If your business has a website, you have probably at least heard of Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
This is that magical formula that makes Google and other search engines show your web page ahead of other web pages when people search for things like “I want to spend lots of money on [Your Product or Service Here]”. If your site comes up first, you will be the recipient of all that money!
Search Engine Optimization is incredibly important in today’s digital world and the companies that do it better than others reap big rewards in categories like lead generation, online sales, and digital marketing ROI. Here is exactly why SEO is so important and some Search Engine Optimization strategies to employ and some to avoid.
What is SEO and Why is It Important
Search Engine Optimization is defined as “the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.” The more you optimize your webpage, the more search engines will think your page is valuable, the higher your SERP ranking will be, and your page will show up closer to the top of the search results page.
This is important because it means two things. It means you will appear higher in searches which is critical since people rarely look beyond the first page of search results. Secondly, it means that you will not have to pay money in order to be listed at the top of search results. This is a good thing because not only will it cost less, but organic searches (results that show higher due to great SEO), drive much more website traffic than paid results, by a 5 to 1 margin.
So, how do you get this organic traffic to your site? You maximize your SEO! There are a lot of strategies out there. Some work well and some do not. You have to be careful though because the strategies that do not work can actually hurt your SERP ranking and leave you further down or even off the search results.
Good Search Engine Optimization Strategies
- Make Your Content Helpful – Nobody knows exactly how Google’s algorithms work to determine search results. What we do know is that they want to provide the best answers to people’s questions. The higher quality your website content is, the more Google will reward you with a higher ranking.
- Keywords – Keywords are words and phrases that define exactly what your content is about. You want to match your keywords to both what you do and what people are searching. The better you make use of the right keywords, the better your SEO will be.
- Mobile and Speed – Your site needs to function well in every aspect. It needs to load quickly and it needs to be optimized for mobile. If your sites do not perform well in these categories, it will hurt your SEO.
Bad Search Engine Optimization Strategies
If you try to game the system, Google will recognize this and penalize you for it. Here are some SEO pitfalls to avoid.
- Keyword Stuffing – Yes, keywords are vital to good SEO, but if you put too many in, use irrelevant words to your site or use them in unnatural ways, Google will see right through your keyword stuffing and bump your site down the results.
- Bad Links – Linking to other pages is also a good SEO practice but when done incorrectly will hurt you. If your links are low-quality, do not send users to reputable and useful sites, or a broken site, your site will suffer.
- Low-Quality Content – You want to get as much content on your site as possible, but it needs to be high-quality. Short, “thin”, or low-quality content will hurt your site as much as a lack of content will in many situations so make sure what you put on your site is comprehensive and strong.
Conclusion
As you can see, SEO is good for your business. It can help both save you money and make you money. If you have the time and can do the research on how to put these good strategies to work for your business, you will be able to start maximizing your SEO and driving traffic to your site.
There are also companies out there who are experts in this field and can help you with the mix of SEO strategies that are best for you. Check out the SEO experts at Electric Growth to fully optimize your Search Engine Optimization strategies.
