What Is Search Engine Optimization And Why Is It Important?
Search engine optimization, frequently referred to as SEO, is the process of getting pages of a website to rank in search engines such as Google. In Google and other search engines, the top few results will often feature paid ads. After these are the top organic search results. SEO is what allows your website to organically rank higher. SEO is an important alternative to paid ads, and a great addition to your strategy if your business does paid search engine ads.
In today’s online world, there are around 200 million active websites among around 1 billion total websites. While the majority of the 1 billion websites are not actively being updated they can still be crawled during searches. Even if you consider only the active websites as competition for searches, that’s still 200 million. Obviously, all of these websites will not be in direct competition with your business; however, this helps us see the grand scale of websites out there that search engines are looking at when a potential lead is searching for your business.
When thinking about the importance of SEO think about your own searching habits. If you’re looking for a new doctor’s office, furniture store, or local restaurant to try, on a search engine how often do you make it past the top searches to the bottom of the page? How often do you click through to the second page? It’s probably safe to say not often. This is why incorporating SEO into your marketing strategy so that your business ranks as high as possible is so important!
What Are The 4 Main Types Of SEO?
The four types of SEO you’ll want to incorporate into your marketing plan are:
- On-page SEO
- This component of SEO strategy focuses on the words you use on your web pages. From keywords incorporated into your text to optimized URLs to properly optimized meta descriptions, all of these strategies will be implemented on your web pages and will help your website rank higher on search engines.
- Off-page SEO
- As the name states, the focus of this type of SEO strategy is off of your web page. Off-page SEO will focus on backlinks from other websites and pages that lead back to your website, as well as, focusing on increasing engagement and shares across your social media platforms.
- Local SEO
- If you have a brick-and-mortar business or an online storefront that only services a small area, local SEO is critical for your business. Standard SEO will help your reach on a national or global scale, but local SEO is how you will target a specific area or region. Focusing on your local SEO strategy will help you appear in searches that are local to your business such as “party rental equipment near me”.
- Technical SEO
- Technical SEO strategy is the start and foundation of your SEO strategy. This part of the strategy focuses on designing your website in a way that optimizes the actions of crawling, indexing, and rendering. Essentially, the architecture of your website aids in a search engine’s ability to comb through your website and find the information searchers are looking for.
Should I Incorporate SEO Into My Marketing Strategy?
The short answer is yes! The long answer is absolutely yes. If your business is in an area with a lack of foot traffic, you run a business that services nationally, or your business is fully online, SEO strategy will be critical for your business. Even if you don’t fall into one of those categories, if your desired clientele is using any search engine to find businesses like yours, SEO needs to be a part of your marketing strategy.
Can I Do SEO By Myself Or Do I Need To Hire Someone?
Technically, you can do SEO on your own. If you are currently running your business’ social media platforms and maintaining your website then you have access to the canvas that you’ll be doing most of the SEO work on. However, it’s important to know that SEO is not a one-time overhaul of your website. You can’t just commit a few hours to optimize your website and then call it a day. An intensive SEO strategy requires continued evaluation of your website and social media. This can include creating new blog posts monthly that include keywords that you are hoping to rank for, combing through your website and adding backlinks, as well as, utilizing industry tools that assess the strength of your website’s SEO.
Understandably, you may be thinking that you don’t have enough time to dedicate to implementing a strong SEO strategy while running your business, which is why Blackbear Media is here to help! We help businesses across the country with their SEO strategy. We also have package options for website maintenance, social media marketing, lead generation, and more! If you’re interested in finding out more about how we can help you get your content in front of the right people while you focus on business, get in touch!
