What it is: SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's the process of using relevant keywords in order to rank higher on search engine results pages and acquire quality traffic for your website.
Why it’s important: Getting traffic to your website is crucial for acquiring new customers. You want as many people as possible to discover your business, but have you ever wondered how they even stumbled upon your website in the first place?
Was it a referral from a friend, an ad they saw in the newspaper, or a broadcast they heard on the radio? Could be. But we’re willing to bet a big chunk of your traffic came from organic search. In fact, a whopping 53 percent of all website traffic comes from organic search. Anytime someone enters a keyword into a search engine (like Google), this counts as an organic search. SEO helps your website rank higher on these organic search results making it more visible to users.
Now that you know what SEO is and why it is important, how do you start using it to improve your business' presence?
Start using these best practices to improve your website’s visibility and make users happy.
Let’s say you own a shoe store. You would want to include relevant keyword phrases like "men's dress shoes" or "kids sneakers" in your written content so when someone Googles “shoes" or "sneakers" your website has a better chance of showing up.
It may be tempting to load keywords into your content but don’t. It’s not helpful for users and won’t lead to more traffic. This tactic is called keyword stuffing and search engines can penalize you for doing this.
Writing content with 300 words or more sends a signal to search engines that your website has valuable information. Starting a blog is a great way to improve your website’s SEO because it provides search engines with robust content regularly. A blog also positions you as a thought leader in your industry.
Google and other search engines want to provide useful content, and creating duplicate content or near-duplicate content is not only unuseful, it’s redundant. This may seem like a no brainer, but if you own an online store and have to write product descriptions, this can be quite the task but we promise its worth it.
Ranking higher on search results pages is a process, it doesn’t happen overnight. Keep creating SEO-friendly content and following these best practices. Also, keep in mind that SEO best practices are always changing because search engine algorithms are changing. Do research regularly to see if your content is up-to-date with the latest practices.
We covered a lot, but these best practices are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to SEO! Here are some helpful resources to read up on.
12 Reasons Why Your Business Absolutely Needs SEO
SEO Best Practices
How to Create an SEO Strategy for 2020 [Template Included]