5 Amazing SEO Stats for 2016 That Are Too Powerful to Ignore

The SEO landscape is changing, particularly due to shifts towards higher quality content from search engine giants like Google. So what does the wonderful world of SEO look like for 2016 and beyond? If you play your cards right, it actually looks incredibly positive, but don't take our word for it - let these powerful SEO stats tell the tale themselves.

SEO and PPC: A Match Made in Heaven

While SEO is undoubtedly powerful, one thing is for sure: it is not the "silver bullet" that many people treat it as. It should never be the "be all, end all" approach to your content marketing efforts and instead should be the foundation that you build from moving forward.

Case in point: according to Business 2 Community, businesses that use organic SEO techniques AND a pay-per-click campaign receive not only 25 percent more clicks than they would if they tried one or the other, but also an average of 27 percent more profits!

Long Searches Are the Name of the Game

Another important statistic that is far too powerful to ignore has to do with something of a misconception that is rooted in the past. For years, SEO professionals all told some variation of the same story: if you ran a doctor's office in Cleveland, you'd better be sure that you were targeting "doctor Cleveland" in your SEO efforts. The wisdom of the day said that by going after these specific, short-form keywords, you'd increase your penetration and visibility as a result.

Not so, according to WordStream. WordStream says that as much as 50 percent of ALL search queries have at least four words in them - many have more! This means that long tail keywords are more important than we even realized and "Doctor's Office in Cleveland Ohio" will beat "Doctor Cleveland" every day of the week.

Local, Local, Local

Thanks to the mobile-centric world in which we now live, local marketing is more important than ever. After all, if your business operates in one specific area, it makes sense to go after potential customers in that specific location as hard as possible. If you ONLY run a business out of Topeka, Kansas, it doesn't make sense to spend money on a national ad campaign. While the Internet has made it easier to extend your reach, you may want to think twice before you go too far out of your way to actually do so.

Take this particularly juicy statistic, for example. According to WordStream, an incredible 72 percent of people who found a business via a local search ended up frequenting that store so long as it was located within five miles of their house!

Think about the thousands of houses that are within five miles of your business. Now, realize that with the right local SEO tactics, those are thousands of potential customers just waiting to walk through your door.

Search is Especially Important in the B2B World

At this point, it's probably hard to find someone who DOESN'T search the Internet for information before making any type of large purchase. However, did you realize that this also extends into the world of B2B?

According to Freely.net, a full 81 percent of B2B buyers say that their purchase cycle begins with a Web search. More than that, a full 90 percent of B2B buyers said that when they're ready to buy a particular product or sign up for a particular service, they don't want you to reach out to them - they'll come to you.

How Important is Mobile? Very.

In an age where there are millions of smartphone users with disposable income walking around right now, it's clear that mobile searches are important. However, according to Google itself, it may be more important than we realized.

Approximately 18 percent of local mobile searches lead to a sale within one business day of the initial search having taken place. In other words, having a stronger local and mobile showing than your followers eventually means that you get first crack at all of those customers looking for a place to shop.

This post was written by Melody Gee, Content Director of http://www.onlinefaxes.com/.

A company that takes care of its customers, provides reliable service and saves its customers hundreds of dollars per year.