Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a termed used more and more in the business world. Whether you are a start-up owner, an Entrepeneur, a product manager, or a large company director, SEO is your best friend. When it comes to anything digital for your company, SEO can take your business to the next level.
So, what exactly is SEO and why is it so important? Let’s delve into all of this and more.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization is important for every business, even the smallest, if you want a digital presence.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is an important digital tool. It is used to increase the quality and quantity of traffic to your website by using specific key elements to increase your chances of appearing at the top of search engine results pages.
Why is SEO Important?
Most of us don’t scroll to the fourth page of a Google search. Instead, we click on one of the top few search results. Search Engine Optimization can help your website appear near the top of these search results so that you get more people clicking onto it.
We all know that the number of eyes that come across our business, particularly online, is key to increasing brand awareness and sales. Ultimately, SEO makes your website pages more visible. This in turn drives more traffic to your webpages, meaning more potential customers.
Yes, you can have paid advertising to push your brand out to a wider audience, but most of traffic comes through organic searches.
What is the Process of SEO?
SEO can be simple, but is often a long process to see the improvements you are looking for.
The process of Search Engine Optimization surrounds a number of key elements. Here are three of the top elements that play a major role in Search Engine Optimization.
1. Keywords
Keywords are part of any good SEO strategy, whether on a website or a platform, like YouTube.
Keywords are one of the main components of SEO. It’s important for any business owner to research these carefully. Which words and phrases are your potential customers searching for? Through which keywords are prospects going to find your brand online?
When finding which keywords are best for you, look at the ones that have the highest search rates and lowest competition. Choose a number of short-tail keywords (those made up of less than three words), and long-term keywords (those that are more than three words long). Make sure to add these into your webpages and social media copy to optimize the chances of them appearing in people’s searches.
2. Content
Your content is what puts your brand in front of your target audience. Content can take a number of forms including
- Website pages
- Social media profiles
- Blogs
- Podcast episodes
- Ebooks
Your content should provide value to your audience. It should be entertaining, educating, or engaging. It’s important to repurpose or change your content so that it is suitable for each platform that you are posting on.
For example, the content you post in an ebook might differ from the content you post on your brand’s social media accounts. However, remember that your brand’s message and ‘voice’ should stay consistent across all of your content!
3. Off-page SEO
SEO isn't just about your website, it's about content on other websites pointing to yours.
This is a type of Search Engine Optimization that happens away from your website. To enhance off-page SEO, it’s good practice to add quality backlinks to your site from other, external websites. This indicates to search engines that your site is high quality and contains valuable information that other people are searching for.
Backlink building can be done by creating shareable content, mentioning relevant influencers in your copy, and by working closely with other brands, influencers, and bloggers.
How Much Does SEO Cost?
Search Engine Optimization enables you to gain organic search results. Technically, you can optimise your content for free by using short-tail and long-tail keywords throughout your website pages.
However, SEO can get complicated, and sometimes it’s easy and more time-effective to hire a professional SEO company to do it all for you.
SEO services aren’t a fixed price. Each company will have their own rates, and this might vary depending on what their services include.
An experienced Search Engine Optimization expert may charge $500/month all the way up to $2000/month, and many offer the option of paying per hour or per campaign. Prices vary according to their level of expertise, your current SEO strategy, and goals, and what exactly they offer as part of their SEO services (e.g.- keywords, competitor rankings, ongoing analysis, digital marketing expertise).
A lot of SEO companies will provide various packages that increase in price alongside increases in the amount of service and support you receive.
Remember that SEO is an investment. You may not see immediate returns, but over time, you will start to see your traffic and sales increase. It’s about trusting that the person or company you have hired knows what they’re doing, and can get you the results you want.
How Do You Hire SEO?
Unless you want to learn SEO, inside and out, hiring an SEO expert is usually a good idea.
Depending on your budget, you might want to outsource your SEO. Hiring an SEO expert can save you time and energy, and ensures you are using Search Engine Optimization correctly for your business. When searching for someone to hire, be sure to do your research and make sure you go with a reputable SEO company.
Before you hire an SEO company, see what they are offering that other companies are not offering. What makes them stand out? Check for testimonials from previous clients to add some validity to their services.
How Does SEO Fit into Marketing?
Most marketers and business owners know that a huge part of business growth comes down to generating new sales and increasing profits. Search Engine Optimization can help to drive online traffic towards your website pages and social media content, which in turn can greatly increase your customer base.
The larger your customer base, the more likely you are to create leads and convert them into paying customers. Therefore, SEO is at the heart of digital marketing or content marketing. They are not separate things, but instead, they work closely together to increase your business authority, gain more customers, increase conversions, and grow your business.
Who or What Provides the Best SEO?
There are thousands of SEO experts and companies out there. Knowing which is best for you comes down to doing your research. A couple of searches on Google will pull up a number of webpages offering similar services.
The best people of companies for Search Engine Optimization services are those that have years of expertise and knowledge behind them. They should also have a portfolio of previous work to showcase the results that they have obtained for previous clients.
If you are wanting to use SEO yourself, there are SEO software that you can download. These will check the readability of your content, and let you know how likely it is to appear in search engine results pages. There are free and paid options.
SEO is incredibly important for any business, whether it is a start-up or a larger, established company. No matter what your budget, you can use SEO to increase your website traffic.
If you aren’t utilising Search Engine Optimization tactics in all of your content, you are missing a huge opportunity to grow your audience, reach new potential customers, and possibly make more sales.
If you are looking for excellent SEO services, please contact us so we can help you grow your business and take it to the next level.
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