Digiwei

As a business owner you’ve undoubtedly heard of SEO, or search engine optimization.  You’ve probably heard stories about how SEO helped a company grow their business dramatically – and also stories about companies that ran into serious trouble from SEO.

 

With all this conflicting information it might be hard to know for sure if doing search engine optimization is right for you.  After all, it can be a real investment in time and money, and there are no guarantees.

 

Yes!  You Need SEO!

 

The short answer is a resounding “YES!”  Yes, you absolutely should be optimizing your online presence to help search engines find you.

 

SEO is the practice of making continual improvements to your website so that your site is found and understood by search engines.  That way they’ll show your site in response to a search query, which will bring you traffic.

 

So we would argue that the question is not whether or not you should be doing it, but what is the best way to make it work for your business?

 

SEO Basics

 

Before we talk about that, though, let’s first cover some of the basics so we’re all on the same page.

 

SEO stands for search engine optimization.  It’s the practice of optimizing certain elements on your website and other online properties to get picked up by search engines and shown in search results.  It’s demonstrating to search engines that your website provides value to people who might be searching for what you do or what you sell.

 

There are really three main elements to SEO:  On Page, Off Page, and Technical.  While that might not seem like much, each of those elements can be broken down into many smaller elements.

 

On Page Optimization

 

On page elements are found on your web pages that the search engines can crawl to understand what your site is about.  They’re also things that people who visit your site can see and interact with.  Title tags, meta descriptions, page content, keywords, headers, subheaders, and images.

 

Off Page Optimization

 

As the name suggests, off page elements aren’t located directly on the web page.  They’re signals that happen off your website, before a visitor even gets to your page.  These are things like click through rate, bounce rate, and backlinks.

 

Technical

 

Technical SEO relates to making sure your website complies with search engine guidelines and can be crawled and indexed.  This includes your site speed, content rendering, structured data, and mobile-friendliness.  The technical side of SEO is foundational and should really happen as a website is being built.

 

SEO Is Alive and Well

 

For years the online marketing industry has cried the death knell for SEO, but we’re here to tell you it’s alive and well.  SEO trends may come and go, but the basics are here to stay.

 

It’s important to remember the foundational elements of SEO and to make sure your website is optimized for the basics.

 

  • Include a keyword-rich title tag and meta description on each page.
  • Add headlines and subheads that contain keywords.
  • Make sure your content covers your topics without being spammy or keyword stuffing.
  • Optimize your blog and video titles.
  • Fill out your social media profiles completely, and add relevant keywords and categories.
  • Claim your Google My Business profile, fill it out, and verify it.
  • Write in-depth, authoritative content that other websites will want to link to.
  • Add your business to online directories.

SEO isn’t a quick fix and it won’t work overnight.  But by making sure your website and social profiles are optimized for your target keywords, and by producing helpful content that could earn backlinks, you will likely see some success.  

 

Feeling overwhelmed by SEO?  We can help!