What Is SEO and Why Do You Need It?
Running a business of any size today means you have to take advantage of the Internet.
One of the best ways to get your company noticed — and beat your competition — is to make sure your website shows up as high as possible in Google’s search results (SERPs). When a potential customer searches, you want your business to be the one they click.
So how do you get your website closer to the top of Google?
You need great SEO — Search Engine Optimization.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization is a series of on-page and off-page (off-site) strategies and technical factors that help your website show up more often when people search on Google (or other search engines).
The better your SEO, the more likely your site is to appear higher for the keywords and phrases your customers are searching for.
SEO is built using things like:
- Keyword targeting (the phrases people actually search)
- High-quality content
- Title tags
- Meta descriptions
- Internal linking
- Backlinks (links from other websites)
- Technical improvements (site structure, speed, crawlability, etc.)
If that sounds like something you don’t want to spend your life doing, that’s exactly why businesses hire SEO specialists (and yes — Rebel Ape Marketing can help).
What SEO is not
SEO is not a magic switch that makes you rank #1 overnight.
Search engines like Google evolve constantly. Ranking signals change, rules shift, and what worked years ago can stop working today. Google tends to reward websites that continue to grow, improve, and publish new or updated content over time.
Old-school tactics like these can now get your site penalized:
- Link trading
- Keyword stuffing
- Link farms
- Spammy shortcuts
SEO done correctly can sometimes show early movement, but most of the real gains happen over time as your site builds authority and relevance.
Even if you publish great content, another website with strong technical SEO and higher authority can still outrank you. (Here are some practical on-page SEO tips if you’re working on this yourself.)
Why is Search Engine Optimization important?
Some companies think they don’t need SEO — or that their market is too small.
But the reality is simple:
If you don’t invest in SEO, someone else in your industry will… and they’ll outrank you.
SEO matters because of how people use search engines today. Consider these stats:
- 75% of Google users never go past page one of results.
- The average search takes less than one minute, meaning users don’t “dig” for options.
- SEO costs 61% less than direct marketing tactics.
- Up to 80% of users never click paid ads.
- The #1 result in Google gets about 33% of all clicks.
SEO increases potential online sales with more traffic
Those stats all point to one big truth:
Website rankings drive traffic — and traffic drives opportunity.
When you boost your SEO, you increase your odds of earning more organic traffic. And with more traffic comes more potential customers and sales.
Google’s algorithms change constantly, so staying on top of SEO can feel like a full-time job. If you’d rather stay focused on running your business, hiring an SEO team can help you grow traffic without living inside spreadsheets and audits.
More traffic
With billions of people online, it’s important to tap into that attention and drive the right people to your website.
The more pages you have ranking higher, the more opportunities you have to pull in traffic — and the more competitor traffic you’re taking back.
Without SEO, a big chunk of that traffic goes to the businesses above you.
More sales
Traffic alone isn’t the finish line — but it’s a huge part of the challenge.
Once visitors reach your site, your job is to:
- Match the intent of what they searched
- Give them the answers they want
- Present the offer they need
- Make it easy to contact you or buy
That’s where conversion strategy and good web design pair perfectly with SEO.
The Rebel Ape Marketing SEO process
Rebel Ape Marketing helps businesses improve SEO to increase traffic and generate more sales.
We support businesses in and around Ogden, Utah (and beyond) through SEO strategy and implementation, including:
- Technical improvements
- On-page optimization
- Site audits for weaknesses and opportunities (audit your site here)
- Content planning and growth
- Authority building
With the right process, your website can steadily grow traffic, increase visibility, and compete for the top spots in the Google search results.
If you’re ready to improve your rankings and authority, reach out here.
