Why now is the best time to invest in SEO for your business

The global business landscape was like a giant Etch A Sketch that COVID-19 grabbed by the sides and shook. Some of the faded remnants are still there, but most businesses are carving out a new path right now and embracing the digital transformation.

“We’ve seen countless businesses dig in their heels and work tirelessly to recreate their model, while pivoting to being an online-first organization,” said Paul Teitelman, owner of Paul Teitelman SEO Consulting.

“Over the last year, we’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of companies that are investing heavily into growing their organic traffic and online presence via SEO. Whether you’re an established business or starting a new venture, SEO has never been more crucial to a company’s bottom line over the long term.”

It doesn’t matter if you’re a traditional bricks-and-mortar business that has started selling online for the first time ever, or you’re simply trying to penetrate a new market. Search engine optimization needs to be one of the key pillars that you use to build, or rebuild, your business these days.

Here’s why.

SEO when you’re building your business

If you’ve been in business for a few years, the odds are very good that you have worked with an SEO services provider to boost your web presence. If you haven’t, you’re definitely very late to the party. But you’re not alone. An estimated 70 per cent of small businesses don’t have a formal SEO strategy in place. Meanwhile, most medium- to large-sized businesses have a plan, but the tactics and the keyword strategy are often outdated or not comprehensive enough.

This is the time to make sure that you have a roadmap for SEO success, as being found online has never been more important. The first step is to ensure you’re working with the right vendor, because the role of the SEO agency has changed dramatically over the last few years and is constantly evolving.

“A few years ago, you might have gotten away with some set-it-and-forget-it basic SEO tactics. But those days are long gone,” said Teitelman.

“In 2021, SEO isn’t a one-time thing or something you worry about once a year. Your SEO company needs to be working hard for you 12 months of the year. And more important, they need to be communicating with you constantly during that time. They need to be very transparent about the strategies and deliverables they are executing on to drive organic traffic.”

Ask yourself what type of SEO growth you’ve seen over the last six months. If you haven’t seen any, it’s time for a frank conversation with your agency about exactly what they’re doing. You need full transparency on your deliverables and full transparency into your SEO analysis.

“Your agency needs to be focused on strategies and the guaranteed deliverables that, month-over-month, are going to yield higher keyword rankings,” added Teitelman.

Total transparency

If your agency provides monthly reporting, what do those reports look like? Are they focused on activity or analytics? Both? They should be focusing on what actions or deliverables they are taking from the vendor perspective.

Their reports to you should not simply say that these keywords are going up and these keywords are going down. That’s going to happen with natural keyword fluctuation. You need to know what your vendor is doing for you, month-in and month-out, so you know what deliverables you can hold them accountable to.

You should be receiving a highly detailed keyword ranking report and a detailed summary of the link building services you’re receiving, showing you exactly what your SEO company is doing to improve your site authority.

If you’ve been with an agency for any amount of time and they’re not giving you this level of reporting, you’re probably not seeing a lot of SEO wins over the long term and you may want to consider hiring an experienced consultant to audit the SEO services  you are receiving.

Looking ahead to the next big thing

Your SEO provider should eat, sleep, and breathe today’s SEO trends. They need to stay constantly plugged into the matrix, so to speak. They should know when major Google algorithm updates are coming, and what steps need to be taken.

Let’s take Google’s Core Web Vitals update in May 2021, for example. This update will zero in on a given site’s:

Is your agency auditing your site for these things, and running your site through any of the various Core Web Vitals tests available? Are they recommending ways to improve your site speed, or flagging intrusive interstitial ads? Are they making sure your mobile site is properly optimized?

If you focus on only one thing over the next few months, you should probably focus on speed. Ask your SEO agency, “Once the Core Web Vitals go live, is page speed a ranking factor that is going to help or hurt our site?”

They need to stay proactive in this regard. Because being reactive can basically gift wrap traffic and SEO clout to your competitors.

SEO when you’re rebuilding your business

Adaptation has been key to survival during this past year. We have seen countless traditional bricks-and-mortar businesses being forced to move everything online.

If you were a high-end clothing retailer in a trendy neighbourhood, the lockdown blindsided you. Suddenly, your gorgeous exposed-brick storefront was no longer your competitive advantage. You started scrambling to try to set up an online store, while trying to figure out how to offer some semblance of the same shopping experience on your customers’ laptops and phones.

Prior to 2020, these businesses could do well enough with a reasonably active social media channel and an OK website. But then the COVID-19 lockdown hit, and your online store suddenly became your only sales channel and the backbone of your very livelihood.

Your business suddenly had to set up a system to book appointments and sell your goods online. You started to realize that:

That last point is particularly important. You’re not the only one who is moving their store online. All of your competitors are in the same boat. And that boat is crowded.

Shopify announced that their revenue doubled during the pandemic, as hundreds of thousands of business owners suddenly found themselves needing a new online store. Digital transformation has forced a lot of hands. You and your competitors used to compete for walk-by traffic. Now you’re trying to capture web traffic. It’s time to redefine your services and rethink how you will attract customers.

It seems incredibly daunting, but it can be done. The important part is to have a clear plan and deliberate direction. Otherwise, you’re publishing all of this great content, but you’re not optimizing it, so you’re just flying by the seat of your pants. You’re not actually moving the needle forward. And you’re seeing that you can’t do this alone.

Once again, this is why it’s so crucial to find an SEO firm that really focuses on deliverables and strategies, while communicating with full transparency. Some companies will be vague about what they’re doing in the name of protecting their own secret SEO sauce. You need a company that values your success more than their secrets.

SEO on any budget

There is a big misconception out there that you can buy SEO success, and the front-page ranking goes to the biggest spender. That may have been true a few years ago, but several Google updates have levelled the playing field in recent years. Today, a bricks-and-mortar business can reasonably rank on the front page, next to the national chains, if they optimize correctly and do the right things.

There are always things you can do on any SEO budget. You can:

You can also be more strategic in selecting the keywords you go after. A search term like “clothing store Toronto” might be too competitive, while ranking for it may not even necessarily drive a lot of income for your company. However, if you can lock into low-competition keywords with a decent amount of search volume, you will do very well.

These keywords may be:

Or, you can find an SEO agency to do these things for you, while you focus on running your business.

About Paul Teitelman SEO Consulting

Paul is a 15-year veteran of the industry and a thought-leader who is frequently sought by major media outlets to comment on current SEO trends.

He began his career working for the biggest SEO agency in Canada, before starting his own consulting firm over 10 years ago to solve the problems traditionally associated with a Big Agency.

Paul Teitelman SEO Consulting has evolved to a 20+ person team full of Canada’s best SEO thinkers, strategists and content writers. He has built his team around the skills that his clients need, while making communication and transparency his top priorities.

If you’re looking for honest, affordable and transparent SEO services to boost your rankings and organic traffic, then book a free consultation with Paul today!