SEO is increasingly recognized as a fundamental strategic discipline, transversal by business type. Even SMEs are gradually opening to this world: optimization for search engines can, in fact, bring great results not only to large brands, but also to small and medium-sized companies, eager to affirm and enhance their visibility and online positioning.
Duccio Lunari, Head of Sales & Marketing at SEO agency Pro Web Consulting, explains in 10 points what is the most appropriate “SME” identity for SEO and the competitive advantages that this business can bring with a Full Web Marketing strategic view.
- Why should SMEs invest in SEO
The SEO is indispensable and essential for all SMEs? For sure, there are many realities that have such characteristics and goals that this discipline can bring enormous benefits to. Undoubtedly, it is common ground that SEO, compared to other digital channels, is the activity with the highest ROI in the medium to long term;
- To outsource or to not outsource?
Companies that invest heavily in SEO are often fought between inserting a new resource and searching for an external agency. Engaging in an agency means having a more varied and updated experience at the creativity and strategic level;
- Learn how your target searches the web
Knowing your target in general is a key principle of marketing. In SEO, it’s important to know your user and their behavior while searching online for those products and services that our company might offer. Only through careful analysis of key keywords and topics, seasonality, frequency and geo-localization is possible to make it reach your site;
- SEO for e-commerce
You must never assume that an SEO strategy (and a Web Marketing strategy in general) works for any type of business. For example, if you manage an e-commerce, you will need to provide a series of analytical and ad hoc actions, such as creating content at strategic points, managing critical issues like the difficulty of indexing e-commerce product tabs with many thousands of references;
- SEO for international markets and market niches
Developing your online business on foreign markets is an opportunity for those Italian excellences that, while dealing with market niches, have a global target. And it’s not just about food and clothing but also B2B: Made in Italy products have a good reputation on the international scene. And you are forced tothink that small businesses cannot benefit from ranking on search engines. On the contrary, an extremely specific product or service will certainly have an interested audience, which can be targeted with specific keywords around the world, with volumes smaller than the B2C domains, but representing far more relevant business opportunities.
- Local
Small businesses and local-level professionals can benefit from a good local ranking strategy. It translates to intercepting the needs of users looking for services and products in a restricted area, with a high probability of being found if among the first results of the SERP.
- M-Factor, the importance of Mobile
It’s well-known that web traffic is getting more and more mobile than desktop, and that websites with perfect responsive or native versions for mobile are privileged by search engines. This factor cannot be underestimated, especially since Google recently announced its next mobile-first index, meaning mobile results will have crawl priority compared to desktop ones;
- SEO for specific sectors and other search engines
SEO is also important in those areas where image and storytelling are essential, such as fashion or luxury, and can be declined in such a way as to meet all the necessary communication guidelines. Additionally, you can set up strategies tailored to specific needs, such as image indexing, apps, or product visibility into Amazon’s internal search engine.
- Digital culture
Sometimes the smallest realities, such as startups, have young teams and great potential for innovation: often SMEs are, however, facing more traditional dynamics and difficulties in approaching the Digital world. For this reason, digital training courses for the company’s internal teams are important not to make employees industry-skilled, but to provide basic skills to better choose and understand the work of digital service providers;
- Work the system
As already mentioned, in Italy we have incredible excellence that we often fail to appreciate for the inability to “work the system”. An example may be that of Italian wine, which sees top international references often hampered by products better promoted but with less tradition thanks to more investment opportunities. The solution, in these cases, is to concentrate efforts on international competition instead of competing among domestic producers. SEO is a good ally because it allows you to reach the Web, promoting the demand for the Italian product. Obviously, this example of wine can be applied to a variety of other areas.