“Change is the only constant in life.” said the Greek philosopher Heraclitus centuries ago. How apt has this dogma become with COVID-19 wrecking havoc all over the world? The pandemic has not only robbed us of peace of mind, but it is shifting the focus of businesses too. The social distancing norm has catapulted the little known SEO strategies right to the top today!

While many consumers had been wary about paying online in the past, they have accepted the new normal with open arms at present. Similarly, the number of internet searches has gone up too, and that makes the formulation of an effective SEO strategy all the more important.

The Indian Advertising Industry has predicted the demand for digital businesses to reach an astounding INR 58550 Crores that is quite a leap from INR 13689 Crores in 2019. According to the “DAN e4m Digital Report of 2020,” a steady CAGR of 28% has been predicted for the next five years. But as per a report published in Statista, the perceived level of ROI generated by SEO was much higher than other digital marketing channels. Thus, SEO has been proving itself to be a promising digital marketing channel for businesses to invest in, as well as a lucrative career opportunity for many individuals.

Reasons Why SEO is Emerging as the Future Job Creator

Online Stores – E-Commerce websites will be a major platform for revenue post the pandemic. Right now, India’s e-commerce penetration is about ten times lower than that of China. This statistic shows a massive scope for growth in the country. The progress made until now shows a lot of promise too, especially as the world goes online to survive and thrive in a post-pandemic world.

The digital trend continues to grow by the day with people managing to stay away from crowded places courtesy online shopping and remote workplaces. Hence, SEO services will not only find many takers in the near future, but it will cause local businesses to compete favorably as well.

Growth Pattern – The future of business will be cemented by slow but sustained growth with organic search. The past trend of success had hinged on the promptness and acumen of paid adverts on Google and social media platforms. However, online businesses are now looking towards more ROI for the long term, and the results of SEO driven content have endorsed their hopes. Statistics reveal that an award-winning SEO service provider has outclassed all paid channels by clocking 84% more ROI via SEO.

Shifting Business Focus – Many retailers have reported a majority of their growth sources to be online during the lock-down period. This trend will probably continue in the future too. Therefore, SEO makes for a sound strategy to give businesses a good head-start towards long-term and sustained organic presence online.

Automation – The spiraling of digital trends has increased the importance of digital marketing as well. Popular social media platforms, particularly Facebook, have begun using Artificial Intelligence to deal with multiple functions. This has taken care of the most repetitive yet necessary tasks effectively.

Sure, the workforce’s productivity can be enhanced with repetitive tasks being automated. There are also statistics published online that show a co-relation between AI and an increase in revenue. The “Gartner Customer 360 Summit” has expressed hope about more than 85% of customer relationships being managed without human intervention by the end of 2020.

Yet when it comes to performance on SERPs, human intervention still holds strong with search engine optimization. Tasks that require analysis, strategizing, or communication will continue to rely on human skills and insights in a big way. Considering auditing and analyzing, for instance, the job market will continue to thrive in these areas courtesy of SEO.

Alternative Career Option for Engineers – Indian parents have always been interested in having doctors and engineers in the family. Unfortunately, the dearth of jobs for engineers has many bright graduates venture into digital marketing. This is not altogether novel experience for them since they get to work with technical tools and apply logical reasoning that happens to their forte. Hence, shifting to the arena of digital marketing and honing skills required for SEO, in particular, can go a long way in securing their future.

Work From Home – There are going to be more opportunities for remote work now than ever. While technology is a field that comes to mind immediately, a wide range of remote jobs opening up in diverse industries as a vast majority of the working population remains at home in the face of the ongoing pandemic.

Even areas that require the active participation of humans such as entertainment and retail shops are planning to go online completely, with travel and tourism experimenting with the possibility of 360 virtual tours in the future. Education and recruitment have already taken their call with digitization becoming the norm slowly.

This has increased the importance of SEO substantially, providing businesses with an incredible opportunity of beating the competition through organic growth. Hence, it is high time that job seekers explore SEO as an employment opportunity and hone the necessary skills to join future-ready online businesses.