Five reasons to invest in web positioning

Written by Fernando Maciá

In order to bet on a market or product our SWOT matrix must show us a greater number of opportunities than threats together with a greater number of strengths than weaknesses. Search engine promotion is still one of those strategies where there are a great number of opportunities and strengths. Some of these are discussed below:

1. What Internet users do most is search for information.

In surveys that measure Internet use, the need to “search for information” always appears as the main theme. In Spain, for example, according to the Eighth Internet User Survey of the Association for Media Research, the main activity carried out on the Internet in Spain is “searching”. Users are looking for information to buy products, to find out about current events, to obtain material for their own portals; this need will remain the primary motivation for using the Internet.

2. Search engines have loyal users

A study by the company iProspect entitled Search Engine User Behavior demonstrates the high loyalty that users have towards search engines. The study asked a sample of users what they would do if the specific information they were looking for was not listed on their first search attempt. The responses were as follows:

– 82% responded that they would change the search phrase to a more relevant search phrase in the same search engine.
– 13% responded that they would opt to switch search engines and continue to use the same original phrase.
– 2% would use another phrase in another search engine.
– Only 3% would use a medium other than a search engine to find the information.

In the end, this study indicates a search engine loyalty of 97%; a value that undoubtedly represents an excellent opportunity to bet on this medium. Search engines will continue to be the main tool for searching for information.

3. Search engines are the cheapest way to get visitors who are likely to become customers.

Of the most widely used tools in Internet marketing, search engine optimization represents the most profitable, as it combines low long-term costs with high visitor-customer conversion in its ROI formula.

When the potential customer is the one who is looking for us, our advertising costs are considerably reduced. Whoever comes to our Web page through search engines is someone who already has in mind a product, a content, a service, which will be very similar to one of those that make up our portfolio of products and services (as long as our site has an effective search engine positioning). Converting that visit into a customer requires less effort than if we are the ones looking for the customer directly.

4. Search engine positioning increases the company’s branding.

Search engine optimization can boost a company’s branding in a very peculiar way. Recent studies show that users tend to believe that companies listed on search engine results pages are of higher quality than companies that are not listed on search engines.

According to iProspect’s Search Engine User Behaviour study, 36% of search engine users think that companies listed at the top of search engine results are the leading companies in their sector. Although this is not technically true, since obtaining a better ranking depends on a series of technical factors attributable to the Web page and not to the quality of the company itself, it is an urban legend that we should take advantage of to play it to our advantage.

5. Search engine promotion is 100% measurable.

To know if a marketing action is correct, it must be measurable or controlled. A typical search engine optimization campaign can be audited at any time in order to improve it or to evaluate its feasibility.

Today’s Web traffic statistics systems can measure a series of indicators related to search engine promotion that give us a broader view of the business. Figures related to “visitors coming from search engines”, “search engines that originated visits” and “keywords that originated visits to the site through search engines” are data that easily serve to measure the success of a search engine positioning strategy.

Knowing the advantages of trial and error

Although the above paragraphs seem like a fairy tale, only with the implementation of a search engine optimization strategy will we be able to realize the benefits of this Internet marketing tool. Search engine promotion is a trial and error action, where things that go well stick and things that don’t go so well can be corrected immediately.