The economy is always going up and down, and who knows what’s going on by the end of the year. Some people are talking recession. When recession strikes, is SEO still effective?
I’ve been through about three recessions over the last 17 years of running SEO National. What’s interesting is every time there is a dip in the economy, the demand for SEO increases.
And, I think I know why.
SEO is largely built on the reputation and the credibility of a website.
Paid ads are largely influenced by budget, good copywriting, things like that.
There’s a difference in how people interpret the trustworthiness of an organic result versus a paid ad.
There’s nothing wrong with paid ads, but organic results have a higher click through rate because there’s this different interpretation in the trust.
So I think that during a recession, SEO is more valuable. Not only for consumers but also for agencies.
When you’re going into a recession your customers want to give their money to somebody that they trust more… that can stretch that dollar further or protect it.
Depending on the service or product that you sell, you might have to be more conservative with your marketing budget, and those customers are going to ensure they’re actually getting value out of that marketing spend, whether it’s paid ads or SEO.
Think about it… when people are trying to protect their investment, they also want to do more research, and they’re not really doing as much research by clicking on ads.
Plus, ad landing pages are generally shorter form.
But customers protecting their investment crave going deeper into long form content that comes from organic.
You can still do ads, but organic content can bring leads in better pre-qualified, and a higher interest in converting because of the established trust.
Or, maybe they saw your ad and then they went to do their due diligence and Googled you, and then SEO is what closed them.
And if you’re an agency owner, it’s the same thing, right?
Your customers still need to generate revenue and leads, but maybe they need to protect their dollar as well.
SEO is something that they know that they can invest in that has a compounding impact that’s less risky given the proper amount of time.
It might take patience to get the ROI, but once it’s there it’s a lot harder to screw up than constant changing ad budgets, policies, compliance, and competition.
With paid ads it’s constant competition, and there’s always different levers you gotta pull everyday.
Sure, Google algorithms are always changing. But I think more frequently on paid ad platforms.
Your competition is constantly causing bid prices to change, things are going up and down, ad accounts get shut down left and right.
SEO provides better stability.
Having been through the recession in 2008, through the 2020 circus, and whatever it is that we’re walking into right now… Every time we walk into a recession, I see the demand for SEO increase consistently across the board.
