Google is the most popular search engine in the world. It enjoys great trust in the United States – according to the gs.statcounter.com statistics, as many as 88% of American internet users chose this search engine in August 2020.
As reported by GEMIUS/PBI, in July 2020 there were 27 million Internet users in Poland. This means that almost all of them searched for information with the use of Google. And last but not least, let’s talk about the most important data that will surely convince you it’s worth conducting advertising activities online. According to the research, as many as 73% of people shop online. This means that the number is constantly increasing which results from many factors, including the coronavirus pandemic during which many people were advised or forced to stay at home. Consequently, they decided to benefit from online purchasing possibilities.
Why are some companies afraid to invest in SEO?
As long as you perform appropriate marketing activities, you’ll be able to reach people interested in your offer. One of the ways of attracting new potential customers is reaching them via Google. So why are some entrepreneurs scared and unwilling to invest in SEO? Below you can see a list of a few possible scenarios:
1. SEO doesn’t sell
In the vast majority of cases, SEO aims at selling your services or products. However, not everybody is entirely convinced that such activities can translate into a bigger number of customers. Nevertheless, the survey conducted by Hubspot.com proves that these concerns are totally irrelevant. Below you can see an exemplary comparison of achieved results (leads) depending on the conducted activities. The chart also indicates the effectiveness of particular activities in relation to the market. As you can see, SEO brings great benefits both in the case of B2B and B2C as well as B2B2C business models. So, can SEO be beneficial also for your enterprise? Is it possible to achieve even greater results with its use?
People use Google to access whatever they need – clothes, equipment, or even funeral services. In 2020, online sales recorded the biggest growth in several years.
2. Long-term contract without a possibility to terminate it
SEO takes time. Depending on your website or the industry you operate in, achieving the expected results may take longer or shorter. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to sign a long-term contract without the possibility to terminate it. Nevertheless, remember that succeeding in highly competitive sectors is a continuous process and nothing happens overnight.
3. No performance-based SEO settlement model
In the past, SEO agencies would offer performance-based SEO settlement methods. The company would determine a list of phrases and estimate how much the client would need to pay, depending on the achieved positions in the search results. However, such an approach isn’t a good solution anymore. Today’s Google algorithms are completely different from the ones we knew a few years ago. It’s even harder to achieve the expected visibility. In the past, it was possible to do it relatively quickly, with little effort. Currently, it’s not a piece of cake and no SEO specialist can guarantee to obtain the planned objectives.
Of course, some people specializing in SEO take advantage of dishonest solutions that help them reach high Google positions, however, in such a case, websites may be quickly penalized when Google robots discover the truth. Your cooperation with an SEO agency may have a form of monthly subscription payments. Then, after each settling period, you’ll receive a report with a thorough description of the conducted activities.
See our article: Why is it better to stay away from performance-based SEO?
4. No possibility to verify the activities of the SEO agency
As we’ve mentioned above, SEO is a continuous process. Your website or link profiles may need thorough redevelopment. Before signing any contracts, find out what’s the SEO strategy, what modifications are necessary, and what’s the approximate time when you can expect the first results. Ask what will be included in the report. If possible, learn what are the objectives of specific activities and how they support SEO.
5. Negative experiences from cooperation with previous SEO agencies
Maybe you have some negative experiences of cooperation with some other SEO agencies and that’s why you’re so unwilling to invest in SEO again. If so, this is totally understandable, however, keep in mind that every industry includes both professional and less professional specialists. Therefore, before signing another contract, try to meticulously verify the agency. Check out the reviews and references, see what other people say about it (for this purpose visit company’s profiles on Google, Facebook, or Clutch), and go through their case studies.
Check out also: SEO Report – What Should It Include?
6. No adequate funds
Very frequently entrepreneurs are afraid that they can’t afford SEO. But is it really true? It’s impossible to estimate the costs of activities conducted on a given website without analyzing its condition, industry, and competition. The agency should offer monthly fees that are sufficient to improve website visibility on Google. And the client should be aware that it takes time to see the first results.
7. It’s better to spend this money on Google Ads
Google Ads activities are an effective way to attract traffic and customers. Taking into consideration that SEO doesn’t bring great benefits overnight, we recommend our clients to benefit from the possibilities offered by Google Ads as well. And what if we achieve the expected visibility in the search results? If Google Ads activities improve sales, it’s still worth investing in them. Keep in mind that some Internet users disregard paid search results, whereas some of them start their search for desired products or services exactly from these sponsored websites. It would be ideal to reach both groups. Google Ads can help you attract new buyers right away whereas SEO is a more time-consuming process.
8. Google may penalize and delete my page from the search results because of the SEO activities
Some people suggest that SEO isn’t in line with Google guidelines or is even illegal. Obviously, SEO activities are completely legal, although there were cases when pages were hacked and external links were placed on them only to allow other websites to reach higher positions in the search results. However, in such situations it’s even hard to talk about any SEO activities – these were just offenses that have nothing to do with strategies adopted by professional agencies.
It can be even stated that Google encourages people to benefit from the services offered by professionals able to tailor their pages to the requirements of the search engine. Check out this starter guide. Google doesn’t ban any SEO activities. Just the opposite, it appreciates such actions provided they’re conducted according to the company’s recommendations. A website may be deleted from the index due to legal reasons or when it doesn’t meet Google quality guidelines. If it happens, such information will appear in Google Search Console. However, this will never be a result of a professional SEO campaign that is in line with Google standards.
9. The agency won’t do it better than me
Even if you have the required expertise to successfully perform SEO activities for your company, you probably won’t have so much time to do it when your business develops. SEO activities don’t bring constant results, they’re continuous on and off-site work, especially when taking into account that your market rivals are also expanding and more and more companies decide to benefit from the possibilities offered by the organic Google search results. Remember that running a campaign for a sizable online store is an extremely time-consuming task. It requires expensive tools, up-to-date knowledge, the ability to control algorithm updates, and many, many more. Doing all of these on one’s own may simply be unprosperous.
If you have any other SEO concerns, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll be happy to dispel your doubts. At Delante, we offer cooperation conditions thanks to which our clients don’t think twice whether it’s worth investing in SEO.