DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SearchDex, a digital marketing technology and service company, today announced the results of its 2017 SEO Proficiency in Marketing Survey. Fielded to more than 100 marketers, the survey gauged the importance of SEO, as well as current SEO challenges, to CEOs, vice presidents of marketing and marketing directors.
Winning the SEO war is mission-critical
Almost all marketers (99 percent) feel that “winning the SEO war” is of paramount importance; 93 percent also said it was “extremely” or “very” important for sales that their company website ranks high in search results.
When asked what consequences retail websites face if they fail to win the SEO war, marketers said:
- Lower profits—71 percent
- Loss of interest from consumers—71 percent
- Brand wouldn’t be perceived as unique—63 percent
- Loss of brand loyalty—54 percent
- Loss of consumer trust—42 percent
However, 91 percent of marketing professionals also agree that managing SEO is difficult. More than half (55 percent) say it’s difficult to build a good and knowledgeable SEO team, 45 percent cite difficulty working with the IT department to execute SEO strategy, and another 45 percent say they don’t have time to analyze the data they are being given.
Still others point to a lack of the right tools (35 percent) or the right service provider (32 percent).
Retail websites face specific SEO challenges
Because retail websites are designed to be transactional, they are not particularly SEO friendly. When asked what SEO challenges retail websites face, marketers cited these difficulties:
- Rapidly changing product pages—66 percent
- Having similar titles to competitors—55 percent
- Not updating pages based on search demand—54 percent
- Insufficient product reviews—51 percent
- Lack of product descriptions—43 percent
“The survey showed an increasing understanding among marketers that as Google’s algorithms have gotten more sophisticated, their SEO strategy must follow suit,” said Dave Chaplin, CEO of SearchDex. “IT departments simply can’t make thousands of website tweaks per day, especially on an ecommerce website that is inherently structured to sell products.”
Marketing pros welcome advanced SEO technology with open arms
The great potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance SEO is not lost on marketing professionals, 96 percent of whom said their SEO strategy could benefit from AI. Top reasons include:
- Gives marketers the ability to focus on SEO while AI analyzes data—73 percent
- Searches for anomalies in current SEO strategy and fixes them—61 percent
- Keeps SEO strategy current based on what competitors are doing—58 percent
- Ability to outthink RankBrain—49 percent
- No need for exact keyword phrases—41 percent
When asked what is currently missing from their SEO strategies, the top answer was automation of daily changes (62 percent), followed by the creation of new and unique content (53 percent), researching competitors and building pages with keywords they’re missing (50 percent), the incorporation of big data (49 percent), and use of AI (47 percent).
“The key to building a company’s brand is freeing marketers to implement an SEO strategy they can control in real time,” added Chaplin. “Creating a straight path from marketing through to consumers through the power of search itself allows marketers to connect to consumers on an emotional level not previously possible.”
About SearchDex
Specializing in search engine optimization (SEO) and digital brand connections, SearchDex provides a strategic method for organic SEO and online brand visibility which solves e-commerce challenges and achieves online revenue growth goals. Its proprietary platform directly addresses a fundamental enterprise SEO challenge—the gap between buyer and seller—with a unified solution that offers a distinct and integrated approach to digital marketing for e-commerce companies of all sizes. Visit SearchDex at www.searchdex.com for more information.
