Study: Small Businesses Still Not Using SEO
You’d be forgiven for thinking that at this point in time, finding a business not actively investing in SEO would be borderline impossible. Particularly in the cases of businesses who rely on strong performance online to sustain whatever it is they do.
Given Google’s continuous focus on local SEO as a recommended promotional strategy, the concept of a small business overlooking SEO entirely is almost unthinkable.
Incredibly however, a new study carried out in the United States found that an astonishing proportion of small businesses are not using SEO. In fact, one in every two small businesses in the US are operating websites with zero SEO.
Perhaps even more astonishingly, more than 45% of small businesses still haven’t built or launched any kind of website whatsoever.
The findings come courtesy of the folks at Clutch, who carried out a poll to determine if and to what extent the power of SEO was being harnessed by those who stand to benefit mostfrom it. Evidence has shown time and time again that for small businesses to remain relevant long-term, investing in exposure by way of SEO has the potential to deliver the strongest possible ROI.
Nevertheless, it seems the perceived expenses associated with SEO are dissuading millions from paying any real attention to search marketing.
According to the results of the Clutch study, only 34% of small businesses putting SEO to use in the US do so with the assistance of an experienced third-party service provider. The remaining balance take care of things manually, using their own limited knowledge and expertise to promote their sites and services online.
Approximately 60% of those who take the DIY approach stated that they focus exclusively on on-page optimisation and local search, with just one in four making any effort to create and publish web content for the purposes of generating backlinks.
This, despite the fact that separate studies have indicated how the overwhelming majority of small business owners are entirely aware of the potential benefits and value of off-page SEO.
On the plus side, the study’s findings suggested that while the uptake of SEO among small businesses remains surprisingly sparse, this could be set to change over the coming years. For example, around 60% of those who responded to the survey stated that they are planning to implement some kind of SEO strategy over the next couple of years. Reassuring, although more than a quarter (26%) admitted they have no current plans or intentions to invest in SEO of any kind.
Meanwhile, paid advertising was used by just 26% of small businesses to promote their brands online, though more than half stated their intention to invest in paid marketing over the coming years. Suggesting that the value of paid strategies like PPC is being acknowledged by a growing number of small businesses across the US.
In any case, the current lack of competition would seem to suggest that for those who make are the necessary efforts at this comparatively early stage, there’s still ample time to gain an important early advantage.