Influences of Search Engine Optimization on Performance of SMEs: A Qualitative Perceptive

Search engines have become an important channel for increasing SMEs' global reach as well as competing with larger companies. Therefore, SMEs are enhancing their business visibility through search engine optimization (SEO). With effective SEO techniques, small companies can appear ahead of large, well-known companies on search results. However, in addition increasing the ranking on a search engine results page (SERP), there may be other benefits that SMEs may enjoy while engaging in an SEO campaign. This study uses multiple firms as cases to illustrate how SEO initiatives can impact performance for SMEs. The authors found that in addition to increasing the rankings on SERPs, SMEs saw an increase in number of visitors to the site, the average time duration of users visiting the site, more user engagement and an increase of annual sales revenue.