State of SEO 2024

Imagine a place where businesses don’t just exist online— they thrive.

That’s the power of SEO.

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, SEO stands out as the priority for businesses seeking to connect with their audience effectively. As we delve into the state of SEO in 2024, the focus is not only on motivations for investing in SEO but also on the challenges faced and the strategies that drive success.

Motivations for investing in SEO

There is one investment businesses could be making the most impact to get in front of new customers, and that is SEO.

By optimising how a brand will appear when relevant searches are made on search engines, a business can position its products directly in front of customers with extremely high purchase intent. And with the right help, it’s easier than ever.

One of the biggest issues we see in many businesses is that they have so much passion for their brands and how they want to sell their product, but don’t necessarily know how their customers are searching for those products. There’s a huge opportunity via full market mapping to determine how large the customer driven demand is for your products and the size of that market. We establish a percentage of your industry’s total market and what are the realistic opportunities available for your business to access. In doing so, this becomes a blueprint for all your digital channels.

In one case, a business selling fishing rods was unaware that customers who would be interested in their products were also searching for more specific terms, such as ‘freshwater fishing rod’, or ‘saltwater fishing rod’. Is there a difference between saltwater and freshwater fishing rods? No, there isn’t. But the brand in question was able to reach a whole new segment of their potential audience just by optimising the way their products were appearing to customers searching for them.

So SEO is truly of fundamental importance in reaching a new and ready-to-buy audience. 93% of companies who prioritise SEO reported that it positively impacted their performance, in areas such as increasing brand awareness.

State of SEO in 2024: Investing into SEO should be a priority

Recent data has shown that only 5% of websites believe that SEO is “not that important”. These websites invest minimal resources into improving their website’s SEO and don’t see why it should be a priority. Luckily, the majority of website owners know that SEO is a priority. They invest significant time and energy into SEO and have a dedicated SEO team. Websites that invest more into SEO will often have better results than those that don’t, especially considering that 68% of all online experiences begin with a search engine.

One company who invests in SEO is Repco. During our time together, they had an increase of 13% for keywords in the top three positions and 21% for keywords on the first page of results. Our strategy increased their selling pages by 603% and keywords to target by 578%. How? By focusing on four main verticals of products, we were able to restructure the user experience in these areas. All customers searching for 4×4 Adventure products, for example, are now able to find and check out products much faster. 

SEO in 2024 has a positive impact on website performance, despite challenges

93% reported that SEO had a positive impact on website performance and marketing goals in 2023 with 46% believing that SEO had a large positive impact. 

Research by Search Engine Journal states that the most difficult aspects of SEO are producing and marketing content, technical SEO and dealing with algorithm changes.

As SEO professionals rate content as the most difficult task, it is no surprise that they also rate content as one of the most effective strategies. In late 2022, Google added ‘experience’ to its measure of ‘expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness’ (E-E-A-T). As more companies are creating content for their audience, it is becoming harder and harder to stand out. Google is also experimenting with ‘zero click searches’ where information is provided directly on the search engine results page (SERP) by taking information directly from websites or using generative AI. It is also more difficult to control what users see on SERPs.

Technical SEO was found to be the second most difficult aspect of SEO, which interestingly is Megantic’s speciality. Technical SEO refers to optimising the technical and ‘behind the scenes’ elements of your website with the aim of providing a solid base to the website. It is optimisations made to a website and backend that enable search engines to effectively crawl and index pages. If you are also finding technical SEO to be difficult, contact our experts today.

The next most effective SEO strategies are link building, long-tail keywords and keeping up with competitors. These are all aspects of our holistic approach that we use for eCommerce clients. By using a wide variety of SEO strategies in our overarching plan, we can ensure long term market share and growth continues. One example of a successful client utilising the holistic approach is Schots Home Emporium. The primary goal of increasing their online presence was met very early on in the partnership. In the period of May 2010 to September 2023, top three keywords increased by 87%, high volume keywords increased by 128% and their average order value grew by 60%.

State of SEO in 2024: Successful businesses work with internal and external marketing professionals

Managing a SEO strategy through an internal marketing team or outsourcing to an agency each come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Many companies instead opt for a hybrid model, combining internal and external expertise for a well-rounded approach. Companies in the early stages of SEO investment also often lean towards decentralisation by distributing SEO responsibilities across multiple teams.

The advantages of an internal marketing team include a deep understanding of the brand and the ability to hire individuals with cultural alignment. However, internal teams may lack an external perspective and you could face challenges when a team member leaves and takes valuable project information with them.

Outsourcing to an agency offers external insights, a broader skill set, and a team that is knowledgeable about the latest SEO trends. Agencies bring diverse experiences from working with various clients and provide a fresh perspective. While agencies might lack the same level of brand intimacy as internal teams, they make up for it with industry expertise. Reach out to us today for a free website consultation from an award-winning SEO agency.

Cargo Crew were initially apprehensive about working with an external agency. They felt that marketing was better in house as the individual working would have a strong relationship and knowledge about the inner workings of the company. However, they took a risk and chose to work with Megantic and it paid off. In the words of Felicity Rodgers, “What really appealed to us about the Megantic team was their real desire to get to know our business and to really understand the diversity of our customer channels”.

State of SEO in 2024: Analysing rather than reporting on SEO growth

In our SEO reporting, we prioritise a comprehensive and insightful analysis, focusing on key metrics that provide a holistic view of our clients’ online performance. Our primary metrics include: 

• Keyword position changes
• Impressions in Google search results
• Search visibility
• Website traffic
• Users
• Conversion rates
• Transactions
• Revenue

It’s crucial to avoid looking at these metrics in isolation. Instead, we compare results over various time frames for a more significant understanding. This can include monthly, quarterly, yearly and over the lifespan of the project. This approach allows us to capture the wider trends of SEO results over time, minimising the impact of minor fluctuations caused by Google’s algorithm or seasonal variations in shopping habits, such as the peaks and troughs associated with events like Black Friday sales.

Additionally, we believe in benchmarking our results against your competitors, providing a standardised perspective that factors in busy and slow periods. As higher SEO-focused organisations tend to report on a broader range of SEO metrics, our approach ensures a comprehensive and accurate evaluation of the ROI of SEO efforts.

Our reports go beyond stating facts. They include a thorough analysis of results, identify areas for improvement, and outline strategic next steps for future growth.

Takeaways

It is evident that investing in SEO in 2024 is not just a choice, but a necessity. From tackling the challenges of content creation to reaping the benefits of a holistic approach, the success stories of Repco, Cargo Crew, and Schots Home Emporium highlight the profound impact of SEO on online performance.