It’s no surprise that money matters remain the most pressing challenge for small businesses. Naturally, such companies look to save money on SEO (search engine optimization) and other marketing efforts.
Fortunately, advanced tools are giving businesses the ability to handle some of the basics of SEO on their own. Discover how to maximize your SEO spend with a few of our favorite tips.
Save Money With SEO by Learning More About It
What Francis Bacon, Thomas Jefferson, and “Schoolhouse Rock” said still holds true: “Knowledge is power!” The first step to saving money with SEO is knowing what it is, how it works, and how you can do it yourself.
In particular, staying current on the latest tips and how search engine algorithms change is crucial. Relying on yesterday’s SEO news could leave you in the dust of your competitors.
As an example, recent estimates put the number of changes to Google’s search algorithm somewhere around 500-600 annually. Major updates are much less frequent but happen regularly. There were nine in 2023 alone.
Subscribe to blogs that keep you in the loop about the latest SEO chatter. This blog is an excellent choice, as are the articles from Content Marketing Institute and Search Engine Journal.
Put Quality Ahead of Quantity
SEO is all about quality. That’s why it remains much more affordable than other types of digital marketing, especially paid ads. Once your content gains traction, it continues to give you long-term results. That’s not true with paid ads, which can’t do much more for you after a campaign is over.
Comparatively, it’s more cost-efficient to start a blog. However, you can’t just pump out a bunch of mindless, AI-generated information. In fact, that can hurt your SEO rankings.
Search engines prioritize people-first content that provides a good page experience. Your articles and posts should always strive to demonstrate E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Getting these right the first time and not having to go back and constantly fix things will save money with SEO.
Get Help Where You Need It
Have you ever tried to save money by taking on a DIY project only for it to end up being more expensive than if you’d paid a professional to handle it? SEO is no different.
At some point, if you really want to gain traction and visibility, you’re going to need a pro. Large companies often have the resources to hire a full-time in-house team for that. However, that’s rarely practical for small and mid-sized companies.
The cost-effective way to get the same results as big enterprises is to outsource content creation to an agency. Actually, hiring an in-house writer can cost almost seven times more than outsourcing. Plus, you not only eliminate worries about getting the resources and expertise to create and edit content, but you also get the ability to scale up or down quickly.
