So What Is SEO?
SEO is the word on everyone’s mind when starting out online. So what exactly is it and how does it work? Let us explain.
SEO aka Search Engine Optimisation is exactly that, key steps that are taken to make sure your website is optimised for search engine use, the name says it all really! Further to that SEO is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines like google, bing, yahoo, safari and more.
Before we go any further let’s define some of the key terminology used when talking about SEO.
Search site: Google, Safari, Bing, Yahoo and alike. Google, Bing and Yahoo having the most importance. Google and Bing have their very own search engines with Yahoos search results coming from Bing's search engine. Google being the king of the bunch! However, you must keep in mind that other platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, eBay, Amazon and alike are also classed as search sites as these are used to search to the internet for information.
Search engine: A system that indexes individual web pages found within a website to rank them according to relevance online. As mentioned above Google, Bing and Yahoo being the most important of the search platform.
Search directory: Contains basic information about each website. It collates information on the website however, it does not index this information.
OK, that will do for now! We will go into more terms a little later. With all that information so far we can determine that search engines (especially google) will index our website information.
So why do search engines index websites? It’s very simple, they index websites so that people who are searching on the platform aka google and alike can be displayed the most relevant information to their query, therefore making their quest for information on that platform easy and seamless.
Now that we’ve established what is SEO, how it works and why it exists let’s discuss ‘best practice’.
I’m sure you’ve heard of keywords, these are the basis of everything you will do to assist with your website's organic ranking in a search engine. In short keywords are the terms that are most relevant to your business and will match what people are looking for when in need of your product or service. Our advice is to make sure you invest plenty of time into keyword research, scope the landscape your business is in, what are the competitors doing, what are people searching for, before you do anything else! This will make the SEO life so much easier! Always, we repeat, always invest time into keyword research on a monthly basis. No business landscape ever stays the same therefore no keyword status will either!
For example: You own a bulk billing doctors surgery on Sydney's Northern Beaches who also offers after hours care. Keywords relevant to you would be, ‘Doctors’, ‘Medical Practitioner’, ‘medical check up’, ‘after hours medical care’ etc. All terms that will relate to your service and what the consumer would be searching for.
Ok, now we’ve established what a keyword is let’s discuss the Benefits of SEO and why your business needs it.
Benefits & Why your business needs SEO
Low cost - This is in comparison to Adwords, PPC and Social advertising
Increase traffic - 60% of clicks are on the first result
Brand credibility - consumers trust google
SEO makes you stand out - with over 250 mil websites on the internet SEO makes you stand out in the massive crowd
Results are permanent - yes, your SEO needs upkeep (it cannot be set and left) but unlike ads that can drop off due to spend SEO does not!
ROI - trackable and quantifiable results
Increase UX - The better the SEO, the more constant website maintenance and upkeep the more user friendly your website making it easier for the consumer to navigate around and get the results they are after on your site.
Finding new customers - the higher you rank the more people you are reaching.
Open for business 24/7 - allows your site to be ‘open for business’ 24hrs a day 7 days a week as you will be visible to the consumer at all times
Help people find your website
Long term strategy
So there you have it! Everything you need to understand the basis of SEO. If you need help with your company’s SEO, contact us today.