SEO has a funny reputation. Most people I speak to don’t know what it is. The next-most know it’s important: they’ve heard they should be ‘doing something with SEO’, but they’re not always sure whether it’s the right thing for their business or just something they feel vaguely guilty about not having sorted.
So let’s start with a question that will give some SEO providers the jitters: do you actually need SEO at all? Because in some situations, it genuinely isn’t the best place to spend your time or money.
When SEO probably isn’t your biggest problem
If any of the following are true, SEO might not be the lever that moves the needle for you right now:
- You don’t yet have a clear idea who your ideal customer is
- Your offer or pricing is still in flux
- Your website exists mainly to ‘look professional’ rather than generate enquiries
- Most of your work comes from referrals, word of mouth, or existing relationships
In those cases, the issue usually isn’t visibility, it’s clarity.
No amount of keyword optimisation will fix a confusing proposition, unclear calls to action, or a site that doesn’t answer the questions people are really asking. That doesn’t mean SEO is pointless, it just means it’s probably not first in the queue.
When SEO does start to make sense
SEO becomes genuinely useful when a few foundations are already in place:
- You have a defined service or product you want to grow
- Your site already does a reasonable job of explaining what you do
- People are searching for what you offer (even if you’re not showing up yet)
- You’re thinking beyond quick wins and short-term spikes
At that point, SEO stops being a dark art and starts becoming what it really is: a way of aligning your website with real demand. As far as I’m concerned, SEO should make it easier for the right people to find the right pages at the right time, and it’s nothing to do with ‘tricking Google’ or ‘gaming algorithms’.
A common misconception: SEO = more traffic
One of the biggest misunderstandings I see is the idea that SEO’s main job is to increase website traffic. Increasing traffic to a site is easy. You can ask ChatGPT to do that if you want something to show the boss at the end of the month.
But increasing relevant traffic is much harder. That’s the traffic that leads to conversions, whatever your conversion metrics are: sign-ups, purchases, loyal re-visitors, social shares…
So, in practice, good SEO can often look like:
- fewer pages on your site, not more
- clearer messaging
- making tough decisions about what not to target
Sometimes the outcome is more traffic, sometimes it’s the same traffic converting better, but both of those outcomes are undoubtedly wins.
So… do you need SEO?
The honest answer is: it depends what problem you’re trying to solve. If the problem is:
- Nobody knows we exist
- The wrong people are finding us
- We want more predictable leads
Then SEO is likely going to help you to achieve your goals, But if the problem is:
- We’re not sure what we’re selling yet
- Our website doesn’t reflect the business anymore
- We need sales this month
Then SEO probably isn’t the first thing I’d be reaching for. And that’s OK!
How I usually approach this with clients
When someone asks me about SEO, the first thing I try to establish isn’t keywords or rankings, it’s whether SEO is actually the right tool for them right now. The outcome is usually:
- “Yes, let’s do this properly”
- “Yes, but not until we’ve fixed X and Y”
- or occasionally, “No. Spend your energy elsewhere first”
Long-term, that tends to lead to better results and fewer disappointed conversations.
If you’re unsure where you sit, that uncertainty is usually a sign you’re asking the right questions, not that you’re behind. And if nothing else, you should feel comfortable asking any SEO provider to talk this through with you in plain English before you commit to anything.
