In a nutshell, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the act of optimizing a website utilizing a number of key elements to appear higher up in the search results when users search for particular queries. Let’s take a closer look at what makes a site Search Engine Optimized and the importance of SEO.
What makes a site “Optimized”
SEO utilizes a number of key elements to effectively rank a website. In reality, hundreds of factors determine your website’s position in the search engine rankings but for the sake of keeping things simple, we’ll be taking look at a few key ranking factors;
1. Keywords
Search Engine Optimization begins with the selection of the right keywords and key phrases for your site. These are the words and phrases potential customers will be typing into the search engines when looking for products or services.
2. Site & Content Relevancy
Search engine algorithms are constantly evolving and nowadays can tell the difference between a site that’s relevant to the search query and one that’s not. It may seem like common sense, but making sure your site and content is relevant to potential customers is more important now than it ever was.
3. Site Design & Loading Speed
Another important factor in search engine ranking is your site’s loading speed and design. Search engines understand that consumers today want instant results, therefore are more willing to show them sites that don’t take an age to load. A properly optimized website will have a clean, functional, responsive and mobile-friendly design.
Why is SEO Important?
From a business perspective, SEO is an effective marketing technique that when applied correctly, can help to increase both the quantity as well as the quality of traffic to your website.
With over a billion websites online today, it’s a known fact that consumers often turn to popular search engines like Google, and Bing to find what they’re looking for. Optimized sites appear higher up in the search results, meaning these websites will receive more traffic from search engines and gain a competitive edge.
Ranking high on search engines can also serve to build trust among your prospective customers. When looking to purchase a product or a service, would you be more likely to buy from a site ranked in the first or 10th page of a search?
Are There Any Alternatives to SEO?
Apart from SEO, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is also an effective way to drive traffic to your site. Examples of this include Google Ads and Bing Ads. With PPC advertising, your ads start to be shown to prospective customers immediately after you launch your advertising campaign whilst organic ranking through SEO may take a few weeks or even months to get your site ranking high up in the search results. At this point, you may be thinking, “If PPC produces instant results, why bother with SEO?” Truth is, relying solely on PPC advertising means that once you stop paying for advertisements; your ads and all the traffic they were generating disappear. SEO might take a while to start driving traffic to your site, but has a much longer-lasting effect. As long as you keep your site and its optimization up-to-date with the ever-changing ranking algorithms, you can expect to receive a steady flow of what is essentially free, organic traffic.
Both SEO and PPC advertising have their advantages and disadvantages, we recommend a combination of the two to really make the most of your digital marketing campaign.
Whilst SEO is an effective way of attracting traffic to your site, our experience has taught us that more than one method is required in order for a marketing campaign to reach its full potential. Get in touch with us today to find out how we can develop an effective online marketing strategy to help your business grow.
