SEO is a sustainable marketing channel that will help increase traffic and improve the user experience. A better customer experience means an increase in customer satisfaction, which results in more purchases and loyal customers. SEO is a long-term process in which you control how much you want to invest. Like any digital marketing channel, SEO isn't independent.
It requires cross-support to be effective and drive results. As our previous infographic demonstrates, there are many areas of marketing that drive and influence good SEO performance. The good news is that everything you should do to establish a strong digital presence also helps your SEO positioning. A lot of Google's ranking factors that count the most are things you should do for your business anyway.
Social media, blogs, and reputation management are elements of SEO that also have additional marketing and advertising value. Yes, many SEO projects don't work, as time and resources are wasted on low-impact (or no-impact) SEO tactics, mediocre content, etc. SEO and PR are another tool that can help generate exposure and knowledge of your SEO content and increase the chances of creating backlinks and sharing on social networks. And, if you approach SEO from that point of view, you have a great opportunity to compete in a way that matters and get ahead of competitors who are still stuck in outdated SEO strategies and tactics.
But SEO requires its own strategy because implementing SEO without any framework to achieve your goals isn't going to get the results you want. One reason SEO is the most profitable marketing channel today is that SEO is perhaps the only one where continuous traffic growth is possible through a sustained referral effort. SEO is a long-term game for Google, which means that if you engage with SEO in the right way, it can also be a highly effective marketing channel for you in the long run.