Running a business online? That’s good news but a beautiful website will only get you so far. You also need a good SEO campaign to boost visibility and credibility. It’s the backbone your site leans on to survive.
Don’t worry if you have difficulty understanding it and how it works. SEO covers a lot of grounds, after all. Learn more about search engine optimization and how it’s done with our in-depth guide right here:
Understanding SEO Basics
Search Engine Optimization is all about improving your site and content to make it visible to search engines like Google and relevant to actual people. When someone searches “cheap shoes in Chicago,” they should find your site listed on the first page of results. If they click the link and visit your site, they should find the shoes in Chicago that they initially hunted.
Unlike other digital marketing methods, you don’t need to pay for SEO. It’s not about ads or buying links. It’s all about creating good content, credible backlinks, and optimized pages.
Types of SEO
You can boil SEO down to two types, each one targeting a different audience. One focuses more on bringing nearby customers through the front door while the other is all about building a brand.
Local SEO
Local SEO prioritizes the local neighborhood. A majority of people turn to Google to search for local businesses, after all. When they do, you want your business to pop up in the results.
This type of SEO relies on geo-targeted keywords, Google My Business, Google Maps, and building backlinks with other local establishments. These methods all focus on increasing the likelihood of people within the neighborhood finding your establishment whenever they turn to a search engine for answers.
Global SEO
This type of SEO targets everyone and prioritizes building a brand. Think about the SEO done for websites owned by Nike, Wizards of the Coast, Nintendo, and Microsoft.
It’s no longer about inviting people in the neighborhood to buy something. It’s now about further establishing an image that thousands or millions of people support and identify.
How Does SEO Work
How do you conduct SEO marketing? There’s a lot to it but we’ve broken some of the biggest parts down. It all begins with good keyword research:
Keyword Research
Whenever someone uses Google to find something, they use a set of keywords in their query. SEO focuses on targeting those keywords and then ranking high on the results page. Fortunately, you don’t need to guess which keywords people use because there are tools that do that for you.
It’s now your decision to either use high-volume keywords or less popular ones with a stronger niche.
On-Page Optimization
Got the keywords you need? Now you need to make sure Google spots those keywords on your pages to associate your content with those phrases. This means including the keyword on your page content, meta descriptions, alt tags, headers, image tags, and more.
On-page optimization also influences web design. Page speed, for example, is one important aspect to prioritize. If people leave your site because it’s too slow, search engines will mark your pages as irrelevant or non-user-friendly.
Building Backlinks
SEO is also about building page authority. When someone searches “best restaurants in Pensacola,” your pages should pop up first. When they visit your site, people need to find what they searched for.
Search engines do this by checking the validity and relevance of keywords to your content. They also check your credibility by the strength of backlinks. Who links back to your pages and how often do people use those links to find your content?
It’s not easy to build backlinks. You need amazing, informative, and entertaining content that people will want to share.
Content Creation
Speaking of content, this is the bread and butter of good SEO. Run a blog, create good videos that can go viral, and constantly update pages to keep them relevant.
Boosting User Experience
When someone visits your site, they should be able to find what they initially searched for. They shouldn’t have to struggle to navigate the pages either. This all refers to an optimized user experience or UX, a major factor in today’s SEO.
Don’t worry if you don’t know where to begin. Google provides a tool you can use to check your site’s UX and other visitor behavioral metrics. These numbers will help you gauge how people explore your site and what each action means.
SEO Metrics
Speaking of metrics, make it a habit to use analytics tools to gauge your SEO campaign’s performance. Look for things like individual page bounce rates, and source of visitors. Check the conversion rate of your optimized landing pages and the demographics of your site’s visitors too.
Getting It All Done
It’s no surprise that managing all this is a lot of work. SEO doesn’t cost much but it can become quite a tedious, 24/7 job. There’s simply too much to manage at all times, from web design to page speed and content creation.
There are a lot of tools for SEO. You’ll need keyword research tools, apps to audit your pages, plugins to manage SEO, and analytics tools to monitor your progress.
Fortunately, there are professional SEO companies that can get it done for you. Yes, SEO services will cost you upfront but the benefits easily outweigh the expenses. Hiring SEO agencies grant you good results and you’ll also be free to do what you need to: running your business!
Launch an SEO Campaign Today
Now you know what it takes to run an SEO campaign and why it matters for your business. It’s an essential marketing move, otherwise, no one will find your website. No one will know it even exists.
Of course, running an SEO campaign isn’t easy. Fortunately, we’re here to help you out. We can provide aid when it comes to SEO, web design, data management, and more.
Ready to work on your SEO needs? Contact us right here and let’s get started.
