If you are a business owner looking for new customers, you really need to be on the first page of Google, said Vishwas Thakkar, Founder and Head of Digital Strategy, Concinnity. Thakkar explained the importance of Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, for companies at a Chamber roundtable luncheon on 15 June.

“Imagine the amount of business you get by being in the right place at the right time,” he said. “If your website can’t be found, it’s like if your clients can’t find your office.”

Keywords, building links and generating regular new content like blog posts are some of the ways to improve your rankings. However, things have changed since a few years ago, and Google does not like companies trying to game the system, Thakkar said. There are ways to get to the top of the search results quickly, but you will likely be penalized by Google. Successful SEO depends on a steady approach which will take several months.

But there are legitimate ways to speed up the process, as Tina Goguia, Founder of Pandasia Digital and a former staffer at Google and Facebook, explained.

She gave an introduction to Google AdWords, a paid-for service. The chief benefit is that it is an immediate way to get your business to the top of the search results. Google has other services including Google Analytics, Google Trends and a Keyword Planner, which do not require a great deal of technical knowledge to use.

Goguia noted that Hong Kong is less advanced than Europe or the United States when it comes to online advertising, so there is potential for growth.

“Hong Kong is a very specific market,” she said. “A lot of companies are still using quite traditional marketing, but the customers and sales are moving online.”