Learn SEO
There’s no doubt that digital marketing has exponentially boosted multiple businesses (regardless of their nature) in record time, compared to not too long ago, when it took decades to build a solid brand reputation. With faster than ever business growth opportunities, companies should treat SEO as a “must” investment, not a choice.
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”) is a set of strategies focused on improving the visibility and ‘findability’ of web pages, leading to increased quantity and quality web traffic. While it is mainly focused on what people are searching for, their search intent, and results relevancy, it still must comply and satisfy the major search engines requirements and algorithms that are responsible for diverting traffic to your website.
A search engine is, by definition, a software system designed to search for specific information online and provide results as relevant to the search query as possible. As these systems are always evolving in order to better understand the search intent, businesses need to continually adapt their SEO process to maintain a strong web presence. That is where we come in, to help sort through the jumble.
Why You Should Invest In SEO?
Despite the fact that paid advertising attracts traffic to web pages, the real force is behind the Organic search results, which drives over 80% of all web traffic. Therefore the need to optimize your organic, unpaid online exposure is critical. Consider the fact that most clicks from online searchesoccur on the first page of results, and you start to understand why ‘page one’ is considered the “Holy Grail” of Digital Marketing.
In addition to having higher ROI than paid advertising, SEO is more trustworthy and is a long-term investment that has been proven to lead to long-term results. By providing clear, engaging and relevant content to web visitors, SEO helps businesses target their ideal customers, and promote brand awareness. When this is done consistently, eventually any business can earntheir way to the first pageof Google, Bing, or any other search engine searches.
Here are some important benefits of SEO, worth mentioning:
- Improve your search result ranking
- Increase exposure to your target audience
- Increase ROI from your marketing efforts
- Increase brand awareness
A Quick Breakdown of SEO?
The basics of SEO consists of a few essential pillars. These pillars, when continuously optimized, will drive more traffic, generate more leads, and ultimately lead to new clients.
- Website’s Technical Elements (or Technical SEO) refers to technical aspects that helps search engines find the information located on websites. So, the faster and easier a page is to read (for search crawlers), the higher it will rank on results pages.
- Website Functionality and User Experience(UX) is essential for a visitor to be able to navigate a website and find the answers, products or solutions they are looking, all while ensuring the pages are visually appealing and simple to navigate.
- Content Marketing are techniques used to create and promote content, like – videos, educational articles, webinars, etc., that are addressed to specific target audiences and, that will ultimately influence them to take certain actions. This is where you will need some expertise with keyword research, content writing, link creation, social media marketing, etc.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is vital to achieving success when performing any SEO activities. It is taking the guess work out of the equation. When done correctly, and methodically, it will really help in boosting the chances of achieving increased online visibility (aka being found on first page of Google).
What are these keywords for your industry and line of business? When searching for particular thing online, there are certain words that give meaning to your question or search query. Without them, the search engine crawlers will not retrieve the right answers that you seek. This is the “magic”of keywords.
When designing a website or writing articles to post on your website, keywords are very essential and must be carefully considered. When they are dialed in correctly for your ideal market/industry, they will help increase the chances of your website being displayed on the first page of the search results. And we all know that most people will click on the links that appear on that first page.
There are multiple guidelines for selecting the right keywords, but the main principles stay pretty much the same:
Keyword Relevancy. How your content and keywords are related to your company, products and services.
Keyword must target your ideal client. Define your customer persona and focus on offering them specific and valuable content that lead them to your business.
Consider Search Intent. What are your ideal clients looking for (when browsing online) when they find your website?Think about the kinds of questions they are having- there are myriad ways to turn these questions into targeted content.
Explore variations of long tail keywords (phrases with 3 or more keywords). The longer the phrase, the more specific and further in the buying journey a prospect is.
Explore and Test keyword ideas. There are various tools to get inspired and explore new ideas for new keyword phrases and variations, you need only be familiar with how to test and analyze your results.
Content Optimization
Just as the name implies, this involves increasing the value of the content on a website. It also involves improving the performance (speed) and attractiveness of a website. The attention span of internet users nowadays is quite short. They want answers very fast. Another thing people look for is uniqueness. If your website provides information that is not found anywhere else, they will definitely come back for more.
Simply put, your website should provide useful and actionable information and solutions that people need, and that makes them willing to pay for that solution. To achieve this, you must ensure that every page of your website’s content is relevant and valuable to your target clients – fromthe page’s title to the visitor’s search intent.
On-Page SEO
On-Page SEO (also called on-Site SEO) is another essential element that tells search engines and people what your web pages are all about.
The optimization process deals with improving multiple elements on your website to conform with the keywords from top search queries on the internet.
Even the best and truly extraordinary content can fail, if On-Page Optimization is dialed in properly. Here are just a few of the most important aspects to consider improving in this regard:
- Using descriptive and short URLs;
- Titles must contain a Focus keyword;
- Improve page loading speed;
- Optimizing meta description, header tags (h1, h2, h3, etc.);
- Site structure and page trees;
- Optimize images (proper size, alt description);
- Responsiveness. Improve how fast the website is loaded and displayed on different devices (as well as its functionality);
A recent report from Google on how search reports work reveal that if the content on your website matches precisely with the keywords of the search in question, then it is likely to be ranked higher (this is just one of several factors considered).
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is a must, not a choice!
This involves improving the technical aspects of your websites, which makes it easier for search engines to crawl your websites and include it in their indexing.
Some essential technical attributes to consider include:
- Website speed: How fast a user can scroll through pages of a website is a huge factor in determining if they will want to revisit that website. If the pages take too long to load, they will just bounce and look for faster alternatives.
- Structured data: It is not enough that a website gives useful information, it must also be structured and easy to find. This will also help search engines understand and index your website better, thus improving your ranking.
- Broken or dead links: If your website has too many faulty links, it will be recognized for this error by search engines. This will have a subsequent negative effect on your online ranking.
Other elements to also consider are – sitemap, SSL certification, robots, error code pages, mobile friendliness, etc. These are all examples of technical elements that should be considered when designing and optimizing your website.
Link Building
“Link Building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to yours”. (source:Moz). That’s how visitors browse the internet, linking from one webpage to another.
Link Building involves the creation and usage of links to connect web pages either on your website or to other sites. The type of links on your website is one of the major factors considered by search engines to determine a site’s ranking.
Why is link building so important for search engines?
Links are interpreted as recommendations and references from other websites. And the more trustworthy they are, the more valuable the links become to your ranking. Hence the concept of Domain Authority and Page Authority.
Local SEO
If you operate a local business, then this is the type of SEO you should invest in. Some searches deal with local areas only (e.g., best restaurants in Denver). And if your business is in a specific area, you will definitely want to be on top of those search results.
Local SEO can help you achieve this goal. Other ways to boost your business’s local SEO is by including your business on local listings such as Google My Business and including your name, phone numbers, and business address in local directories.
Getting to the Holy Grail Ranking
All of the above aspects are critical when striving to be listed on the first pages of search engines (including Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.). Businesses need to identify their strategy and follow a set plan in order to achieve these desired results.
Source: DataFlair
Breakdown of what is taken in consideration by search engines.
- Prescribed Domains
- Backlinks
- Keywords
- Content
- Website Architecture
- Schema Markup
- Mobile-Friendly
- Social Media
- Page Loading Speed
- Tags
Contact us
So, whenever you are ready to start optimizing your site to improve your organic search results, our IQ team will be ready to listen, learn, and provide you with a tailored method that will accelerate your business and help you dominate your local markets.
Contact us today for a free assessment.