Did you ever wonder how you can get your site to appear higher on Google results? Well, to make a long answer a short acronym, SEO strategies are almost always the answer. What is SEO, though? And how can you use it to grow your visibility and your business? Here are just a few basic ideas to get you started.
Getting your company in front of potential customers is the first step towards earning their business and growing yours. Any businessman knows the value of high visibility and recognition when it comes to reaching this goal, but far fewer know how to go about getting this visibility in the digital age. As a result, many companies have a harder time gaining the business they need to thrive. Don’t be like these companies. Instead, let this guide introduce you to a tool as central to your company as your hammer, paint brush, or wrench. With these SEO (Search Engine Optimization) basics you’ll be able to vastly improve your online image and exposure, opening yourself up to countless new opportunities. But first:
What is SEO?
SEO is a very short term for a very big concept, though ultimately all of its complexities boil down to one goal: increasing your site’s traffic to increase your income. This is achieved by optimizing your site to increase its value in the eyes of major search engines, particularly Google. That said, there are countless different ways to strive for optimization which are constantly being fine-tuned and occasionally shaken up entirely.
What is unshakably certain is that in this day and age you need to be actively doing some SEO work for your site or you’re going to lose out on business. To that end, here’s a helpful beginner’s guide to search engine optimization. Use these tips to help get your company the visibility and the increase in business your company deserves.
SEO Beginner’s Guide
Ever wonder how certain sites make it to the first page of a Google search result? SEO specialists do and you should to. Why? Because, according to a recent study 71.33% of people searching on Google find what they’re looking for on the first page and click through to the site. Compare that to just 5.59% of click through on pages two and three combined! As a result, getting your site high on the search results of potential customers is crucial to modern business growth. So, what pushes a site up in the results? In a word: relevancy. And what increases the relevancy of your site? Well, a few different things:
Keywords
The first thing both Google and your potential customer are looking for when they search for something are the keywords that was typed in. For a plumbing service, these keywords would logically be along the lines of “plumbing service”, “plumbers”, “plumbing repair”, etc. All of which can be weighed and compared through tools like Google Adwords. That said, it’s vital for your site to feature the right keyword choices and the right balance of keywords so as not to seem forced and unnatural.
Link Building
It makes sense that reliable, authoritative sites are linked to more than unreliable, unauthoritative ones. Simply think of the kinds of sites that you trust if you’re looking for proof. By that same token, growing your site’s authority and reputability will help to improve your site’s position in search engine results. In order to do that, there are a few different techniques to consider all aimed at expansive link building. These include everything from social media shares and likes to engaging in guest posts for other sites and otherwise gaining the support and promotion of other authoritative sites.
User Experience
Finally, it’s vital to remember that even the most carefully maintained website won’t be performing as you’d want it to if they aren’t easy to navigate, interesting to view, and clearly responsive to what your customers want. All of these different factors lend to the overall user experience your site’s visitors see when they come to you. And just as link building and keywords are valued by customers and search engines, the user experience presented on your site is a key part of increasing your traffic (and thereby your income). To improve your site’s user experience invest in things like quality design, clear impactful ways for customers to get what they’re looking for, and relevant interesting content for customers to view, read, and share.
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