Has SEO Died a Death? Evidence Suggests It’s Healthier Than Ever

We won’t spoil the surprise, but head over to Google for a moment and tap ‘SEO is’ into the search box…then take a look at the immediate suggestions. Pretty strong stuff, isn’t it?In a nutshell, this pretty much encapsulates the way in which vast swathes of the online business population genuinely believe that SEO died a death some time ago. But at the same time, it’s also evident that there are plenty of people still trying to work out if SEO is a worthwhile investment.Well here’s the answer summed up as concisely as possible; yes, it is!Personal opinions vary, but there’s absolutely no disputing the hard-core statistics and facts that paint a picture of the reality of things. So by pulling together a world of information from SEMPO, MarketingSherpa, eConsultancy, Hubspot, Google and others, it’s possible to draw the following eye-opening conclusions:   Organic Results RuleFirst of all, statistics show that more than 70% of all links clicked by web users by way of search engine results rankings are organic. Or to put it another way, spam links and those that have been thrown to the top by way of sponsorship barely get so much as a second glance.The Price of Paid AdsIt’s also bad news for those who pay to have their ads and links featured anywhere close to the organic results rankings with the biggest search engines. It might seem like they’re impossible to ignore, put evidence suggests that 80% of web users do indeed totally ignore paid ads.SERP StatusUnsurprisingly, prominence still counts for a great deal when it comes to search engine results page rankings. Despite the fact that everyone these days acknowledges that there may be hundreds of businesses offering exactly what they need, only one in every four search users will make the effort to look beyond the first page.Vintage ValueSocial media may have become the immediate go-to for the masses, but both search engines and email still both have a place in the top three biggest web activities on Earth.Stellar SavingsInbound leads cost approximately 60% more on average than inbound leads. What’s more, the close rate of inbound leads comes in somewhere about the 15% mark on average, while outbound leads rarely scratch the surface of 2%. It is abundantly clear therefore that not only does inbound marketing like SEO cost considerably less, but it also has the potential to increase revenue and engagement exponentially.It’s Still Number OneRecent studies have also confirmed the fact that search engines still rank number one when it comes to the volume of traffic diverted to content sites. Social media may have become an extremely powerful force in directing web traffic, but it is still outpaced by search engines by over 300%.New Era, New SearchLast but not least, it’s commonly assumed that as the way the world approaches web search changes, SEO will become less powerful and viable. In reality however, we’re simply looking at an era where search methods may be changing, but the world’s dependence on web search is fact growing and strengthening by the day.