What Is SEO And Why Do I Need It To Market My Business?
Search engine optimization, or SEO, might sound like an incredibly technical term. In reality, it’s a web development task with a simple goal: making a site more visible to internet users by earning the page a higher rank on Google search returns.
The more visible your small business’s website is, the more available it is to a user base, increasing your chances of attracting interested customers and creating conversions. Here’s why you need SEO to market your business!
What Is SEO And How Does It Work?
SEO is Google’s way of determining which sites deserve to rank highly for each query entered into its search engine. It’s not one but rather a full suite of strategies, actions, and tactics that work towards the goal of improving your small business’s position in search engine returns.
We often refer to two types: on-page and off-page.
- On-page SEO is any part of your site controlled to improve your rankings. It refers to factors like keywords, site speed, header text, and more.
- Off-page SEO is anything on other websites that may influence your rankings, e.g. backlinks.
If, after taking these into account, Google deems a site’s SEO to be more powerful than others (and thus more relevant to their needs), it’ll rank it higher than the competition. Getting there can be quite the task, but a good developer can make it easy!
The Tactics Behind On-Page SEO
Google’s mission is to help users find answers to their questions, and it uses SEO to reduce a company’s ability to manipulate the results as much as possible. The best results come through careful strategy, but the first is easy to understand: create compelling content. Original articles, videos and photos are likely to provide potential visitors with quality information. The more you update your content, the stronger the signal to Google that your website is relevant.
Keywords are another necessary component for SEO but don’t overdo it. Keywords are the words your potential clients are most likely to use when searching for products or services online. You can include keywords in the written text of your site, the URLs for your web pages, and the coded elements of the backend. However, Google wants pages made for users, not for its algorithms – if you are forcing keywords into places where it doesn’t belong, Google will catch the subtle distortions and penalize the site.
It’s an idea that leads to the final major on-page SEO factor: the user-friendliness of a website. Visitors want fast, easy-to-navigate sites that meet their needs, and search engines reward you for these factors. Google will also penalize sites that are not optimized for mobile platforms like smartphones and tablets.
Using these determinants, the sites appearing for each search are there because they deserve to be there. If your site meets these criteria, you’ll have a better chance at showing up in the results.
What Makes SEO Essential For My Business Marketing Plan?
Search engine optimization is essential because it works. Competitive industries can spend substantial amounts paying for website traffic, but with a good keyword plan, you won’t have to! You can still invest in advertising, as Google AdWords works hand-in-hand with your SEO’s keywords. But if your budget is tight, an optimized website can attract customers without paying for the traffic.
Users have come to trust what search engines pull up in response to their queries. For a small business, achieving a top spot in search engine rankings is more than a signal to Google users that your site is trustworthy – it’s a full-blown marketing win.
By building your site the right way and optimizing your keywords, you’ll get to the top of relevant returns, drive more traffic, and generate more sales. Talk to the SlyFox team, and let us show you just how easy it can be!
