SEO marketing is an area of marketing that is becoming increasingly important to small business owners. It is an acronym that you may have encountered already but what exactly does it mean?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and, as the name implies, the goal of SEO is to improve and then maintain a webpage's ranking on a search engine's result page. The primary benefit of utilizing SEO is that you are able to better target potential clients which in turn generates business and increases the profitability of your company. SEO typically focuses on generating traffic organically. This means that you are able to increase your webpage ranking and consequently attract customers to your site without having to spend money on other methods such as advertising. SEO is particularly important as most online traffic arises organically through Search Engines rather than through paid advertising - over 70% of searchers begin their research with Google.
This has probably left you wondering how you can use SEO to your advantage. In principle, SEO is a relatively simple concept - improve your webpage's ranking and in turn improve your website's traffic and ultimately increase business. However, in reality, there is a range of factors that need to be considered and enhanced in order to execute effective SEO marketing. These factors are determined by Search Engines and will vary slightly depending on which search engine you are hoping to improve your ranking with. Given Google's predominance in the industry, most tend to focus their efforts on improving their Google ranking. However, both you and all search engines share one thing in common: optimizing the search engine user's experience by providing the right solutions to the searcher's queries.
Search Engines gain money through advertising so it is in their best interests to better solve searcher's queries as this encourages the searchers to continue to use their service. Search Engines are able to answer the searcher's questions as they crawl, index and rank pages. Crawling is when search engines crawl the internet and document all of the available information. The search engines then have to sort and categorize the content, this is known as indexing. Finally, they are able to rank pages based on the previous processes in order to provide their user's with effective results. These processes are significantly more complex than what I have described as search engines will take into account for other factors such as the website's user friendliness, for example. However, ultimately this is the crux of how search engines function.
Search engines operate in this way because, as I have already mentioned, they aim to provide the best results and experience for their users. Search engines have realized the best way to do this is to focus primarily on two components: content optimization, and on-page optimization.
Content optimization is of paramount importance when it comes to ranking as it is the only way you are able to truly answer a searcher's queries. Other factors will improve the searcher's overall experience, but answers in the form of content is ultimately what the searcher is seeking. Content optimization is so important to businesses and will span a range of media, from your website to social media. Excellent SEO marketing will aid businesses by using research and data to predict what your target demographic is searching for, allowing your company to get ahead of the trend, answer their queries, and direct traffic to your site to generate business.
On-page optimization is also imperative when improving your ranking. This will focus on the changes you can make to your website to align it with search engines' SEO requirements that are typically not associated with content optimization. On page optimization attempts to improve user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) - essentially focusing on making your website intuitive for the user to navigate. On-page optimization is important as it is constantly changing based on the search engines requirements and is considered by search engines alongside content when they determine your page's ranking.
If you are looking to generate more business and increase your webpage's ranking leave it to the experts. Contact Alliance Digital Marketing Concierge today to discuss your options and determine how we can help you thrive.
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