What is SEO? It is an abbreviation for Search Engine Optimization. What accurately does SEO do? It is the method of scrutinizing and constructing individual web pages, as well as entire sites, so that they can be discovered, analyzed, and then indexed by various search engines.
Running a website without SEO best practices in place is like having a high definition, big screen TV in a home without electricity. In the long run, the website isn't going to do much.
Why is this important? Consider what it would be like if no one could easily find your place of business, or even your telephone number. Most businesses could not continue for long in such a situation.
The same thing can happen with your web site if people cannot easily locate it. Traffic volume, if it existed at all, slows to a crawl. Potentially valuable customers never even know you are there.
Certainly, existing customers or those who are already familiar with your company should be able to find your site without any great difficulty, but this may not be the case.
Can you be sure that every potential customer has been reached by your advertising? What about the people who don't read the magazines or newspapers where you chose to place advertisements?
Did they hear the right radio station? Did they watch the right television show? Did they get one of the thousands of brochures you mailed?
So, what about the search engines? Those people could just enter a few words into a text box, click a button, and voila! There is a link to your web site. Aren't search engines wonderful?
Yes, search engines can be wonderful, and the scenario above can happen, but not without some work. This is where SEO comes in.