Search Engine Optimization
A lot goes into building, maintaining, and marketing your website online. You have to think about content marketing, social media, measuring your site’s performance, and much more.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is just another piece of the puzzle. But it’s an important piece, because it helps your website “be found” on search engines.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Think of the time you used Google or some other search engine to look up businesses or products. After the ads or “Sponsored Sites” section, which your eyes quickly glazed over, you saw the results of your search.
Those unpaid results are known as “organic” or “natural” results. Search Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing a website so it can be placed as high as possible in the natural search results list.
Why do you need Search Engine Optimization?
Because anything outside the first page of Google has a slim chance of being looked at.
When you draw from your own browsing habits, how often do you go past the first page of a search results list? Statistics would show that it’s not very often. People generally don’t go past the first page, or even first three results.
If your website is not placed as high as it can be for a given keyword, it has a very little chance of getting visitors for that keyword.
What is a keyword?
A keyword is a word or a phrase you want to be ranked for. It can’t be too broad or mundane (good luck trying to rank on the first page for “eraser”) or overly specific that nobody searches for it (“2005 used toy hauler towing capacity Bakersfield”).
You want to make sure enough people are already searching for the keywords you are targeting. The sweet spot is finding keywords with high volume of searches and low competition. Optimization Prime can help you determine that sweet spot.
What’s involved in Search Engine Optimization?
The typical approach to search engine optimization includes the following:
- Content optimization: Making sure the content is original and there are enough keywords to attract visitors without feeling “spammy.”
- Link building: Getting high quality links from authority sites.
- User interface: Sensible menus and navigation design, as well as readiness for mobile devices.
- Coding & technical: Good coding practices.
- Analytics: Analyzing competitors, search engine volumes, and deciding which keywords to rank for.
- Localization: Making sure the website ranks high on search engines when people search for local businesses.
Local Search Engine Optimization is the lifeblood of small businesses. It’s the new Yellow Pages. According to BrightLocal, some 92% of consumers relied on search results to find local businesses in 2014.
With local Search Engine Optimization, if people are searching for a Japanese restaurant in Albuquerque and you happen to be one, your website and all the contact information would be the top search result. Provided you did everything else right: have appetizing pictures, clear directions, and good reviews, you’re basically guaranteed to have customers at your doorstep.
Making Search Engine Optimization simple
Besides not doing it, there’s no real way to make Search Engine Optimization easy. Although it’s not an exact science (things change so often!), Optimization Prime uses tried and true methods to make your website more visible while keeping things authentic. All of which means more customers for you and your business.
