What does SEO mean
Has someone told you that your website needs SEO?
Have you heard the term used, however you are still unsure about the meaning of this term?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a digital marketing strategy to improve your online visibility as part of the Google (or Bing) search results.
SEO
While you are optimising your website for search engines like Google and Bing you are also optimising it for people. SEO is more than just a technical implementation it is also about user experience. Once you are the proud owner of a well-optimised website with an ongoing SEO strategy you can earn a top spot in the results. SERP’s (search engine results pages) are the results that Google deems most relevant from the search intent. SEO helps to get your business to appear in the results that are related to your services or products.
Benefits
- People know that an organic result may more genuine than a paid result to give them the answers they are looking for
- It improves your lead generation as people find you rather than you finding them
- Your brand awareness is increased for the growth of your business
- Sales are ultimately driven as more people find your business
- You will rank for more than just your home page when you have great content throughout your website
Strategies
It may be interesting to note that Google relies on more than 200 factors to detainee the rank of your website. This is why there is no one size fits all approach when it comes to SEO.
Some of these items are:
- An easy to use mobile responsive website
- Relevant and comprehensive content
- Title tags and meta descriptions
- Genuine links both internal and external
- Optimisation of your images
- On-page and off-page optimisation
- Domain, hosting, multimedia, key terms, Google Algorithm, Social Media
- And so much more
Organic
SEO only targets organic results and has nothing to do with paid advertising. In the same way, paid advertising has nothing to do with the organic results.
- Paid ads will have the little ad icon to the left. Every time they are clicked on it costs the business money.
- Organic results will be everything else listed on the SERP’s. Every click costs the business, not one cent. 70% of the clicks in the SERP’s are organic, meaning most searchers are clicking on organic results rather than the paid results.
PPC advertising can be great and it can give you immediate traffic.
Tactics
With SEO it is often discussed as having white hat tactics or black hat tactics.
Black hat tactics can permanently hurt your business and see you with a Google penalty and even your website banned. These tactics include keyword stuffing, hidden text, buying links and more.
Conversely, white hat tactics use best practise as recommended by Google and mentioned above within the strategies. These are the strategies that will get your business in the organic search results.
With Google being the most dominant search engine this is the one we need to prioritise our website for.
Shopping
People shop very differently than in years gone by. We research online and may never even enter a store. When we are recommended a business we view their website and gain a bit of an idea about that business.
Search engines like Google are critical in the path to purchase.
If you are not in the search results do you even exist? This is why SEO matters for businesses of all sizes. It even matters for business with a storefront – SEO makes people aware of your business.
Longterm
SEO is a longterm financially rewarding commitment within your marketing strategy. It will not happen overnight and depending on your business it may take 6 to 12 months to gain results.
Algorithm updates are ongoing and these shape the organic search results. It is these updates that influence SEO tactics.
How much does SEO cost
From just $350 + GST per month up to $1000’s per month comes down to the type of business you have and the requirements of that business.
Experience
It is vital to know that experience and location matters. Choose someone in your country with knowledge of business and the path that people will take to find your business.
IMPORTANT: A genuine SEO or digital marketing business will not call or email you and tell you about the problems you have on your website. These types of contact should always be avoided so that you avoid black hat tactics too.
Conclusion
SEO can provide you with the longterm results you want for your business. It is not a set and forget technique it is an ongoing process and one that can give you the success you are looking for.
Contact Kelly to see how SEO can help your business longterm.
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