SEO or (Search Engine Optimization) is the formula for getting web pages to rank higher on search engines like Google. The higher you rank on search engines, the more traffic you will receive on your web page. There is a lot of information and research you can do to continuously improve your SEO. You can hire marketing companies or SEO experts to help get you farther along but the question is, is SEO worth it?
How SEO Works
Search engines like Google have an algorithm they’ve created to filter out pages and rank certain ones higher than others. Over time this algorithm has become more and more complex with thousands of different factors that affect your ranking.
Here are 3 Main Factors that Search Engines Evaluate:
- Content: Search engines analyze content of a webpage to determine its relevancy to the search that was conducted. An important part of SEO is creating content that is targeted towards the keywords that search engines' users are searching for.
- Links: A web page that has been linked from multiple pages is more likely to be ranked higher. Especially if a high ranking website used your web page link.
- Page Format: HTML code is used to create web pages and how that is structured can greatly impact your SEO. You want to use specific keywords that are likely to be searched and on topic. Although, some keywords are oversaturated online and you may struggle to rank simply because of competition. It's important to do research on what keywords aren’t too competitive to increase your chance.
- Your HTML code also determines your crawlability. Crawlability is when a google bot for example, goes to your site and saves your HTML code in a database. The crawler allows you to show up on google's search engine so it's important to have crawlability.
That is the fundamentals of SEO but there are countless things to understand. There are many optimization techniques that can be implemented, SEO tools to utilize and HTML code to learn.
Is SEO Worth it?
The short answer is absolutely. The whole goal of marketing is to be seen. Therefore, if you rank high on google, it's more likely someone will buy from you, rather than someone who is on page 8 of their search. Done correctly, you can increase your clientele dramatically. “More than 1.3 million businesses, website publishers, and nonprofits nationwide benefited from using Google’s advertising solutions.”
SEO not only brings you lots of traffic but it provides better trackable results. Having comprehensive analytics lets you know where you can improve on and what needs to be changed to better perfect your content. SEO is cost effective as well. If you are high ranking, you don't have to worry about buying that billboard on the freeway or hiring a call center for cold calls. You are getting organic traffic from simply ranking higher. Your brand will be more exposed and you will appear more trustworthy to your consumers when they access your site and see how high you rank on google.
It’s a win-win. The only issue is how competitive it continues to be as many businesses are looking to get that top spot, just as you are. This is why businesses are hiring marketing companies and SEO experts to help them create this traffic to their site.
If you’re looking for Search Engine Optimization help for your business click here.
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