Every business with a website needs to make the most of SEO in order to be found online. Without it, in today’s world of metrics and algorithms, you’ll be lost in the shuffle along with all the irrelevant trends of the 20th Century.
Hmm. If it’s that important, maybe you really do need to look into it. At least know what it means. Actually, you should know a little more than that. So let’s start with the SEO basics!
What is it?
SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization.” You definitely want your website to be optimized, right? What does that really mean, though? SEO is how search engines find you when users do a search, based on the frequency and placement of keywords, along with a few other factors, on your page. SEO is designing your website to make it stand out more than any others so that your potential (or returning) customers will easily find you on an internet search. Because so much business is conducted online now, SEO is an essential marketing tool.
Why is it important?
When a person does an internet search, they are hoping to get results relating to what they asked. That may sound simple, but if you consider just how much information is available on the internet, you’ll realize that it’s quite a job to pinpoint specifically what you want to know. Even a very specific search can yield thousands of results. Someone needs to sort the data to show the most relevant page to answer your question. In order to do that, search engines set up algorithms to comb each page for keywords that match your search. The pages that show up first organically* are the ones that have the most occurrences and best placement of the keywords in the search.
*An organic result is one which has not been boosted or promoted. Some companies will pay to advertise to a specific demographic of internet users by promoting their page with specific words that they feel their audience will be searching. Because these non-organic sites are paying for the advertising, they will be shown first. However, less than 5% of users tend to click on the advertised sites on purpose, so organic results are what you are looking for.
How it works
Search engines use “crawlers” to look for and catalog keywords. Then, the sites will be ranked. While the number and placement of keywords (closer to the beginning of the content) are the most important factors determining your page’s ranking, there are several others that are come into play. Becoming increasingly important is the quality of the links embedded. Reliable sources cited on your page bump up your ranking, as do traffic to your site, social media involvement, and even the loading speed of your site.
The sites that have the best SEO will be the top ten sites on the SERP (search engine results page), minus the first three sites which are reserved for advertising. You want your site on that first page because less than 1% of users will move on to the second page of results.
What’s the bottom line?
You are an expert on your brand. If people are searching for it, you want to be sure they will find you. Look professional and serve your (potential) clients by using keywords and quality links properly to get the most of your SEO. Or maybe you don’t want to worry about it at all. That’s okay! You can contact us anytime to discuss how Little Red Writing can help you with your SEO!
