I’m sure you heard SEO. Ever wonder what SEO is and why it is so important to everyone?  Search Engine Optimization is so important to the success of any website today. Everyone should have a basic understanding of how and why Search Engine Optimization works.  SEO is made up different elements, know how these work and why can give you a better understanding of the importance of SEO. This is the quick guide to get your started in the world of SEO.

What is SEO?

SEO is Search Engine Optimization. It is a set of guidelines that can help enhance your website so that it can receive higher rankings in search results.  These rules can help increase the quality of your website by making it more user-friendly, faster and easier to navigate. 

Why is SEO important?

In short SEO makes your website more visible, which means more opportunities for your site to be seen or to turn prospects into customers for e-commerce. In today market, SEO is literally how people find anything on the internet. Search Engines serve millions of users per day looking for answers to their questions, products, videos, entertainment, restaurants, etcetera; the list is endless.  So having great SEO is a must.

Here are a few more reasons that SEO is important for your site.

Did you know that more than 65% of search engine users are more likely to click on one of the top five suggestions on the search results page? With SEO you can take advantage of this and help draw uses in to you website.

Users also trust that search engines are going to provide them with the best result when searching for a keyword.

SEO is also good for free social promotion. Users that easily find your site though Google or Yahoo results are more likely to share your site on their social media. Which can help you gain more users much like a snowball effect.

Lastly it can help you stay ahead of the competition. Think of it this way two business are selling the same product. Which one are you more likely to buy the one that shows up first in the search engine result or the one that shows up last?  It is a pretty easy answer: You’ll buy the first one since it showed up first and was the easiest and more convenient buy.  Unlike the last result which could take hours of clicking though pages.

Quick Bytes on SEO

This is the quick byes on what makes up SEO.  This includes keywords, content, off-page SEO, and local SEO. I’m sure that sounds scarier than it actually is. A full cover of these and beginners guide will be coming later on.

Keywords

Keywords are words and phrases that user’s type in to search engines to find online content. Keywords are also used by brands that can help to connect them with prospects who are looking for their products and services.  For keywords it is important to research and choose words that will be effective for your content.

Content

Content is the vital part of SEO because this is the medium in which you reach your audience.  Content comes in a wide verity of forms including, web pages, blogs, videos, infographics, podcasts, e-books, social media post, and more.  A good example of this is that you own a landscaping business and you want to increase your visibility so you publish blogs about landscaping design, different landscaping trends and so on. When a person looking for that information your blog would come up. You’d be able to build a relationship with that users and provide valuable information as well as provide them with a service when they are looking for a landscaper.

Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO is external optimization practices that happen away from your site rather than on it.  The main technique used in off-page SEO is backlink building. Backlinking is proving links to your site from an external site. This helps to tell search engines that your site is valuable and of high quality. Kind of like having a reference for your resume.

Local SEO

Local- SEO is becoming more important as more users are using their mobile devices to search for local businesses. An example of this is a local restaurant. When users when looking for best restaurants in town, they’ll come across your site. Local SEO uses local keywords and location specific pages for your site so that users could find you.

Understanding how SEO can help you

Visibility and Rankings

This is the most important functions of SEO for any website. SEO increases your websites visibility, which means it makes it easier for users to find you when they search for something your site offers. Visibility of directory related to your search engine ranking.  The higher you rank on a search engine result page the more likely users are to see you and click though to your site. This is so important since almost 25% of users never go past the first search result page.

Web Traffic

The main goal of SEO is to increase your websites traffic. Website traffic is directly related to visibility and rankings, when you increase these you increase your traffic. Think about this: almost 33% of clicks go to the first ranked page and the first five ranked listings get 75% of all clicks. That’s pretty impressive, right? If you want mare users to find your site through a search engine you need SEO practices to help get your site in those top five spots.

Tech Byte Wrap Up

This is just a small introduction to the world of SEO. SEO can be pretty complex to understand since there are so many different parts, tactics, and best practices to use. More importantly these are always evolving as technology, web user behavior, and search engine algorithms change. That being said SEO is well worth it for an online presents without it your chances of being found online are very slim.

Once you have a good grasp of SEO you can accomplish any number of goals with your website. This can include increased traffic, brand awareness, and more customers.

I loved to know your thoughts and questions down below in the comments. Also, if you’re looking for help getting started with SEO or SEO services I’d love to help you. Check out my services page or contact me. I offer a verity of technology services to make your technology dream a reality.

Thanks for reading tech byte with brina!

References

Chris, A. (n.d.). What is Search Engine Optimization SEO and Why is it Important? . Retrieved from Reliablesoft Digital Marketing Agency : https://www.reliablesoft.net/what-is-search-engine-optimization-and-why-is-it-important/

What is SEO & Why is it important . (n.d.). Retrieved from DMI Daily Digest: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/en-us/blog/what-is-seo-and-why-is-it-important