SEO and Google water under the bridge? A look at the numbers
To know whether SEO is still worthwhile, you have to take a look at the figures.
Wie viele Leute nutzen Google noch? Denn wenn die eigene Zielgruppe noch dort ist, kann sich eine Investition in SEO lohnen.
Die nackten Zahlen sprechen eine klare Sprache: Im Jahr 2024 liegt der Marktanteil von Google bei Suchmaschinen bei ca. 90 % (Statcounter, 2024).
Googleis therefore still by far the most popular search engine in the world and processes billions of search queries every day.
Critics may point out that ChatGPT and other AI models do not appear in the statistics for search engines.
This is true, but only indirectly. This is because Bing, the search engine behind ChatGPT, is listed in the statistics and all searches via ChatGPT are carried out via Bing.
In einer Umfrage von Evercore aus dem Jahr 2024 gaben 8 % der Befragten an, ChatGPT als ihre primäre Suchmaschine zu nutzen.
ChatGPT is therefore increasingly being used as a search engine. However, its use is still miles away from that of Google.
This means for you: Google is (as of 2024) still used by the vast majority of people on a daily basis. Using the Google Search Console can help you to monitor and optimize the performance of your website. Your target group is most likely on Google. SEO can therefore be absolutely worthwhile purely in terms of user numbers.
For which companies is SEO worthwhile?
Basically, you need to ask yourself the following two questions to know whether SEO is worthwhile for you and your company:
- Is your target group searching for your services/products on Google?
- Does your target group ask questions in connection with your services and products?
If you can answer one of these two questions with a definite "yes", then the basic condition that SEO can be worthwhile for you is fulfilled.
But that's not enough. In my view, there are other requirements.
First of all, we need to distinguish between different forms of SEO.
I differentiate between two forms: Local SEO and national SEO.
Local SEO fokussiert sich auf ein regionales Einzugsgebiet und beinhaltet oftmals primär die Optimierung des Google Business Profils, um im Local Pack zu erscheinen.
This local form of SEO is worthwhile for smaller companies with a local catchment area or larger chains with several locations and a local catchment area.
Nationales SEO hingegen ist kompetitiver. Man hat Konkurrenz auf nationaler Ebene und meistens auch von internationalen Websites. Es dauert länger und ist wesentlich kostspieliger, Ergebnisse zu erreichen – kann sich aber dann umso mehr auszahlen.
National SEO is suitable for companies that already have a functioning sales channel and have certain resources at their disposal.
That means in summary. SEO is worthwhile locally for almost all companies with a local catchment area. Nationally, however, it is only worthwhile for companies that already have an established marketing channel.
SEO is generally not the right channel if you have a sales problem. If you urgently need more sales and the water is up to your head, then please don't invest any money in SEO.
Besonders für einen Online-Shop ist eine professionelle SEO-Strategie entscheidend, um in den Suchergebnissen sichtbar zu bleiben und Kunden zu gewinnen.
To create an analogy: SEO is a channel that, when the fire is already blazing, acts like gasoline that fuels the flames.
How quickly does SEO pay off? That's what current studies say!
According to numerous studies, SEO is one of the marketing channels with the highest return on investment.
Laut einer Analyse von Seomator generiert SEO durchschnittlich 250 US-Dollar für jeden investierten Dollar (also das 250-Fache), während der ROI bei Pay-per-Click-Werbung (PPC) je nach Anzeigenleistung, Konversionsraten und Kosten pro Klick variiert.
Eine Studie von First Page Sage zeigt, dass Unternehmen zwischen dem ersten Quartal 2021 und dem dritten Quartal 2024 durchschnittlich einen ROI von 748 % über drei Jahre erzielen. Dies bedeutet, dass für jeden in SEO investierten Dollar ein Nettogewinn von 7,48 Dollar generiert wird. Diese Zahlen unterstreichen die Effektivität von SEO als Marketingstrategie mit hoher Kapitalrendite. Ein höherer ROI ist oft das Ergebnis von gesteigertem Website-Traffic, der durch effektive SEO-Massnahmen erzielt wird.
Why is the ROI higher with SEO?
You may be wondering why SEO has such a high ROI.
The answer lies in the so-called click-through rate (CTR).
The CTR measures the percentage of users who click on a search result.
