At Lead Dog Digital, one of the questions we get asked most often when new clients come to us needing help with their online advertising is, “How can I get my website listing to show up more often on search result pages when customers are looking for what my business offers?” The answer is simple, but understanding the process is a little more complicated. The simple answer is: Improve your website by making it SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly.
SEO is one of the few forms of advertising where a business can direct their marketing efforts specifically to the people who are searching for their particular products or services, and it has proven to be very effective. If a website fails to convince search engines that it is relevant or important to searchers, then it may not be listed on the search result pages at all. Obviously, a website that doesn’t receive any exposure is a waste of money. The concept behind SEO is simple; SEO enables companies to more effectively reach their target market. If you have a website or online store, SEO can help your business grow and meet your business objectives.
SEO Explained
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a continual process used to improve the position of a website listing in the ‘organic’ or unpaid section of search engines such as Google or Bing. A search engine’s purpose is to provide its users with immediate, relevant, and important information. Websites that have those characteristics are awarded the highest rankings. Search engines use specialized programs called Web Crawlers to continuously scan websites for content and updates, so they can index the website for search purposes. After the data is gathered for the websites, it is processed through a series of algorithms where ranking is calculated from a multitude of factors. Many of those factors can be manipulated in order to improve a website’s ranking- that is where SEO comes in!
Implementing SEO requires an understanding of search engine behavior, so the proper changes can be made to the website in order to increase rankings. The SEO process begins with keyword research within the relative markets. The findings are analyzed, and changes and additions are implemented to a company’s website. SEO is a continual process of link building, keyword management, updating, and research. Since demand is continually fluctuating, it is important to stay current on marketing trends and incorporate frequent changes into the website. If SEO is not kept current, rankings may decrease.
The Value Behind SEO
Just as a poorly performing website wastes money, utilizing SEO can drastically increase traffic, which can generate more profit for a company in the long run. Not only is a well managed SEO strategy remarkably effective, it also allows for measurable results when it comes to ROI. Through tracking and analytics, SEO offers insight into customer behavior by looking at statistics such as number of visits to a website, trends in traffic and revenue so website owners are able to identify their successes as well as opportunity for growth and changes.
A Few Tips For Creating an SEO Friendly Site:
- Each custom web page should have a catchy title, incorporate well researched keywords, and offer a page description. Your title and meta description are what appear in the search results, so make them count!
- Use relevant, keyword rich phrases in your headlines as well as throughout your content to let both your readers and the search engines know what your web page is about.
- Keywords need to be placed in the title, the first and last paragraphs, and used throughout the page in a fluent and natural manner. However, overuse of keywords will not only turn off your readers, but can cause the algorithm used by search engines to penalize your website for keyword stuffing. This is where knowledge of a good SEO strategy comes into play.
- Structure and back-end organization are important to a search engine’s algorithm. Using appropriate tag hierarchy when tagging headlines (H1 for titles, H2 for subtitles) is important to maintain a well-structured page. The content on your page may be great, but can be easily lost in an unorganized, inefficient format. Breaking your content up into smaller sections or paragraphs with headlines not only keeps your page SEO friendly, but also makes for an easier read that will help keep your readers engaged.
If you are wondering whether or not your website’s content is SEO friendly, give us call. The experienced SEO content writers at Lead Dog Digital can assess your current site, research the latest keyword trends in your field, and implement changes to help get your business listed in search engines ahead of your competition.