The Basics of Search Engine Optimization
As a small business owner, you know that generating traffic to your website is essential to growing your business. But what's the best way to go about it? Should you invest in paid advertising? Or maybe put all your efforts into social media marketing?
The answer is that there's no one-size-fits-all solution. The best way to generate traffic will vary depending on your industry, your target market, and a number of other factors. However, one thing that should be a part of every small business's digital marketing strategy is SEO. But what exactly is SEO? And how does it work? Let's take a look.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's the process of improving the visibility and ranking of your website in search engine results pages (SERPs). Essentially, it's a way to make sure that your site appears as high up on the list as possible when someone searches for keywords or phrases related to your business.
For example, let's say you own a small bakery in Seattle. You want people who are searching for "bakeries in Seattle" to be able to find your website easily. That's where SEO comes in. By optimizing your site for search engines, you can improve your chances of appearing higher up on the SERP for relevant keywords, which means more people are likely to find and visit your site.
How Does SEO Work?
Now that we've answered the question "what is SEO?", let's take a look at how it works. When someone types a query into a search engine like Google, the search engine uses special algorithms to scour the internet and find websites that match the person's query. Once it has found all the matching websites, it ranks them in order from most relevant to least relevant and displays them on the SERP.
So how do you make sure your website is as relevant as possible? That's where SEO comes in. By using certain techniques, you can help improve your website's ranking and visibility on SERPs. For example, one common SEO technique is using keyword-rich titles and descriptions. This helps show search engines that your site contains content relevant to the searcher's query.
Another important element of SEO is backlinks. Backlinks are links from other websites that point to yours. They act sort of like digital word-of-mouth recommendations. The more backlinks you have pointing to your site, the more credible it looks to search engines. And when search engines see that others are pointing to your site as a reputable source of information, they're more likely to rank it highly on SERPs.
If you're not already incorporating SEO into your digital marketing strategy, now is the time to start! By doing so, you can help ensure that when potential customers are searching for products or services like yours online, they're able to find you easily-- which can ultimately lead to increased traffic and sales for your business.
What Kinds of SEO Optimization Are Available for Your Website?
SEO is the practice of improving your website so that it ranks higher in search engine results pages. This is important because it can help you get more website visitors, which can lead to more customers and sales. But how? Keep reading to learn the different types of optimization you can do to improve your website's ranking.
On-Page Optimization
On-page optimization is all about making sure your website's individual pages are as search engine friendly as possible. This involves things like choosing the right keywords and phrases to target, as well as making sure your website's title tags, meta data, and content are all up to par. You should also make sure your website is easy to navigate and that all of your pages load quickly. These are just a few of the things you'll need to do for on-page optimization; if you need help, be sure to reach out to a professional SEO company.
Off-Page Optimization
Off-page optimization is about promoting your website through other channels in order to earn backlinks from high-quality websites. This can be done in a number of ways, such as guest blogging, social media marketing, and directory listing. The goal is to get other websites to link back to yours so that you can improve your website's authority and ranking.
Technical Optimization
Last but not least, technical optimization is all about making sure your website is technically sound and that there are no issues that could hurt your ranking. This includes things like setting up 301 redirects if you've changed your website's URL structure, using a sitemap so that search engines can easily index your pages, and using proper SSL encryption if you're running an eCommerce store. These are just a few examples; if you're not sure whether or not your website is technically optimized, be sure to reach out to an SEO agency for help.
If you want to see results, it's important that you focus on all aspects of SEO - from on-page and off-page optimization, to technical optimization. If you need help getting started or optimizing your website further, reach out to an experienced SEO company like ours today. We'd be happy to help!
A guide to keeping tabs on your website's SEO
As a small business owner, you know that SEO is important for driving traffic to your website and generating leads. You've been working hard on your website's SEO. You've researched keywords, optimized your tags and title, and even written a few blog posts. But how can you tell if all that work is actually paying off?
The answer is simple: by tracking your progress. Just like with any other marketing initiative, it's important to keep tabs on your SEO efforts. Continue reading and we will show you how to track your website's SEO progress to ensure that your strategy is on track and yielding results!
So let's get to it! How do you track your website's SEO progress? There are a few different metrics you want to look at, including:
Website traffic - This is the number of people who are visiting your website. You can track this using Google Analytics or another similar tool. Look at both overall traffic and traffic from organic search results (i.e. people who found your site via a search engine). If you're seeing an increase in both of these metrics, it's a good sign that your SEO efforts are paying off.
Leads - Another metric you can track is the number of leads or sales generated from your website. If you're getting more inquiries or orders than before, it's likely because your site is ranking higher in search results and getting more exposure.
Keyword rankings - Another way to gauge your success is by tracking the positions of the keywords you're targeting in search engine results pages (SERPs). Use a tool like Google Search Console or Moz Pro to do this. If you're seeing an increase in the positions of the keywords you're targeting, it means that your site is moving up in SERPs and getting more visibility.
These are just a few of the ways you can track your website's SEO progress. By monitoring these metrics, you'll be able to tell if all those hours spent optimizing tags and writing blog posts are actually paying off—and if they're not, you can adjust your strategy accordingly. So get out there and start tracking!
SEO Tools and Resources for Beginners
If you're a small business owner or a beginner marketing professional who doesn't have a lot of experience with web design or online marketing, the whole concept of SEO can seem daunting. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools and resources out there that can help you get started. Let's take a look at some of the best ones.
Google Search Console: This is a free tool from Google that allows you to view your website's search data and performance. It also lets you submit your sitemap (more on that below), disavow spammy backlinks, and find out about any crawling or indexing errors that Google has found on your site.
Yoast SEO: Yoast SEO is a plugin for WordPress sites that helps you optimize your content for the search engines. It gives you feedback on things like whether or not your title tags are too long, if you've used the right keywords in your post, and if your meta descriptions are well-written.
MozBar: MozBar is a toolbar for Chrome and Firefox that allows you to see MozRank and Domain Authority for any given website—including your own!—with just a couple of clicks. It's a great way to keep track of your progress as you work on improving your site's ranking.
XML Sitemaps: A sitemap is essentially a list of all the pages on your website; think of it as an outline for Google (and other search engines). Having an XML sitemap makes it easier for Google to find and index all the content on your site—which can help improve your rankings. You can create a sitemap using an online tool like XML Sitemaps Generator.
Google Analytics: Another great free tool from Google! Analytics lets you track things like how many people are visiting your site, where they're coming from, what they're looking at while they're there, and when they're leaving. It's tremendously useful for understanding your audience and figuring out what's working (and what isn't) on your site from an SEO perspective.
SERP monitoring tools: Last but not least, it's important to keep an eye on how well your site is doing in the search engines...which means keeping an eye on your competition as well! Some SERP monitoring tools will allow you to do just that; my personal favorite is Advanced Web Ranking.
These are just some of the many tools and resources available to help you with SEO. The important thing is to find the ones that work best for you and your website.
SEO can be complex, but it is important to stay on top of your website’s optimization in order to rank higher and bring in more traffic. The tools and resources we’ve listed should help you get started with monitoring your website’s SEO performance.
If you need help implementing any of these changes or want a more comprehensive strategy, reach out to us. We would be happy to assist you in getting the most out of SEO for your business website.