SEO hat im Vergleich zu anderen Werbemethoden wie SEA oder Social Ads eine viel höhere Klickrate.
Laut aktuellen Studien von Ralf van der Ven klicken ca. 25–35 % aller Nutzer auf das erste organische Suchergebnis bei Google.
Zum Vergleich: Bei SEA (also Google-Anzeigen) klicken im Durchschnitt nur 3,17 % der User.
Why is that?
Because people trust the search engine more than the ads. Many know that companies pay for ads in the background in order to be listed there. They therefore classify these search results as less trustworthy.
Why is it worth investing in SEO?
SEO offers a number of worthwhile benefits that you should not miss out on.
Here are the most common reasons why companies decide to invest in SEO.
More visibility
SEO is a wonderful way to increase the visibility of your brand, products or services on the web. With SEO done right, you will appear high up in the search results for relevant keywords that your target group enters to find your products or services. This builds trust and raises the profile of your company. Effective on-page optimization is crucial to increasing the relevance and visibility of your website.
Generate more leads
One of the main reasons why many companies invest in SEO is to receive more customer inquiries. Through SEO you increase your visibility and significantly increase the chance that people will land on your website. If you then have a well-optimized landing page, there is a high chance that new prospects will contact you.
Generate more sales
Of course, SEO is also a very suitable channel for driving your company's sales growth. You can increase your turnover through more qualified customer inquiries. In the e-commerce sector, where customers buy directly online, this is all the more interesting as the purchase decision is made directly on the website. Good SEO is the be-all and end-all for success in e-commerce.
In addition to visibility, which can be increased with the help of Search Engine Optimization, it is also a proven means of increasing the turnover of your company or your online store.
Frequently asked questions
How can I measure the value of SEO?
There are various metrics you can use to measure the value of SEO:
Organic traffic
Der organische Traffic deiner Webseite zeigt an, wie viele Leute auf deine Website klicken. Sichtbarkeit im Web hat natürlich einen Wert, da sie die eigene Marke stärkt und Vertrauen bei potenziellen Kunden aufbaut. Es ist jedoch oft schwierig, dem Traffic einen exakten Wert zuzuschreiben, da alleine vom Traffic nicht erkennbar ist, wie viel Mehrumsatz oder wie viele Neukunden tatsächlich gewonnen wurden. Daher kombiniert man den organischen Traffic häufig mit den folgenden Erfolgsmetriken.
Keyword rankings
Eine weitere Metrik, die oft genutzt wird, sind Keyword-Rankings, also wie gut eine Seite für das gewählte Fokus-Keyword rankt. Mit Tools wie Ahrefs und SEMrush können die Keyword-Positionen laufend getrackt und der Fortschritt sichtbar gemacht werden. Wie beim organischen Traffic ist es jedoch schwierig, den Wert von Keyword-Rankings abzuleiten, da man auf Keyword-Ebene nicht messen kann, wie viele Neukunden gewonnen wurden.
Conversion Rate (CR)
The conversion rate (CR) shows what percentage of users who land on your website perform a desired action, e.g. fill out a contact form or click a call button. The conversion rate is an important indicator of success as it shows how many of your visitors actually get in touch with you or make an inquiry.
Increase in sales (for e-commerce)
For service companies, it is difficult to directly quantify sales growth through SEO, as you can count leads but do not know how many of them actually become new customers. In the e-commerce sector, on the other hand, the purchasing process takes place directly on the website and can therefore be tracked precisely. From this perspective, SEO in e-commerce can make sales growth measurable in a targeted manner.
Return on investment (ROI)
The ROI measures the SEO investment in relation to the profit generated. The formula is (profit - investment costs) / investment costs. ROI is an important metric as it shows whether the investment has paid off. However, calculating SEO ROI is not easy, as SEO measures take time to have an effect. Initially, the investment is often higher and the return low. In addition, the ROI does not directly take into account the positive side effects of SEO such as increased visibility and brand awareness. External factors such as market conditions and economic fluctuations can also influence the ROI. In theory, ROI is important, but in practice it is often more difficult to measure.
Is it worth hiring an agency for SEO?
Eine Frage, die ich in Erstgesprächen mit Unternehmerinnen und Unternehmern immer wieder erhalte, lautet: „Lohnt es sich, SEO an eine Agentur auszulagern? Ich kann doch selbst Texte schreiben?“
Yes, a perfectly legitimate question, because nowadays anyone can write texts with AI.
