What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Why SEO Matters
As a business owner with an online presence, you may have heard the term, “SEO”. You may still be wondering: What is SEO and why does it matter?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a method of strategies and tactics used to increase the amount of visitors to a website, by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine.
Okay, great. But how does SEO affect my company’s growth?
Every day, there are millions of searches made by millions of users, that conjure billions of search results.
“2.9 billion Google searches are made every day.”
SEO helps your company, by creating a trail for search engines to follow, thus guiding users to your site. SEO tactics are integral in navigating search engine’s oceans of results. They’re your life rafts; they help guide the user directly to you. Search engines rank your website based on your phrasing gymnastics, so make sure you plan each word appropriately.
These SEO techniques could land your site towards the top of relevant search queries.
Content Marketing
SEO is the captain of content marketing. Content marketing is a marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content that attracts a clearly-defined audience. Podcasts, blogs, ebooks, and social media, are all examples of content marketing deliverables and platforms.
Producing quality, relevant content on a regular basis is key to being found online by search engines, and in creating repeat customers.
Guest Posts
Offer to write for another blog, as long as the blogger links to your content. These are called backlinks, and search engines love them. Your company will quickly become an authority figure on the given topic, and search engines will find your business with ease.
Get Active Online
Actively contribute comments to relevant articles or posts. In doing this, you enhance your credibility.
Social Media
Do not underestimate the power of social media. “Likes,” shares, and comments, builds a presence, and gets users actively involved in your community.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedin, are all examples of free social media marketing resources. Update your status, talk about relevant topics and services, share your company’s blog posts, and establish your online voice to increase your brand’s presence in the lives of your customers, and other social media members.
When you use social media platforms to promote your business, it strengthens your online voice. These free tools unite to form an ecosystem that works for your company’s growth and online presence.
Get Active Online
Actively contribute comments to relevant articles or posts. In doing this, you enhance your credibility.
Update Blog Content and Share
Update the copy on your website, publish a new blog post, upload a new image; search engines are designed to find relevant, fresh content.
However, you don’t want to post just anything for the sake of being active. Be sure to create useful articles and information for your audience.
Improve Load Times
SEO is all about finding the right audience, and optimizing user-experience. Once you’ve surfaced in the search results and the user clicks your link, you want them to have an immediate positive impression.
Ensure that your site loads fast enough, by checking it daily. Compress or resize images that may contribute to lag, or look into a stronger host.
“A single second delay in your website loading time can result in a 7% loss in conversion, and 40% of web users will abandon a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.”
Reduce Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that navigate away from your site, after viewing only one page. What a tease.
Provide links to the other pages within your site to optimize user-experience. This will keep your users navigating throughout your website with ease, and curious about your content.
If SEO still feels a bit foreign to you, that’s okay- you’ve got a business to run. Contact Orlando Dev and we’ll talk about your specific needs.
Elyssa Coultas
Elyssa Coultas is a copywriter, web designer, UX writer, and content strategist for GHOSTWE. Contact us today if you'd like to work with her!
