When discussing SEO practices, it is easy to see how SEO can be beneficial for your site! SEO helps a site to be ranked well in search engine results. That then allows for fresh eyes to be able to visit your site. Practicing SEO is a free way to set your site up for success! We always talk about the benefits of SEO or practices to avoid, but what specifically would your site look like if SEO was not used? If you stop using SEO, there are a few aspects of your site that will be influenced.
You have stopped using SEO… Now what?
If you stop using SEO, your site will start to be amongst the lower-ranking sites. As time goes by, this causes less organic traffic to your site. Below is a graph by Google Analytics through Web FX that illustrates the number of organic users. The number seems to remain steady and then slowly starts to drop.
The site’s ranking will continue to decrease and will create less visibility online. The site’s ranking will not change overnight but will be a slow decline that will occur over time. While your site is not using SEO practices, many other sites, including your competitors, will continue to use SEO to their advantage. This small choice causes your competitors to start to outrank you. According to WebFX, organic traffic drives more than half of all website traffic and can drive more than 40% of a company’s revenue. Even the smallest change in rankings can cause a significant impact on your site. WebFX found that about 75% of users stay on the first page of search results, which means that if you fall on the second or third page of results, you will see a significant decrease in traffic.
Although those ideas seem like common sense concepts, the influence of SEO can often be forgotten. SEO is a long-term strategy that will benefit your site and help reach your intended audience. We should not forget about SEO but instead embrace it and use it to our advantage.
Below is WebFX’s article on the stopping SEO!
4 Responses
I really liked how you presented the information in a creative way and included the graph! I liked the focus on how SEO is a long-term strategy that is made up of a lot of small choices. Over time, these add up and create more organic traffic.
I like the title of this post it really drew me in. Your posts are always fun to read! It is easy to forget how impactful SEO is, awful of me to confess, but it is true. You had great points. You are so right! Embrace SEO with open arms! It will only benefit websites in the long run. I enjoyed reading your post.
You did a great job of stating how things would work if SEO just disappeared. Also, the title of the post caught my attention very quickly. Great job.
I think this is a good reminder that you can not just do SEO once and forget about it. You need to keep up with it, as just like everything in the world, it is constantly changing.