The last year has been tough for a lot of businesses, particularly small and medium businesses that certainly weren’t prepared for something the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic to occur. When times are difficult and you might be on a tighter budget, it can be tempting to consider cutting out some of your marketing activities. Investing in SEO might not seem worth it, especially if you’ve already put some time into SEO and it has helped to raise your profile.
However, times of difficulty and crisis can actually be the worst times to stop promoting your business. If you’re already struggling, stopping your marketing is the last thing that you want to do. You can make a bad situation worse by allowing people to forget about your brand. In fact, now is the time to pay attention to your SEO strategy, more than ever before. There are some very good reasons to keep your SEO strategy going.
Internet Use (and Searching) Has Increased
Over the last year, online searches and internet use in general have both increased. This probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise. People have been at home more and even people who have never shopped online before have been doing so. Everyone has been using digital tools to stay in touch and search engines to find the things that they need. With more people online for longer each day, it’s a good time to make sure your SEO strategy is robust. You have an opportunity to make sure you’re putting your site in prime position in organic search results while more and more people are searching online.
It’s Important to Keep Up With Changing Habits
When things start to get back to a place of normality, don’t expect everything to return to the way it was. It’s true that we could see a drop in online searches as people get back to work and spend less time at home. However, many people will have developed new habits after discovering how convenient it can be to search and shop online. Your SEO strategy matters now because you need to stay up-to-date with how things are changing and how they might be permanently different in a few months’ or a year’s time. If you dip out now, you could be way behind when (or if) you eventually pick up your SEO efforts again.
Your Competitors May Have Fallen Behind
No one likes the idea of businesses struggling, but when your competition might not be as on the ball as they could be, it can be a positive for you. Some businesses may be finding things difficult or could even have gone out of business, while others might be making the poor decision to drop their own SEO strategies. While that’s bad news for them, it can be good news for your business. You can fill in the gaps that they have left, appealing to the people who otherwise might have become their customers. Less competition means it’s easier for you to find success with your SEO campaign.
Recovery Will Come
We might not know exactly when things will return to normal, or a new normal, but we do know that things will begin to look up eventually. When everything is back under control with the virus, with vaccination well underway in many countries already, we can expect to see an economic upturn. So, although things might still be looking a little bleak right now, it’s important to be prepared for when the situation starts to turn around. If you haven’t maintained your SEO, you could find it much more difficult to make a comeback and benefit from more people being able to spend their money.
Working On SEO Helps You Thrive, Not Just Survive
Keeping your SEO strategy going isn’t just about trying to survive during tough times. Of course, it does help you to prevent your business from going under but simply surviving is the least of what it can help you do. A proper SEO strategy doesn’t just keep you afloat but can also help you to thrive too. It can help you to determine how you can still reach your audience even when people’s habits have changed. It can even allow you to find new ways to sell your products and services through offering content that appeals to your audience during this time.
Even though you might need to control your budget, dropping your SEO strategy isn’t the way to go. You need to keep making sure your website appears in search results if you want to protect your business.
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