1. Brought to you by SEO and Internet Marketing agency Only W3b

2.  I’m not sure what date SEO was supposed to have
died. Rumours of its death hit the internet as far back
as 2004 and were fairly persistent but like most deaths
originating in the internet it was shown to be falsely
premature.
 SEO is alive and well and although some people may
still struggle to describe what exactly SEO does or
even what it stands for (Search Engine Optimisation)
its importance in modern day business is still high.
Disgruntled webmasters who lost money on failed
SEO strategies may well deride its purpose but the
key to a successful SEO strategy is in its adaptability.

3.  Whilst there is more to SEO than just ranking positions
there is no escaping the fact that your ranking position
relative to competitors is of crucial importance.
 Granted, a position is only as effective as the business it
brings in but there is certainly a far greater chance of
customers getting in touch if you are higher up the
rankings:
 Search users click the top-ranked link 36% of the time with only
12% clicking the second-ranked link, dropping to just 4% by
position 6.
 62% of search users click a link on the first page of search results
 Less than 1 in 4 searches make it to the second page.
 80% of unsuccessful searches are followed with keyword
refinement.

4.  You can gain traffic to your site through various means – direct traffic
through manually entering the web address, referral traffic from another
site, a social media link or a pay per click campaign. But when it comes to
securing business organic traffic via a search engine remains the best
form:
 Click through from an organic listing generates 25% higher conversion rates than
an equivalent Pay Per Click campaign.
 More than 3 out of every 4 search users pick an organic listing over a paid one,
with two thirds choosing an organic search when making a purchase.
 Lead generation through SEO costs 61% less than an outbound lead such as cold
calling.
 SEO leads also have a much higher close rate of 14.6% compared to outbound
leads which have just a 1.7% close rate.
 40% of SEO campaigns aware of their ROI achieve returns in excess of 500%,
while only 22% of PPC campaigns were able to garner this return.

5.  Irrespective of the number of black and white animals Google can decide
to throw at their search results there is universal agreement that the
most important element of your sites web pages is content. Content
remains King. What you do with your content is now of great importance.
Sharing content socially and through blogs now has a stronger weighting
in the Google algorithm. A properly coordinated content marketing
strategy can do wonders for your traffic and your rankings.
 A suitable content marketing strategy increases blog traffic by 2000% and
revenue by 40%
 When exposed to both the search listings and social media of a brand,
consumers overall search CTR rose 94%
 Companies with a blog have 434% more indexed pages than those who don’t
leading to more consumer leads.
 81% of businesses consider their blogs to be an important asset to their
businesses
 Between 10 and 40% of companies win business through social media

6.  SEO has changed – what previously worked now doesn’t whilst
new factors are becoming increasingly important (such as social
signals). SEO is changing, growing and evolving by the day but as
long as there is are search engines on the internet there will be a
means to “optimise” the web pages they display so they are better
discovered and indexed.
 Given these changes, it is now more important than ever that you
use only the most appropriate and effective SEO techniques to
ensure that you stay ahead of the algorithm, lest you risk the
wrath of a Panda or Penguin strike.
 Search Engine Optimisation, when done properly and ethically,
can not only protect your site against Google updates or penalties
but noticeably increase your brands search visibility online and
consequently your traffic and sales.