What Is SEO?
This is a common question that most people especially those
who are either new or not familiar with online marketing might be asking. SEO
stands for search engine optimization. In layman's language, it the process of
capturing traffic from the search engines such as Google listings. Through this
read, I am going to give you facts about the SEO business, current market
status of SEO as well as the future projections in this field.
The Major SEO Players
Like any other industry in the world, the online SEO
business has its players. This includes SEO local tools providers such as small
digital agencies, SEO free lancers and web-designers among others.
Returns for SEO Players
The major reason as to why people get into business is to
profit and expand their economic status. In the field of SEO business, the
rates of returns are promising. This is because a recent research on SEO
returns for a period of 12 months shows that at least all the players had something
to take home. However, the returns are varying depending on a players' hardwork
and skills in the field. For example, according to this research, 34% of the
interviewed SEOs said they received an amount less than $ 30,000 while another
group of respondents, 17% said they received returns that were above $ 500,000.
From the above statistics, it is evident that the size of an
organization played a role in the determination of the amount of returns
received. It beats logic for one to expect a large organization to receive low
amounts of returns and vice versa. In addition, the presence of part time SEOs
as well as the entry of newbies into the market could have let to the low rates
of turnover due to low operation capacity. However, it is hard to predict the
course the SEO market is likely to take due to lack of clear shift in SEO
earnings since the year 2011. However, the demand for local SEO services seems
to be growing day in day out and this is attracting more players thereby
tightening the competition among SEO service providers.
The Emerging Issues with the Current SEO Returns
With the above distribution of returns, several questions
emerge. This includes the following:
• From the statistics, a large percentage of SEOs receive a
low income something that suggests low pricing of SEO services.
• It is also possible that small and medium businesses do
not understand the value of SEO services provided to them.
• The low SEO income earners, those who received less than $
30,000 annual returns are also being doubted if they can provide quality
services while earning that low.
• It is also unknown if most SEOs will still be in operation
if their income remains static.
The Current SEOs Income Per Customer
Just like the annual SEO returns, SEO income per customer
also varies. This is because there are those clients who would pay less than
$100 a month while others will pay more than $5000 a month. This variation in
income per client can be attributed to the type of services provided as well as
the depth of services. The size of business a client is seeking SEO services
for also play a role in determining the amount to be charged. For example,
small businesses are charged less simply because their requirements are much
smaller as compared to large multi-location franchise businesses.
Research also shows that some SEO service providers operate
on high volume basis. Such SEOs provide simple SEO services at very low monthly
rates. As a result, such SEO service providers end up having a high customer
churn with a large dedicated network of sales team.
Similarly, some SEO service providers provide services that
are more comprehensive in a much more professional manner customized according
to the client thereby leading to a low number of clients.
Due to the above statistics, it therefore becomes essential
for any SEO service provider in the current market to operate in a manner that
matches his/her setup.
Handling Capacity of the Modern SEOs
Currently, SEOs are handling more clients as compared to the
previous years. Statistics show that about 40% of the SEOs in the market handle
at least 11 clients while 23% SEOs handle at least 21 clients. Such large
numbers of clients to handle lead to more audits to be done, lots of tasks,
research, reports and even more calls from the clients to be attended to. The
high numbers of clients also demand a high level of efficiency so that the
clients can be assured of quality services.
Market Structure for Most SEOs
SEOs have been using several marketing techniques to promote
their businesses. Offline marketing channels such as word of mouth has been
cited by most SEOs as the most effective marketing technique. This can be
attributed to the trust level, business reputation as well as relationships
build during the offline campaigns.
Alongside offline marketing, SEOs also practice online
marketing such as the use of LinkedIn and social media. However, most SEOs have
cited LinkedIn as the best option as compared to the social networks because it
is better placed for lead generation and networking.
Services Offered by SEOs
Majority of the SEO players offer onsite optimization with
91% of the SEOs practicing this. Google+ optimization has also a good number of
SEOs practicing it as 86% claimed to be offering this service to their clients.
For affiliate marketing, only a small percentage (11%) of SEOs are offering
this service to their clients.
Other services offered by SEOs:
• Content creation/optimization
• Link building
• Citation building
• Social media marketing
• Website development
• PPC
• Mobile site development
• Video marketing and mobile marketing.
The most demanded service by SEO clients is onsite
marketing, while the least demanded service is affiliate marketing. The other
services are somehow averagely demanded. However, most small and medium
businesses do not understand the opportunities that video and mobile marketing
can unlock to them and therefore tend not to use these services. SEOs therefore
need to educate their clients on these marketing channels so that they can go
for them.
When asked about the online SEO services SEOs feel are
effective, 82% of them said that the General search is the most effective for
generating leads. Local search appears to be the second best after 62% of the
respondents in an SEO survey voted in its favor. PPC is the 3rd with 53% while
social media is the 4th with 26%. Daily deals appear to be an appealing to most
SEOs because only 1% voted in favor of it.
Tedious SEO Tasks
55% of the current SEOs in the market find link building to be
the most tedious and time-consuming work. Others, though 15% only believe that
content writing is the most tedious and time consuming task among all the tasks
they do. It therefore emerges that to the 55% who find link building tedious,
this task is also boring to them.
Future Projections
This is an outline of what we expect in the near future as
far as SEO business is of concern.
Expansion of SEO Businesses
Compared to the previous years, SEO businesses has been
growing and expanding steadily. Most SEOs (about 93%) are not only optimistic
about expanding their businesses, but are also expecting to grow their
business. In what seems to be a determined move to grow their businesses, most
SEOs (82%) are willing to recruit more staff members so as to realize their
desired levels of growth.
The social media is also expected to grow and be more
effective even than the local directories. This is because most SEOs believe
that social media can perform better because of recommendations from friends.
Mobile usage is also expected to grow further and become relevant for local
businesses.
Upsurge of Confidence in SEO Business
Unlike other businesses, the SEO business is showing a
positive growth of confidence among the players. Despite this being a dynamic
and innovative industry, most SEOs are still willing to recruit more staff to
help drive their businesses ahead. 84% of the sampled SEOs in the SEO research
are also optimistic that the SEO business is going to be more profitable
starting this year 2013.
