When you hear about SEO measures in the Indonesian language, some of you may wonder what the difference is compared to SEO measures in Japanese. The conclusion is that they are essentially the same.

After all, content is placed on the platform provided by Google, so the way to respond to the algorithm within that platform is the same. There is no such thing as Indonesian-style SEO measures or Japanese-style SEO measures.

With that in mind, I would like to explain the advantages and disadvantages of implementing SEO measures in Indonesia.

Reasons Why Investment in SEO Measures is Limited in Indonesia

When reviewing the corporate websites of Japanese companies operating in Indonesia, I find that few companies are putting significant effort into web-based customer acquisition. Many of these sites feature simple designs and content, often serving as the bare minimum equivalent of a business card.

Even among corporate websites with beautiful designs and well-prepared service pages, there are still few that implement content-based SEO. The neglect of SEO measures for corporate sites likely relates to certain unique factors in the Indonesian market.

Low Labor Costs for Sales Representatives

To conduct SEO measures in Indonesian, it is naturally necessary to have personnel within the company who understand and can execute SEO. This also requires both money and time.

Instead of investing resources in SEO, many companies find it faster to hire sales representatives and aim for direct deal acquisition.

Unlike in Japan, hiring sales representatives in Indonesia is inexpensive. For entry-level new graduates, salaries are around JPY 40,000 (approx. USD 320*), and even for manager-class personnel, salaries are around JPY 100,000 (approx. USD 800*).

Given such a wage structure, it seems more straightforward to hire one sales manager and several sales team members to form a team. The ability to create a sales team at a lower labor cost than in Japan is one reason why SEO measures in Indonesian are often deprioritized.

*Exchange rate used: JPY 1 = USD 0.008

Advertising Brings Quicker Results

It takes years to see results from SEO measures. In contrast, using web advertising such as Instagram ads or search engine ads allows for quick recognition of your products or services in the short term, depending on your advertising budget.

From this perspective, many Japanese companies believe that pouring money into advertising for immediate customer acquisition is more efficient than patiently building traffic through SEO measures.

Leveraging Personal Connections

For those living in Indonesia, it may be easy to imagine that, unlike in Japan, there are many opportunities to obtain business deals through personal connections or networks.

Naturally, leveraging such networks requires investment in people. Overlapping somewhat with the first reason, when considering the benefits of hiring Indonesians with such connections, it becomes understandable why SEO measures are neglected.

The State of SEO Measures in Indonesia

Given the above, one might assume that SEO measures are unnecessary in Indonesia, or that most companies are not implementing them.

However, according to tools provided by Google, the keyword “SEO” is searched 49,500 times per month in Japan. In contrast, in Indonesia, it is searched 18,100 times per month.

Although the Indonesian search volume is about one-third of that in Japan, it still indicates a significant level of interest in SEO within Indonesia.

In other words, the notion that most companies in Indonesia focus solely on sales and advertising is a misconception—there are indeed companies in Indonesia implementing proper SEO measures.

Advantages of SEO Measures

I have explained that few Japanese companies conduct SEO measures in Indonesian, yet there is substantial search demand. Now, I will outline the inherent advantages of SEO measures.

Increasing Sales

If SEO measures succeed, your content will rank higher on platforms like Google. Higher rankings lead to more visibility to potential customers, which increases inquiries.

More inquiries mean more opportunities for business negotiations, leading directly to increased sales. Regardless of whether in Indonesia or Japan, companies that invest in SEO are seeking to strengthen their web-based customer acquisition.

Reducing Advertising Costs

If you can get your content to rank high on Google through SEO, you can adjust the amount spent on search engine ads or Instagram ads.

Web advertising ceases to function once stopped—it requires continuous investment to maintain exposure. In contrast, while SEO does require ongoing maintenance, it does not necessitate the same large monthly expenses. The more content you create on the web, the more channels you develop for customer acquisition, which is a significant advantage.

Content Becomes an Asset

Content created on the web is not limited to customer acquisition. It can also include recruitment-related content or manuals for existing customers.

You can create various types of content depending on the purpose, and once published online, they can be continually utilized as assets. In this sense, unlike web advertising that loses all exposure when stopped, SEO measures offer the major advantage of creating content that remains an asset.

Disadvantages of SEO Measures

While implementing SEO measures brings significant advantages, there are also important considerations. Broadly speaking, these can be categorized into three aspects: time, money, and platform dependency.

Time-Consuming

SEO measures do not produce immediate visible results like advertising. You must work steadily toward higher rankings, which may take years to achieve.

Therefore, SEO is not suitable for companies that want to achieve high rankings and gain conversions or inquiries within a short period. For those aiming to increase inquiries within this or next month, I recommend using search engine ads or Instagram ads. SEO should be approached as a medium-to-long-term strategy for increasing web-based customer acquisition.

Need for a Specialized Team (Funding Issue)

SEO measures require diverse skill sets. You need personnel who can develop SEO strategies, editors, writers, designers, and for some websites, engineers.

This means you cannot progress with just one SEO-savvy person. You must recruit people with the necessary skills, form a team, and manage it. This challenge constitutes the second disadvantage of SEO measures. For companies that have never conducted SEO measures internally, creating such a specialized team is quite challenging.

Dependency on Platform Providers

Since SEO involves optimizing for search engines like Google, you can never completely eliminate the influence of these platforms.

In an extreme case, if search platforms including Google were to disappear tomorrow, all your SEO investment would be wasted.

Even without such extremes, if the platform changes its ranking rules (search algorithm), you must continually adjust and optimize your content accordingly.

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For Companies Interested in SEO Measures in Indonesian

Having explained both the advantages and disadvantages, I still believe that conducting SEO measures in Indonesian is definitely better than not doing them.

When asked, “Should we do web advertising or SEO measures?” my answer is to do both. As noted earlier, web advertising contributes to short-term customer acquisition, while SEO contributes to medium- and long-term acquisition.

At PT. TRICRUISE MARKETING INDONESIA, we have numerous success stories in implementing SEO measures in Indonesian, so please feel free to contact us.