Hidden behind the simplicity of the word Google lies the key to ranking high on major search engines.
SEO has created jobs in Marketing departments, and entire companies have built their mission statement on mastering SEO.
But, what is SEO? The easiest way to explain SEO is to say it is the same as Googling it.
It sounds like a simple concept because it is.
The internet has grown so fast over the years, and the competition for the best search engine position has created an enormous market. There is an industry for it because many websites fail to provide content that visitors find interesting, and website owners don’t know how to do it or don’t have the time.
From your own experience, you know that a website that provides engaging, well-written, and regularly updated content makes you stay on or return. Websites with highly engaged visitors are more likely to return, purchase an item, show a friend, or use the material for a project.
Set your website apart from those boring, lifeless sites by adding educational material, professional pictures, and a reason to visit. You’ll already be a step above your competition and are more likely to achieve high page rankings through search engine optimization.
Therefore, a better understanding of the fundamental elements of Search Engine Optimization is vital for an online business’s success.
Your digital marketing strategy starts with your end goal.
Do you want people to recognize your brand, create credibility, or drive sales?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has evolved into a time-consuming puzzle full of acronyms, and keywords, and, surprisingly, you’ll be happy to hear; common sense.
Let’s break this down into simple terms, and our goal is that by the time you finish reading, you’ll feel as though you have a loose handle on what SEO means.
At Putnam Marketing, we hear “What is Search Engine Optimization?” daily, but discussing SEO means understanding how search engines work and why they work will help it make a lot more sense.
In order to improve online customers and client retention, Putnam Marketing empowers organizations to recognize their inherent skills through Brand Archetypes.
Search engines provide users with the most relevant and up-to-date information to match the search term entered. Think of how many times a day you hear the phrase “Google It” or “What did Google say?”
According to Scoop Whoop, Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second. With the massive number of active users on Google’s search engine every day, it isn’t a surprise this number is so high. Essentially, this amounts to over 3.5 billion searches per day and a whopping 1.2 trillion searches per year.
Sophisticated codes written by programmers known as algorithms allow users to quickly find relevant websites by searching a specific word or phrase, a keyword. Search engine results are useless to users if the website information doesn’t relate to the search term or if the products are outdated.
Consumers don’t have the time or attention to look past the most up-to-date information useful to them. According to Forbes, the first page of Google captures 71% of search traffic clicks and can be as high as 92% in recent years. Second-page results are far from a close second, coming in at below 6% of all website clicks.
Updating your website regularly and adding relative content will help you get noticed by search engines. Many tricks can increase page rank; the most effective method is to provide high-quality content consistently.
Products, a person, or a place with an easy-to-navigate mobile website is the new normal. Adding (optimizing) pictures, content, white papers, case studies, link building, keyword research, landing pages, social media marketing, anchor text, and page speed will also boost traffic and sales. Studies show that over 90% of your business will come directly from search engine results.
To ensure that you are correctly targeting your ideal market, be sure that the keywords and phrases you have on your site are the keywords and phrases that your target customers will search for.
The more keywords you use in your content, the more likely it is that online visitors will find your site when they (Google It) do some research with those words.
Developing a linking strategy (often called backlinking; this is a backlink) as a part of your content marketing effort. Not only does this provide free advertising for your site, but it makes the impression that your site is imperative because of its affiliated links.
For each link you have pointed back to you, that is another chance for your potential customer to find you. The more inbound links you have pointing to your site, the higher you rank in the search engines.
Another SEO tip is to develop a content strategy. As you know from your own experience, people who search the internet are looking for information. The more information you provide for them and the more helpful it is, the more likely you will make the sale.
Writing articles is the most effective way to build content for your site. When writing blog articles to post on your site, make sure that you develop a straightforward means of arranging the content. You can do this by simply adding a new page to your site and including categories.
This will allow room for extra articles to be added as you write them and will allow you to build up an archive of articles that will continue to draw online visitors.
Be sure to include your archived articles on the Blog page or a location in the menu located as a subfolder under the Blog so that search engines will catalog your online archived posts.
If you are diligent with the tips and tricks above, your overall search engine optimization will increase your page rank.
To summarize, write high-quality, keyword-rich content and link your site to and from relevant websites. We hope these ideas will help you improve your site’s popularity and drive traffic to your online business.
Source: “40 Jaw-Dropping Google Stats & Facts (2021 Edition)“. Websitebuilder.Org, 2020, https://websitebuilder.org/blog/google-stats/ Accessed 28 May 2021.