SEO – how it can help
Search Engine Optimization
How it Helps You
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a set of strategies to improve a website’s visibility on search engine results. This includes using the right keywords, using social media websites, and optimizing the website itself. This is extremely important for new businesses with web pages looking to engage with new customers. Search engine optimization is not the same as paid online ads, though they serve the same purpose, which is to bring customers to the business.
Online visibility can be defined by how well or how often a website’s name appears on web searches. With nearly four million searches done on Google every minute, this should mean a new website can be found easily. Unfortunately this is not the case since there are other businesses offering similar products and services. Search engine optimization is a great way for a new business or site to compete.
A Word On Search Engines
To understand SEO, we need to understand how search engines work. A search engine’s sole function is to comb through the internet, catalog website content, and deliver website links that best fit the searched topic. These links are ranked according to relevance. Based on gathered information, the most relevant results display at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (or SERP).
Along with the links, SERPs will list web addresses, short excerpts from the page, and keywords that may be relevant to the search. This will inform the user if the site has what they are looking for. Sadly, search engine users usually look at the first four or five results on the first page and ignore the rest. This illustrates how important SEO is for new or small businesses.
How SEO Helps You
SEO strategies offer a variety of ways to increase a website’s visibility on search engines. These optimization strategies grant several benefits for you and your website.
1. Better Websites
SEO usually starts with the website. As the owner, you need to take a good look at your page and see what can be improved. You would want a site that can offer your visitors a great user experience. This is done by using high-quality images, clear videos with crisp audio, relatable written content, and user-friendly navigation. By creating a clean and professional looking website, you are sure to convert prospects into quality customers.
2. Create Brand Awareness
A few SEO strategies involve using social media to improve online visibility. The most common strategy is to let people know about your business with a chain of posts and a link to follow. When done well, both your social media accounts and website will see an increase in traffic. But if done effectively by an expert, your brand will go beyond those social sites as your happy customers talk about you to others. Eventually, your brand will be trusted and gain credibility.
3. Budget-Friendly
This is especially good for small businesses with small budgets. Almost all SEO strategies, especially the basic ones, do not require you to pay anything. All it requires is your time, effort, and dedication to using SEO efficiently and consistently. The only expense comes when you want to hire professional help, or when you want to use a paid SEO tool. Even then, these options are much cheaper than using online advertisement plans.
4. Long Term
You benefit most as long as you continue to optimize your SEO. If you stop utilizing SEO techniques, your past efforts will continue to pay off. This is a big contrast to paid ads and paid search results which only continue to work as long as you pay.
5. Bypass Competition
Using SEO gives you a headstart against your competition, especially those who think they won’t need the internet. For example, if your website is connected to a physical store, then SEO can be used to bring in more customers. A common practice is to include local addresses and let site visitors know there is a shop they can visit. Your website essentially becomes an advertisement platform for your physical store.
6. Gain Valuable Insights
As you learn and implement your favored SEO strategies, you will start to gain insight into various internet user tendencies and online business practices. You’ll develop a sense of what is good or bad for a website; you can identify the latest trends and estimate what the next trend could be. You will continue to learn and grow as you build up your business and website.
If you’re interested in optimizing your website’s SEO, we are here to help! If you’re curious, just ask us for a free website evaluation and we can show you what needs to be done.