The benefits of search engine optimization in Google for businesses

Abstract. This study concentrates on search engine visibility and the benefits of search engine optimization (SEO) in Google for businesses. It seems that search engine visibility has undeniably an important role in business. Most of the people use internet, more than half of Internet traffic begins with search engines and majority of users search for information about goods and services on a regular basis. Google has the largest market share of all search engines. SEO has been studied since 1998 when Google was founded. In earlier studies the topics varied from the basics of SEO to the SEO process in practice and finally to the benefits of SEO. Only a limited number of information systems theory (IS) studies focus on the role of organic listing in search engine visibility. That is why some of the references in this literature review represent also general business research. The research question is “What are the benefits of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in Google for businesses?” and the sub questions are: “Why search engine visibility is important for businesses?”, “How can business achieve organic search engine visibility in Google?” and “What is the future of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?” This is a qualitative empirical study which utilizes eight semi-structured interviews on the matter. The goal of this study is to create a comprehensive understanding about SEO and the benefits businesses can get from it. Another ambitious attempt is to try to forecast the future role of search engines and SEO for business operations. The main benefits of SEO for businesses are better search engine visibility, more visitors and better-quality visitors on website and more conversions. It has been noted in many articles, that SEO alone will not provide us the desired return on investment (ROI). In the empirical results of this study, the interviewees also mentioned better understanding of search engine users, website programming and business as one of the benefits