What is SEO?
Every day, people conduct more than 2 million searches on Google for the term “SEO,” which stands for search engine optimization. SEO is all about doing the right things to your website in just the right way, so that it shows up on Page 1 of search engine results when someone searches for a business or service like yours. Three of the most important components of SEO are high quality content, keyword research and usage, and building safe, relevant links to and from other places on the Internet.
SEO Basics for Puzzled Business Owners
When you type the words “Hair salon Asheville NC” into the Google search box, Google displays ten results for that search. You might skip the Yelp and paid ad listings and click on one of the actual hairdressing companies on Page 1, right? It’s not likely you’d even look on pages 2 or 3. However, the difference between the salons on Page 1 and those on other pages may not be the quality of the hairdressers, but only the quality of their SEO.
You want your business to show up on Page 1. To do that, you need to optimize your website to rank on the first page of Google by using SEO techniques.
What Does SEO Do for My Business Website?
Effective SEO techniques help move your website upward in ranking when someone is searching for a product or service that your company provides. It’s a digital marketing strategy that increases the number of visitors – and potential customers – to your website by improving its position on the search result pages.
Three Main SEO Techniques to Optimize Your Site
First and foremost, writing a good amount of high-quality content to showcase your business and to inform your potential customers about your service or product will improve your ranking.
Second is building keywords into your content. For example, “Hair salon Asheville NC” is called a keyword or key phrase. By putting this keyword into your title, and using natural variations of it in other parts of your content, you are “optimizing” your page to be found when people type in that keyword.
The third technique is building hyperlinks to and from your website with other highly relevant websites in your business niche, as well as adding links between your own web pages and blog posts, which gives you trusted connections that improve the ranking of your website.
Three Main Elements of SEO
1) High Quality Content That Gets Customers and Ranks on Google
Content is information. It’s the way you market your business through sharing educational, entertaining or insightful information that helps your customers identify their specific need and make a purchase.
Google and other search engines will match the highest quality, most relevant information with the search queries of their users. Therefore, it is crucial to have an SEO strategy for your content, and possibly an excellent copywriter, to keep your site fresh and optimized.
2) Keywords — SEO Speaks the Same Language as People
Search engines keep track of the exact words and phrases people type into search bars when they’re looking for specific information. Developing a comprehensive list of keywords and phrases is the first step in SEO, and the foundation for your SEO content strategy. SEO experts conduct keyword research to determine these words and phrases that people often use to search, and to make sure they are strategically placed throughout your website, including in URL’s, titles, paragraph content, and links.
3) Links – The “Webbing” of the Worldwide Web
Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from trusted websites that relate to your own site and business niche. Links promote your website on other websites and joins them together to build credibility, trust and value. Links are also the reason it’s called the web in the first place.
Creating high-quality links is an exceptionally strong ranking factor in Google, yet often considered one of the most difficult things SEO experts do. SEO professionals who can create safe and trusted links for your site are worth their weight in gold.
Should I Invest in an SEO Agency for My Business?
Boosting your website’s ranking is essential to your online visibility and profitability nowadays, yet requires a good amount of creative, analytical and technical work. An experienced SEO professional can make a huge difference in the number of visitors and potential customers you have by relocating your site to Google’s first page, where you will reap the results of long-term value and return on your investment.
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