SEO: Search Engine Optimization -All you need to know

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search engine optimization. It is a set of rules for optimizing your website so that it can achieve higher rankings in search engines’ organic results. It is a great way to increase the quality of a web site by making it user-friendly, faster, and easier to navigate.

SEO can be considered as a complete framework since the whole process has a number of rules (or guidelines), a number of stages, and a set of controls.

Ø What are the main stages of the Search Engine Optimization process?

SEO is not a static process but rather a framework with rules and processes.

For simplicity though, SEO can be broken down into 3 main types:

· Technical SEO: With technical SEO you can ensure that search engines can crawl and index your website without any issues.

· On-site SEO: Rules to apply on your site and content to make it search engine friendly.

· Off-site SEO: Ways to promote your website or blog so that it can rank higher in search results.

Technical SEO

The first stage in the SEO process is called technical SEO. As the name implies, technical SEO has nothing to do with the actual content of a website or with website promotion methods.

It has to do with settings you need to configure to make the job of search engine crawlers easier. Usually, once you get your technical SEO correct, you may not have to deal with it again.

On the other hand, if you have problems with crawling and indexing, it can negatively impact your rankings.

To perform a technical SEO audit review and ensure that everything is working as expected, read our Technical SEO Guide.

On-site SEO

The second stage is On-Page SEO. On-Page SEO has to do primarily with the content and other elements found on a page.

Unlike technical and off-page SEO, the main focus of on-page SEO is to provide search engine crawlers enough signals so that they can understand the meaning and context of your content.

Remember that search engines don’t read a page like a human, so they are looking for signals to figure out what a page is all about.

It is at this stage that you will deal with website structure, SEO keywords, title optimizations, headings, internal links, image SEO, structured data markup, and other techniques that can send the right signals to search engines.

If followed correctly, on-page SEO will also improve the usability and credibility of a website or blog.

Note that content optimization is part of on-page SEO but sometimes this is referred to as Content SEO.

Off-site SEO

The third stage is Off-Page SEO.

Besides the changes, you can do to your website (on-site SEO) so that it ranks higher in the SERPs, the other way to improve your website’s ranking position is by using off-site SEO techniques.

Off-site SEO is generally known as link building but I prefer to use the term web site promotion since a proper way to promote a website involves many more methods and techniques than building links.

Why is SEO important?

Every business, big or small, needs some kind of Internet exposure today. Because that’s where the world is headed. And if your business doesn’t catch up, it is bound to stay behind.

Besides that, as you move forward, you face a ton of options when it comes to marketing. And things get confusing as to what you can or should do to tap into the vast power of digital marketing.

One simple way to start or enhance your digital marketing journey is with the help of search engine optimization or SEO. Even though there are multiple ways to promote your business on the web, nothing comes close to the power of SEO, as it is known to fetch you a high ROI when applied effectively.

Here’s how SEO can help you in the long run…

· It lets you drive targeted, organic search traffic that is relevant to your industry

· It helps your brand gain higher visibility and more exposure

· It makes it easy to attract people that will convert into customers/clients

Here are a few stats:

· 90% of overall traffic on the web is generated by search engines.

· 57% of B2B marketers believe SEO is the top leads generator when compared to other marketing methods.

· 81% of people use search engines to do their homework before committing to a big purchase.

· 64% of Internet users depend on search engines to decide whether to buy something or not.

Having a well-designed website is only one part of the equation. The other part is to make sure it is structured the right way with high-quality content. Content that not only appeals to the visitors but also the search engine spiders. When you work on improving your site’s structure and content, you’ll see the impact on your business growth in terms of leads and sales.

How Exactly Can SEO Help You Grow Your Business?

Your business obviously has a target market it is catering to. By creating and publishing relevant content (on a regular basis) that focuses on topics related to your business, you have a chance to reach out to your target audience via search engines. And if your content is worth it, then search engines like Google will not hesitate to rank you higher. Which helps you generate targeted traffic to your site at no extra cost.

Now, once people visit your website via Google, you also need to know how to engage with them by giving them what they are looking for. Your content needs to work in conjunction with your business goals so that you can build real trust with your visitors. Successful SEO is not just about getting people to your site. It’s also about getting them to take the right actions once they are there.

When you seek real SEO help to generate targeted traffic, you also need to know why you want people to come to your site. What kind of action to you want your visitors to take once they hit your website?

o Do you want them to fill out a quote or your contact form?

o Or you want them to opt-in to your email list?

o Or simply hit the buy button to buy your product or service?

The only reason you are looking for SEO help is that you want to get more business from your website, right? But that’s only going to happen when you have the utmost clarity on how you will convert the SEO traffic you generate. If not, what’s the use of investing your precious time and money into SEO?

Remember, visitors to your business website are only valuable when they interact with your content in a way you want. If not a direct sale, you at least want them to give you their contact information so that you can follow-up later.

The last thing you want is people visiting your website via search engines and leaving, never to come back again. That’s only going to give you a negative ROI.

And when it comes to your marketing budget, you may be wondering “Is SEO necessary?”

The short answer is yes. But if you really expand on why SEO is so important and a good investment, you will start to realize all the ways SEO help improve businesses today.