it has to pop up on top in those search results. At the end of the day, your need to learn the SEO trade to make sure people can find you and buy from you and not from your competitors.