However, that is precisely the problem.
Durch KI hat sich der Wettbewerb in SEO enorm verschärft. Jeder kann Texte schreiben – und das auch noch in hoher Stückzahl. Früher konnte man sich einen Wettbewerbsvorteil verschaffen, indem man grosse Glossare mit Hunderten von Artikeln erstellt hat. Heute kann das jeder.
In addition, SEO today is much more complex and dynamic than simply writing texts.
Es braucht semantische Analysen, Tracking-Know-how und Erfahrung im Linkbuilding.
In addition, the Google algorithm is currently changing faster than it has in the last 20 years due to developments in the field of AI. If you don't stay on the ball, you run the risk of being left behind.
Hier sind ein paar Gründe, warum es sich absolut lohnen kann, mit einer spezialisierten SEO-Agentur (wie wir es sind ) zusammenzuarbeiten:
No rookie mistakes
I see companies making the same SEO mistakes time and time again. They focus on the wrong strategies or invest time in optimizations that don't help. With a competent, specialized SEO agency on your side, this won't happen. You work with experts who know exactly what they are doing, so you can pull the right levers right from the start to see results as quickly as possible.
Focus on core business
What many companies don't realize is that SEO takes a lot of time. There is no magic button you can press to get to number 1. No, good organic Google rankings have to be earned. Entrepreneurs who consider SEO agencies to be too expensive are often unaware of how much time and money they would have to invest themselves to achieve the same results - time that they then lack in their core business.
Faster results
Eine SEO-Agentur macht tagtäglich nichts anderes, als erfolgreiche SEO-Kampagnen zu fahren.
Oftmals erhalte ich die Frage: Wie lange dauert SEO?
Daraufhin antworte ich immer: Kommt darauf an, wer die Kampagne durchführt.
Natürlich erzielt eine SEO-Agentur im Vergleich zu einem Amateur viel schneller Ergebnisse. Wir konnten einige unserer Kunden bereits nach wenigen Wochen für kompetitive Keywords in die Top-Ergebnisse bringen, etwa ein lokales Fitnessstudio in Zürich oder einen Architekten in St. Gallen.
Wenn du mit dem Gedanken spielst, eine Agentur zu beauftragen, fragst du dich vielleicht an dieser Stelle, wie viel eine SEO Agentur in der Schweiz überhaupt kostet.
The costs for SEO can vary greatly depending on the company and its specific goals. A monthly budget of at least CHF 1,000 / month should be planned for the management of an already optimized website. For new websites that first need to be optimized, the recommended amount is between CHF 2,000 and CHF 5,000 per month.
Diese Investitionen hängen von verschiedenen Faktoren ab, wie der Ausgangssituation der Website, der Branche und dem Wettbewerb. Es ist wichtig zu verstehen, dass SEO eine langfristige Investition ist, die kontinuierliche Pflege und Anpassungen erfordert. Unternehmen sollten daher bereit sein, in eine nachhaltige SEO-Strategie zu investieren, um langfristig von den Vorteilen zu profitieren.
Aus meiner Sicht sind SEO Experten also unerlässlich, um die komplexen Anforderungen der Suchmaschinenoptimierung zu meistern.
My personal conclusion to the question: "Is SEO still worth it?"
Based on the points outlined above, it can be concluded that Yes, SEO will still be worthwhile for the majority of companies in 2024.
However, as has also become clear, SEO is not suitable for every company. User behavior is currently changing significantly, which may have further influences on SEO in the future.
The future of SEO is characterized by constant changes and adjustments to search engine algorithms.
It is crucial that companies and SEO experts continuously educate themselves and adapt to the latest trends and techniques in order to remain competitive.
In addition to the use of LLMs, another significant trend is the increasing importance of voice search. More and more people are using voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant to make search queries. As a result, optimizing content for voice searches is becoming increasingly important. Companies must ensure that their website content is designed in such a way that it can also be found easily in voice searches.
It is therefore advisable (and I'm not just saying this because I'm a co-founder of an SEO agency) to have a reliable SEO partner at your side who is transparent about risks and is always up to date.
Meine Meinung ist jedoch: Solange Menschen nach Informationen suchen, wird es SEO geben – und es wird sich weiterhin für Unternehmen lohnen können.
