Is SEO still relevant in 2021? Experts think So! Let’s find out why

But in the given context, is SEO still a good investment in 2021?

SEO is more relevant than ever because it’s one of the most effective digital marketing strategies organisations can use to drive long-term results. They only have to use the suitable methods.

Why is organic traffic important?

Statistics reveal that organic traffic is responsible for over 50% of all visitors accessing a web page, surpassing all other digital marketing strategies like paid ads or social traffic.

Organic traffic does more than attracting the most visitors to your website; it also brings other benefits.

- It increases brand visibility because people google when they want to purchase services and products. For Internet-users, the first thing they’ll do is use their favourite search engine to research for information about the services or products they want to purchase. Studies show that 81% of buyers research online before purchasing something.

- Organic traffic is targeted in terms of user intent because when people search keywords like “boiler repair shop New York”, they are looking for an expert to fix their heating system and ready to hire the service. The search results greatly impact helping them discover the business that can offer them the services they need.

- It’s cost effective because it provides you with long-term benefits. Supposing your website reaches the first search page, you can enjoy the position for a long time, assuming you continue to invest in SEO.

- It boosts sales because high rankings in search pages attract more clients to your website. SEO makes it easy for prospects interested in the services you provide to find your website.

- Organic rankings are vital for local ventures because 30% of mobile searches are related to location, and 72% of the Internet users who perform a local search also visit the store if it’s placed within a five-mile range. Local SEO can help your web page show up in search engine searches and attract customers to your online and land-based store.

- It increases your brand’s reliability because people trust Google to list the most relevant results for their searches. The number one website ranking in the first search page gets over 21% of clicks, while the number two position registers only 10%. By using a keyword rank checker, you can monitor your website’s rankings for keywords on Google’s SERPs.

SEO matters in 2021. It will probably do it even beyond it because it’s vital to any successful digital marketing strategy and can make the difference between attracting website traffic and getting lost among the millions of other brands present online. Why do we question its importance? Algorithm upgrades reward only high-authority content, and marketers have the misconception that if they create valuable content, they can neglect SEO. Only that it won’t take care of itself without employing a strategy. Great content can help brands build customer trust and attract visitors to websites, but the page won’t be found on its own. SEO is the first tool that helps Internet users find a website in the first place, and it won’t direct them to one with high-quality content if it’s not SEO optimised.

Google processes 40,000 search queries every second and around 3.5 billion searches daily, and it’s quite likely a couple of those searches to relate to your services. SEO is the best way to connect with prospects who you could possibly convert into buyers.

Now let’s find out how the latest upgrades changed Google rankings

A few years ago, it wasn’t very hard to rank on Google because the search engine was far from sophisticated, and the Internet wasn’t a very competitive environment. Google could understand the content you posted on your website, but it wasn’t very smart at identifying high-quality content. SEO gurus could easily manipulate the information they posted on the websites to make Google’s algorithms favoured their pages. Far forward to the present days, Google has evolved, and it’s smart. It released numerous algorithm updates and revamped Google’s search results pages to filter the pages that rank in the first positions. It’s constantly evolving with around 600 updates and tweaks annually.

After the latest revamp, the first page of Google features plenty of information (besides the organic rankings), and many of them are the result of your search query. The improved search results page is created to respond to your search query fast, providing you with the needed resources and information.

In December 2020, Google announced a massive update to the search engine algorithm that was supposed to solve the quality issues the latest large-scale update caused. The websites with SEO ranking strategies like avoidance of keyword stuffing focus on long-tail keywords, optimisation for a streamlined user experience, and mobile-first indexing registered an immediate improvement in organic traffic. Since the update, the websites that adapted their digital marketing strategies to meet the latest requirements gained more visibility than ever.

The conclusion

SEO is still relevant, but some of its techniques aren’t. The algorithm updates got rid of the websites with poor quality content and placed the ones with great information on the first positions on search pages. They bring new opportunities for companies willing to get rid of spammy practices and embrace more sophisticated ones. Organic traffic dominates the Internet, and it shows no sign of slowing down.

Check the comment section for additional information, or share what you know or ask a question about this article, by clicking the 'View or Write Comment' button below.

Note: Some of the information in samples on this website may have been impersonated or spoofed.