Search engine optimization (SEO) is improving on certain aspects of your website in order to show up on search engines like Google or Bing. Simply put, it’s getting your website on top of Google’s search results.
SEO is all about improving your site’s visibility on Google without paying for ad space. The non-paid section of the results page is called the organic section. There’s also search engine marketing, which is when you pay for a certain spot on the results page.
Stick around to learn about SEO—and the secret to nabbing Google’s prized top spot.
Why is SEO important?
Ranking highly on Google means that you’re going to get a lot more traffic to your website. With that traffic obviously comes more prospects and more profits.
Here are three reasons why SEO is important:
1. Organic Search Results
We went over this earlier, but the main difference between search engine marketing and search engine optimization is the fact that you can’t pay for organic search results, but you can pay for paid search results.
You know how when you Google something and you see the word “Ad” next to a few search results? It’s usually the top few. How often do you skip those and go straight into the results that aren’t ads?
Well, you’re likely part of the 94% of people that don’t click on Google ads. That’s right, organic web pages may be lower on the page but get much more clicks. This is due to a lot of reasons, but a lack of trust in internet advertising is the main one.
So SEO can get your page on top of the organic search results, it may not be the top of the whole page—but it gets more clicks regardless.
Search accounts for over 60% of web traffic. That’s 10x more than social does.
2. Meet Your Target Audience
There are billions of searches made a day. It’s guaranteed that your audience is on Google, looking up tons of stuff.
If your site can meet your target audience on Google and provide them with something useful, then you’ve established a relationship. Sometimes this relationship can be set in stone before they even begin the buying process. That’s good news for you because people are more likely to buy something from someone they trust.
3. It’s an Equal Playing Field
Let’s face it: no small business will ever be able to compete with the likes of Amazon and Alibaba. Right?
Well, maybe not in terms of size.
But—anything is possible on the internet. And that means you can outshine these huge companies with a bit of SEO magic.
Sites like Amazon are in fact common on the organic results page, but Google’s search algorithm isn’t trying to measure how big a company is. It’s measuring how high-quality and valuable a web page is to a visitor.
If a small business can provide more value to a consumer than Amazon’s soulless web pages, then the small business site can easily outrank Amazon for a few search terms.
Google only accepts money for the Paid section on the results page. The Organic section is free game.
Key Factors in SEO: The Basics of Ranking
SEO is not easy. It’s definitely not an overnight process, either.
We’re going to go over some key factors in SEO and how you can improve on them for your site.
Keep in mind that this is barely scratching the surface, so definitely check out our blog for more in-depth posts!
Basic SEO Vocab
Before we get into it, let’s learn some basic SEO vocab.
Feel free to save this image for reference!
Relevancy
Relevancy is how your page relates to a certain keyword or phrase. For example, if you were to Google “tissue box holder”, it’s likely that you’d want to see, you know—tissue box holders. Rather than something like wall paint.
To improve your site’s relevancy to search engines, you should work on a number of things.
Firstly, have a topical page title. Try to naturally include the keyword or phrase in it.
Secondly, make sure the body text matters. It has to be important to people who are searching up that specific search term.
Lastly, you should include images and graphics that can help your reader.
Authority
Your web page’s authority matters in SEO and in convincing buyers to spend their money with you.
Your page’s authority can be measured by how many times it’s linked to on the internet. This means reposts, references, and clicks.
The best way to improve on this aspect is to create a high-quality page. Invest in the writing and design because it’ll definitely make a difference. Even better, try doing some research that’ll be valuable to your target audience. Your page will definitely get linked if there’s quality research present.
Usefulness
Your page has to run smoothly and load quickly.
Google accounts for how quickly your page runs on mobile and on desktop, so make sure the site is in tip-top shape.
Use this tool from Google to see how quickly your page loads and how you can fix any shortcomings.
People need to click on your site and stay on it, the longer the stay—the better your ranking will be. Don’t make your website a bore to be on, but still get your point across.
It’s important for people to spend time on your website, even if it’s on different pages. For example, if someone were to go from a blog post to the home page, then all those minutes would count in boosting your site.
The Secret to Optimizing Your Site for SEO
You just learned a lot about basic SEO—but how can you apply it to your website?
SEO is very tricky, with tons of knowledge on the subject required to rank well on Google. Even though Google is an even playing field, top companies are hiring SEO experts to write their web pages for them.
But there is one secret weapon that can come to your advantage.
Blogging.
That’s right, writing blog posts and consistently uploading them to your website can increase traffic by as much as 434%.
How exactly can blog posts drive traffic to your website?
Well, blog posts are packed with opportunities for SEO. They give you the chance to optimize for tons of keywords, too. Sometimes even multiple keywords/phrases in one post alone.
But just simply putting out a blog won’t bring in results. Blog posts need to be SEO-optimized. It may be a lot of work, but it’s worth it.
Looking to Increase Web Traffic and See More Profit? Let Rosayo Help!
If you’re looking to get a real competitive edge in your industry, then you need to optimize your website for SEO. But it isn’t an overnight process, and there’s definitely a steep learning curve. Don’t worry, though. A few minutes of learning a day will put you on course to becoming an SEO wizard.
If you’d rather have someone else do the work for you, then look no further. Rosayo is a content marketing agency that has consistently gotten clients to the top results of Google’s SERP (remember that term? It’s in the vocab!).
Get in touch with Rosayo today to see more traffic and sales.
Comentarios