What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. This is a process which aims to improve the position of your website in search engine results. 75{06e29518e582b1cc2da09f8f2ea316dadc41c520023bcca83a4deb5e6ad0a3c6} of users (as of 2013) never actually click through to the second page of results , so it is obvious that reaching the first page of search engine results would drastically increase your visibility and thus potential client base. It is almost impossible to reach the first page without utilising SEO or paying a lot for an advertising space. What is involved? One of the methods for search engine optimisation is ensuring that your website has a large amount of keyword-rich content. Keywords are words that your target audience might enter into search engines. For example, if someone wants to sell their car they might search for terms like “car for sale” or “used car for sale”. It is important that your website uses these terms liberally. Search providers use software called “spiders” or “crawlers” to collect instances of keywords on your website. This data is used to decide on the relevance of your site in searches. You can include keywords by writing pages of copy explaining what your business does, why it is better than the competition, talking about the successful car sales you’ve performed in the past, and so on. The copy could even have keywords in its titles, headers and within the coding. This is known as on-page search engine optimisation. Off-page search engine optimisation is another method, which is all about linking within your site and getting links from external sites. Internal links mean that the search engine spiders will go through them and stay on your website longer, thus collecting more data. Links from outside can indicate how popular and trustworthy your site is. PageRank is a Google algorithm that awards your site a number based on your internal and external links. Search engines also gather information about the sites which link to your site – a link from a spam website does not inspire confidence. SEO Management There are ways of managing your own SEO, such as using Google AdWords to suggest new keywords, or the Chrome plugin PageRank Status to check your current number. There are even free resources online to teach you the basics of SEO. So why should you use an SEO agency rather than doing it yourself? 1. They have experience. They will know techniques and be able to think of keyword ideas that the staff member you sent on an SEO course will not. They will also know how to avoid potential pitfalls such as making mistakes in link building which lead to falls in ranking. 2. The internet is constantly changing. Your competitors who use SEO agencies will be frequently changing their tactics in order to keep on top of changing algorithms. Google, for example, doesn’t usually announce their algorithm changes, so if you don’t have someone dedicated to checking, who knows where and what they’re looking for, your ranking will may rapidly decrease. SEO is not a one-off solution, but an ongoing process which sees long-term results. 3. Doing SEO takes time, which you may not have to spare. Even guides specifically for doing SEO without an SEO agency recommend that you spend at least 17 hours a month on doing it yourself . Working with a reputable SEO agency will keep your website ranking thoroughly up to date and thus give you the best results in the best time. Thanks for reading What Is SEO? Please let us know your opinions on the article, or on SEO as a whole. What is SEO? is part 1 of our “What Is …?” series. This series gives the reader a brief introduction to the basics of digital marketing. Check out the rest of the series for information on PPC, CRO and ORM with more to come. Error: Contact form not found.