In a nutshell, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website to rank as high in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) as possible without having to pay for a ‘boost’ from Google Ads or other media.
It’s a simple concept, but execution can be, well, not as simple. That’s because SEO has four focal areas:
Content is still king—and that content needs to be written in a way that incorporates the right words and phrases for your business. In order to show up at the top of search results, you need to understand the ‘best’ keywords or key phrases for your business and embed those into your content (while still being unique and engaging to your human visitors).
Clean code makes Google happy. A search engine friendly website follows web standards to make it accessible for visitors. Search engines favor fast load time, easy navigation, clean code, adherence to accessibility standards, and efficient web images. Then there are extra considerations like meta tags, canonical tags, schema, sitemaps and alt tags!
The way to show Google and other search engines that you’re a credible business is to acquire backlinks from other relevant websites. Links from your social media profiles and review sites are a good place to start. Links from websites that are popular and visible in your industry can boost your SEO even more. Quality over quantity is the mantra here.
After ensuring your website follows best practices like those mentioned above, you should closely monitor and analyze your website traffic. This will tell you what keywords/phrases are working and help you tie those to conversions (leads or sales). You can evaluate new potential keywords/phrases and continue to fine-tune your efforts for maximum effect.
