Why Bother With SEO?
It seems like SEO has become a hot topic recently, and while it never really left the conversation, it’s interesting to see how it always re-emerges when a new technology hits (like, AI).
Having seen it evolve over the decades, studied it, and put it into practice for many wine industry clients (including myself — heck half my client prospects come from search engine traffic), I love reminding people it's not the overwhelming and intimidating digital tool it seems like.
Instead, it’s a really useful way to approach content with a customer-first mindset — we’re talking empathy and helpfulness here! Here are three reasons why I always bother with SEO.
1. It’s a fantastic way to attract the right people to your wine brand. When you get smart about SEO, you can define the exact right audience for your winery, service, product, etc.
Boomers or Gen Z? Wine experts or newbies? Little of both?
Once you have your target audience, the rest is the fun part! Using SEO we can figure out how to show them that you offer exactly what they’re looking for, so you stand out as the best option out there.
We can develop copy for your blog posts, website content, and service pages to make sure you’re highlighting all the great reasons why you’re indeed the best.
Think of it as an extended conversation with all the right people — they’re seeking out brands like you, so use it as an opportunity to explain how you can help them.
2. It’s a long term investment that compounds over time. No joke, I have clients still getting crazy organic traffic from blogs we did years ago. And it only keeps growing as visitors keep engaging, which signals to search engines to keep sending traffic there.
The trick? Realize this is a long game, not an overnight transformation.
Using the right keywords — seasonal, trending, contextual, relevant — you can start planting the seeds today for growth next quarter, next season, and beyond.
Especially if you know about trends that happen every year (ummm hellooo rosé season / holiday pairings / seasonal releases), you can get a head start on creating that content early. Then watch it keep performing year after year.
3. Everyone finds everything on Google/AI — be what they find! There’s no denying that search results rule when it comes to customers finding new brands, products, services, etc. To capture new customers, you need to make sure you’re one of those organic results.
Adding a new layer is AI-powered search results, and your SEO muscles are more important than ever!
According to Forbes, AI-powered algorithms “use machine learning to comprehend user intent (the user's primary goal or intention when conducting a search) and offer more relevant search results.”
This means that your potential customers are getting custom search results based on their history and preferences. But that shouldn’t be intimidating.
On the contrary, this gives us a great opportunity to reach the right people. When your website is chock full of SEO-rich wine copywriting, with keywords that are super relevant to your audience, and exactly what they were looking for, you’ll come out on top.
I really don’t think SEO for the wine industry needs to be as scary and intimidating as many people make it out to be. It’s truly a way for us to use empathy to connect with the right people — the people who are perfect for your wine brand and just don’t know it yet.