We have all contributed, and been witness to the exponential rise of internet usage in India. The advent of the smart phone and affordable internet access has radically transformed the digital landscape in the country, and has spurred new behaviours in all areas of life. From being a space to look for information, to connecting with others via social media, to digital payments and making purchases for everything from a pin to a plane (well, almost), ordering food and online learning as well, Indians from all walks of life have taken to digital and how! It isn’t surprising then to see that digital marketing has also grown at an equally fast pace, and has become a regular part of most marketing plans today.
Digital Marketing in India today sees a YoY growth of 30-35% on an average.
With companies getting the desired results from digital, digital budget allocations are no more considered optional. However a point to note here is that for most companies, digital primarily revolves around maintaining a website, and paid marketing efforts. We see many companies investing heavily in building snazzy responsive websites, mobile apps and social media communities, then promoting these through paid search, display and social media. Paid efforts no doubt give quicker results, and agencies often push these to demonstrate the performance of their digital services. This also looks good in year-end reviews, no doubt! But in all of this, SEO, a crucial aspect in digital marketing, often gets sidelined or put on the backburner.
Understanding SEO, the underdog in digital marketing
SEO, an acronym for Search Engine Marketing, is a process by which you can optimize your webpages for better organic visibility on search engines, for a specific set of keywords. What this will do is that it allows your webpages to rank higher on search results for your industry / work, and this will allow your business to be seen by many prospects. A higher visibility on search will translate to a higher number of visitors to your website, a higher number of leads and eventually, more business. And all of this will continue to grow over time, so you can enjoy incrementally more unpaid traffic without having to rely on paid marketing efforts.
With all these advantages, it is only natural to wonder why SEO hasn’t gained its time under the sun as much as other tactics have.
Here is why SEO is not as popular with Indian digital marketers
Despite the host of benefits that SEO can offer, there is a small catch, and I wouldn’t even call it a catch.
- With SEO, you need to go slow and steady
SEO is a time-consuming, technical process that takes time to start showing results. This could vary from a few months to over a year, depending on your category and objectives. And in this era of instant gratification, both consumers and marketers look for quicker results from everything they do. Organizations and marketers often end up losing patience in the slow but sure process of SEO, and are sold on the promise of instantaneous results that the paid marketing approach offers.
But once you start seeing results, there is no doubting the efficacy of this strategy.
- It is not as glamorous as the other stars of digital marketing
There is an industry joke that refers to SEO as a behind-the-scenes performer that pales in comparison to the paid marketing stars on the digital stage. Most brand managers focus on the communication and the UI when it comes to their owned digital assets. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that almost 90% of their attention and efforts are in creating really good digital assets, and SEO is then left to the IT teams or agencies. In the ideal process, marketers need to collaborate with their digital agency to create a robust SEO strategy with a long term view.
In conclusion, you cannot afford to ignore SEO if you are looking for long term growth.
SEO is important for the exact same reasons that a website is important. While a website serves as your online presence, it will not be very helpful if your prospective consumers don’t know who you are or how to find you. Optimizing for search can help solve this problem, and can play an important role in brand building online.
This is not to say that SEO will only benefit online businesses. There are numerous examples and case studies of erstwhile and heritage brands using SEO to drive higher offline footfalls and sales. And these again, are just one Google search away.
Web search, then becomes the most valuable marketing channel that you can use for generating quality leads at a low investment. Not ranking high on search results for your category is akin to losing out prospective business to your competitors. SEO can also offer continuous, incremental growth over a period of time, and an ROI that is way higher than paid marketing.
So if you are a business owner or marketer who is invested in the long term growth of your company, you know what to do.
