Three-quarters of businesses are making SEO a top priority this year, but coming up with an effective strategy remains a blind spot for many, according to new survey findings published by UpCity.
Of the 600 small to medium-sized businesses in the US and Canada surveyed in new research, 78% said they will focus their efforts on SEO and will aim to achieve goals that include increasing organic traffic and converting more visitors.
However, while the vast majority recognise how important it is to optimise content for search engines, the task of creating a documented strategy remains a major challenge.
More than half of respondents (57%) said they do not yet have an SEO strategy in place, and more worryingly, 23% admitted that they do not expect to have one by the end of 2022.
More encouraging is the fact that 34% of respondents are making a strategy, which will feature tasks including content writing and link building, a top priority this year.
With the search environment being so competitive, those failing to come up with a coherent plan of action risk losing out to better prepared rivals.
Businesses with a strategy in place are also branching out into paid search and advertising to boost visibility.
Report author David J. Brin said: “We discovered in our inquiries that while many respondents are utilizing SEO strategies, many are also combining their SEO practices with PPC strategies in order to create synergy between the two marketing channels.”
The most popular goals cited by marketers are interesting, as objectives such as improving page speed, strengthening internal links and backlinks, and winning feature snippets are included alongside more traditional aims.
And when tracking these objectives and assessing performance, Google Analytics and Google Search Console are the top tools of choice for SMEs.
