Having a well-run business and great-looking website doesn’t mean people can automatically find you on search engines like Google. After all, search engines compile trillions upon trillions of pages of internet data every single year. So, how do a website and business stand out from all the rest? The answer is simple: Search Engine Optimization, also known as, SEO.
What is SEO?
“Search Engine Optimization” is the process of developing and implementing a website strategy that gears the site to being displayed on Google for specific keyword search terms. For example, a website selling “baby diapers” will try to show up on Google for terms like “buy baby diapers”, but to do that they need to have a strong SEO implementation strategy.
The goal of SEO is to achieve Organic Search Results. These are search results that Google and other search engines display to users for a specific keyword query, the difference is that they are not paid traffic like ads. When you search on Google you will see paid ads and organic listings. Those clicks can cost a lot to paying advertisers so the benefit of having organic results is massive. First, you are not paying for high-quality targeted traffic, and second, users look at organic ranks more favorably than paid ads. So you get the visits without paying per click for higher quality traffic and leads.
Consider a law firm website. Paid ads for keywords under terms like “personal injury lawyer” can run well over $50 for a single click! That can get extremely expensive very quickly. Those websites being displayed at the top for organic results are getting better leads, all without having to pay a huge amount per click. They’ve set up their SEO to be powerful and undercut their competition without paying huge amounts for clicks. This is a major advantage in terms of increasing profit margins.
On-Site SEO vs. Off-Site SEO
There are two main types of SEO for a specific website. “On-site” refers to changes made within a website regarding its design, coding, content, link structure, and more. This is everything that takes place within a specific website. “Off-site” refers to all optimization efforts which take place on 3rd party websites. If a business writes articles which they post on an article directory linking back to their main website, this is considered “off-site SEO” as it takes place off of their website.
Having both of these aspects in place is critical to the success of any website in terms of organic search results.
In our next article, we’ll look more carefully at some SEO specifics and what they mean to your business.
