Why is SEO important

I received this question during a presentation I was giving on linkbuilding and reciprocal links. The consultants I was working with were trying to figure out how to sell SEO as an important item, to create a need when the client could not recognize the need. This is an industry that (in general) is not very web savvy: healthcare and hospitals.

So, I had to lay it out:

• Everyone uses the web as the main place for research - not yellowbook, not the library, not television or newspapers. I didn’t even list a source, I just mandated that to be true.
• If 80%+ people discover websites through Search Engines, then optimizing for search engines become very important.
• Your online presence is not any different from your…actual presence. It is an experience of your hospital, often the first impression that a future patient has of your hospital - and that is why it is important.
• What people place in their search field in search engines is a question. The sites returned in the Search Engine results pages (SERPs) is an answer. Being on the first page of answers is critical for being found. You can’t play if you don’t play, meaning you can’t be a relevant answer for that searcher if you can’t be found in the first place.
• The difference between old marketing (TV, radio, billboards) versus new marketing (website, email newsletters, SEO, SEM) is that online activities related to their website is absolutely measurable.
• The second difference between old marketing and new marketing is that the web is completely user-driven, meaning a person puts in the search field “Roanoke, VA hospitals” they are specifically looking for relevant results for those search terms. They are prequalified for that search, and if your site fits that criteria then you should care about showing up on those terms. This is magnitudes different than putting up a billboard and hoping that a person driving by will need your medical services.
• If you DON’T do SEO and your competition DOES, then the Search Engines will unapologetically eat your site out of the SERPs and effectively off the web.
  

These are the reasons why websites and SEO is important.