Based on who you talk to, this is a really tricky question to answer. Is SEO still a necessity for the success of a website? Some will tell you yes while others will say no. Everything is basically connected to the experience of the individual and the success or lack of success that appeared till now. Instead of focusing on various aspects, we will keep it real and say that search engine optimization always helps and always will help.
Most people do not really understand the benefits associated with search engine optimization. We are basically talking about something that is a necessity because the best traffic that a site can have will come from search engines, with Google being the most important one to consider.
Without SEO
Without SEO you will need to rely on other traffic sources. You can still get traffic from a search engine when you buy ads directly through it. However, as soon as the money is not invested in this case, traffic will not come. Search engine optimization basically guarantees that you will get traffic on the long run, without having to keep investing.
Obviously, you can also use other sites as traffic sources. This includes social media websites. You can end up having a really high traffic through this, especially when the content that you share online becomes viral. However, as with any viral content out there, traffic will eventually end.
With SEO
When you constantly apply good SEO practices and you basically use these for a long period of time, you will keep receiving traffic from the search engines. Such traffic is a lot cheaper since you only basically pay for the work that is done by the search engine optimization professional, if you decide to hire one. As soon as you stop investing or you simply reduce your budget, traffic will keep coming in, oftentimes for months after the work was stopped. For most sites out there traffic will go down but some will still come in, which is not actually possible when you rely on anything that involves paid traffic.
Some Facts To Consider
We have to understand the fact that we are referring to the success of your site. There are situations in which you do not need search engine traffic for that. However, for all the cases in which search engine traffic is needed, there is no way to deny that SEO is a necessity.
The great thing about SEO is that you do not always need to hire someone to get the work done for you. It is possible to start alone, get some traffic, make some money and then develop a budget that you can use in order to hire the professionals. Such an approach is oftentimes much cheaper than others so you will want to seriously consider u sing SEO with most sites that you will launch. Even basic on-page SEO practices can end up bringing in a lot of traffic.
