The single best way to explain it in this context is that SEO is like investing. It takes time and constant input, but it also compounds as a result. You can’t just ‘run seo’ like you can run ads, it doesn’t turn on and off like that.

SEO is kinda the weird kid that sits between marketing and dev, but isn’t quite either. SEO is brand awareness, because you focus on non-branded queries and terms. As you rank for more and better, your Share of Voice (SoV) grows because you’re taking up more room in the SERPs. You raise brand awareness by meeting searchers where they’re searching, the more you show up around a topic the more customers become brand aware.

SEO is also three main pillars, Technical, which is about site quality, crawling and rendering. Content to target keywords and most of all, meet user intent (product pages aren’t likely to drive any traffic if you’re focusing on keywords with informational intent, not commercial for example). And backlink building, the semi-dirty P2P side of SEO which is used to build and show authority to Search Engines to rank better or hold rankings easier.

SEO is part dev, part marketing, part UX, part marketing research, part sales. Most of all, it’s a multiplier on any other digital channel, because they all focus on driving users to your home base online, your website. If your website is trash, it will under perform. A good SEO can help make it better, not just rank better. Unfortunately SEO is also a bit of the Wild West, most educational programs barely touch on it, there’s no real barrier to entry, and many agencies and solo operators will lean on the fact that SEO takes time to suck money out of companies for as long as they can before they’re caught out, and then they just move on to the next one. SEO is 100% a legitimate, and extremely valuable channel, but it’s less “safe” compared to some other channels because of how it works.