Search engine optimisation is so often talked about in marketing terms, and because of this most people tend to think of the process as a straightforward ‘a + b = c’ equation. You take a site, add SEO, and get better rankings. This leaves out the rest of the alphabet, in which ‘d’ equals the many-stringed approach you must take in optimisation, ‘e’ which is the constantly changing factors that influence your chance of success, and, perhaps most important, ‘x’, which are the many beneficial side effects of SEO.

Perhaps ‘unexpected benefits’ would be a better term. The search engine optimisation process has an impact well beyond your relationship with the search engines. SEO isn’t an exact art, and most of its techniques follow the search engine guidelines to make the site a better user experience. The many things you do to improve your site for SEO have a beneficial effect on your site, your business, and your relationship with your customers.

*Better user relationships. The biggest benefit of SEO is an improved relationship between your site and its users. Although the search engine guidelines are frustrating, one of the things they do enforce is a focus on user experience. Google’s constant ‘you must think of your users’ is of absolutely no help when you’re trying to decide whether to include another keyword instance in your content. It is absolutely helpful when your users are trying to decide whether to read that content.

*Increased online presence. Off-page SEO is possibly the most frustrating task out of the entire optimisation process. You can discuss your off-page plans with our experts at SEO Consult. Getting links from reputable websites is much harder than getting personal recommendations in real life, but for SEO the two things are the same. Quality inbound links testify to the search engines that your site is reputable and reliable.

All of the hard work of off-page SEO really pays off when internet users notice your links everywhere. You might have approached that influential blogger for a link because their PageRank was so high, but the traffic that comes direct from that link is because you increased your online presence.

*Reputation management. The initial analysis of your site will reveal the extent of optimisation needed. This includes an analysis of your reputation around the net. Your SEO maintenance requires you to watch for threats to your rankings. Handily this allows you to assess threats to your business as well.

*A healthier site. SEO requires a general site clean up. Without it, there is a danger that search engine spiders will trip, fall, and scuttle away when they come across clumsy code or bad structure. The good thing is, you come out of it with a tidy, efficiently-functioning site.

No business can afford to waste resources on whims and fancies. Justifying the SEO process isn’t always easy, particularly if you’re the site manager instead of the site owner for your business. SEO experts are awfully good at selling their trade, but something that’s often overlooked is the side benefits of SEO. There are plenty of them.

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