Small business owners prefer to invest their marketing budgets in social media ahead of any other form of SEO advertising, according to research from Clutch.
Just over half (56%) of respondents cited social media as their most commonly used SEO service, ranking ahead of local search optimization (46%) on-site optimization (37%) and creating content to earn links (32%).
Due to its relative cheapness and ease of accessibility, social media is the obvious candidate for small business owners, who are often cash-strapped and time-restricted.
Indeed, 59% of small businesses with a marketing budget of $10,000 or less invest in social media, according to the research.
SEO investment slowing
Despite findings from 2017’s report predicting almost three-quarters (74%) of small businesses would invest in SEO, this year’s research reveals only 55% of small business owners assigned budget to SEO.
As the report suggests, this hesitancy to invest in SEO could be due to a number of variables, including its lack of immediate return and the fact 36% of small businesses do not possess a website.
The 2018 Small Business SEO survey comprised responses from 351 small businesses owners and managers about how they invest in and benefit from SEO and PPC.
