Many people are mystified by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) today, thinking only people with inside knowledge can crack through this enigma. However, this is an important marketing strategy that really isn’t as complicated as you may imagine.
Understanding Each Component of SEO
Here it’s important to work with the various search engines to provide your visitors with valuable information. To do this you must understand that there are three main components at work:
- Search: Today the most common way of finding information online is by using a search engine such as Google or Bing. Here you’ll enter a search term or question that the site answers by using a complex algorithm to ensure that you receive the most appropriate, useful information. This is different than when you search through a news site or scroll through a social media site in search of this information.
- Engine: These “engines” are essential because they crawl through the web’s databases, indexes, and other areas then prioritize the information you receive. In this way you’re receiving information from indexes, not the live internet itself. Each individual engine uses specific criteria to determine what this information is though. Some things that these engines take into consideration include keyword density, meta tags, links, and other relevant information to determine where you rank.
- Optimization: If you want to be found, you must show up in the first few pages of the results for the search terms they enter. This is where optimization is important. Some of the things you must pay attention to here include making sure the search engines know what your content is about and showing that you have authority and credibility.
What SEO is and is Not
A combination of activities are at work here helping search engines find and trust your website, organize its information, and present it to the people who are most interested in seeing it. Today this is largely based on writing content for people – something that should start with conducting keyword research so you know what your audience is looking for. You’ll want to use these keywords to create content that’s both natural and useful then promote it and have others link to it so it appears authoritative.
With this being said, you should also understand that SEO isn’t:
- A single, solitary process
- A series of tricks (e.g. keyword stuffing)
- Based on a lot of secretive information
- A series of shortcuts to the top of the SERPs
These are all tactics businesses used in the past to game the system. While they’d achieve results, these were only temporary. Now that search engines are more sophisticated, people are getting “real results,” not low-quality, keyword stuffed content. In fact, such techniques are now being penalized.
Why Everyone is Using Search Engines Today
People rely on search engines to answer their questions, find companies, and teach them more about the companies’ products. For local search people also want to find reviews and directions. There are two key things these searches are doing for you:
- They help increase your traffic because you’ll be highly ranked if you offer valuable content that’s easy for the search engines to find and organize.
- They bring you free, qualified leads because these people are already actively searching for the content you’re offering.
Following these best practices to create interesting, useful content for your visitors is a lot of work. However, this is what it takes to get your website in front of more people. Fortunately, this is something that the Affordable SEO Company has successfully helped many websites with over the years. Get in touch with them so they can start helping you too.