SEO is important for a business's online presence and traffic. Higher search engine rankings lead to more traffic, which can increase conversions. Key factors to focus on include creating audience-centric content like unique blog posts; building external links to improve online presence and search engine rankings; using relevant and keyword-optimized meta descriptions; employing simple, search engine-friendly URLs; including a sitemap to help search crawlers access the site; and maintaining social media profiles to engage more users.