6 Reasons You Should Understand The Basics Of SEO
Your online visibility is important to your business; learning the ins and outs of SEO will help boost your site.
SEO (or search engine optimisation) is one of the hottest digital topics, with more and more site owners investing in the field. The reason search engine visibility is so important is reflected in the term itself: SEO gets your website seen. The world wide web is a massive ocean with new websites entering the waters every day. According to Internet Live Stats, at the end of 2014 there were 1 billion live websites. Imagine the competition and sheer quantity of websites one must conquer to have a chance at getting a high ranking from Google.
Here’s why each and every website owner needs to have a basic understanding of SEO.
- Boost your site’s search engine ranking.
As mentioned above, unless someone types in your exact url, the chances of finding your website through a search are pretty slim. If you are running a food blog, for example, the competition is very high and the probability of your website coming up as a search result for “food blogs” is next to zero if you don’t invest heavily in your SEO. Perhaps your site would appear on page 50 of Google if you‘re lucky, which alone requires search engine indexing and an optimised website. If your business is entirely online based then hiring an SEO agency or expert is well worth the money. But don‘t be tempted by “quick fix tips” and too-good-to-be-true offers which promise page 1 rankings within a month or two. These usually involve backhand methods which, if discovered, can get your website blacklisted with search engines.
The best way to achieve SEO visibility is to identify the appropriate keywords and long-tail phrases and work from there using relevant content. It is good business practise to have an SEO optimised website built by professionals to get noticed by Google. Fixing an existing website might be an option, but it can create more problems along the way. Usability is highly important to rankings, and the earlier in the website development process this is considered and acted on, the better.
2. Get on the local radar.
If your business has physical premises, the SEO visibility for local searches is a great option to start ranking. Being registered with directories and promoting local business is the way forward as this will increase your client base due to the searches being very specific.
3. Increase your earning potential.
SEO visibility means your website will be found more and more often. This in turn means the daily traffic on your website increases which opens the door to earning potentials via your website. Once you have enough traffic, you can place sponsored advertising on your site or blog and you can really boost income through affiliate marketing. This is a collaboration between you and a brand or company to send potential customers their way. Usually payment as a percentage of the total spend of a customer only takes place when the customer who was sent from your website makes a purchase. In other cases, just sending traffic to the affiliate website can earn you money. Many websites and blogs fund themselves and earn a living through affiliation.
4. Create a network of helpful information through links.
A key element in SEO visibility is to have backlinks to your website from already established sites with strong credibility. Being knowledgeable about how this works will boost the quality of your website for search engines. A great way to create these links organically is to ask to write guest blog posts for websites related to your field, which would then link back to your website. You should also offer to link back to their website in return, which benefits both parties. Having your website written about in online magazines is also an authentic way to be linked to, as well as of course on social media. Anything you share, which includes a link to your site, could go viral spreading the url for you.
- Create quality content.
Being SEO aware will influence the choice of content you place on your website and/or blog. Writing about interesting topics might be enjoyable, but it might not contribute to your site being found in searches. There needs to be a balance between what your customers/readers are interested in, and what content and keywords will boost SEO. Extra bits and pieces you feel are needed from a creative perspective or to distinguish yourself from the competition will also need to be considered from an SEO perspective; even your landing pages need to be fed with the appropriate content to achieve SEO visibility.
- Be in the know about Google algorithm changes.
Google (where let’s face it, we all want to get ranked number 1) regularly changes its algorithms for calculating ranking. It is important to keep up to date with these changes and to make implementations as necessary. For example, Google recently announced giving priority to urls that include “how-to”.
Take a look at this blog post to get started with basic search engine optimisation. You can also scan your current site for free by clicking here, to give you an idea of how you’re performing.