With so much information readily available to us at any given moment, have you ever wondered how we can so often find exactly what we are looking for in a matter of seconds?
Welcome to the power of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), a well-cultivated group of strategies and tools that enable websites to rank highly on search engines such as Google. Today managing SEO has become one of the most important things companies can do to remain competitive — but it can be confusing at even the best of times. So for that, we have created a short list of tips for understanding SEO in 2020.
SEO
SEO can be a lot of things but its main focus is to get your website in front of the right audience better than any of your competitors. This is done through two main components: content and keywords. These are factors that search engine algorithms look for when assessing the quality, relativity, and ranking of a website.
When done correctly both of these components will work together to help your website appear at the top of search results, help your customers to find you, and gain you more leads. This is why SEO is so important — think about it! How often do you look at page 2 of Google’s search results? Almost never right!
Content
Think of Google as a bookstore, the search bar as the clerk, and websites as books. If you come to the bookstore looking for a “quick and easy peach pie recipe” and the clerk gives you a book about the “World’s Best 100 Pie Recipes”, you are not going to be 100% satisfied. It is still a book about pies but it is not exactly what you are looking for, so you are probably going to thank her and leave quickly without the book. But if she gave you a book about the “5 Best Quick and Easy Peach Pie Recipes” you would be much happier, are more likely to spend time there, and may even come back in the future.
Making sure that your website has quality content that satisfies what consumers are looking for will result in consumers spending more time on your website and in turn, will positively impact your ranking over time. As well, making sure that you are constantly updating the content on your website is critical to improving your SEO ranking. Whether it be through monthly blog posts, new products, videos and images, or just reworking old content, every little bit helps to get your website recognized by search engines like Google.
Updated, relevant, and informative content is especially important so that you can avoid Bounces. When a visitor to your site leaves after only viewing one page this is known as a Bounce, and it negatively affects your ranking. You want to make sure that your website not only entices consumers into staying on your website but helps to build connections with them that can eventually turn into sales.
Keywords
Keywords are used to target audiences by knowing what your audience is searching (typing in) and what they are wanting to find (their search intent). Picking your keywords can be tricky, but they should match what your audience is looking for and always describe the content on the page. Online keyword research tools can help you to better understand what combinations of words will help your target audience to find you.
It is key that you include your keywords in your headlines, URLs, and meta descriptions as these are where Google looks for keywords. If you do this you will not need to overload your text with your keywords. When websites have content that is jam-packed with keywords it is known as Keyword Stuffing and will hurt your ranking.
The keywords for this article would be Understanding, SEO, and Search Engine Optimisation. All of these keywords have been used throughout this article, and more or all of them are included in our title, meta description, and URL. But none of which have been used in a manner that seems unnatural or “stuffed”.
While the world of SEO has many layers, understanding the basics will help you to reach your target audience better, increase traffic to your website, and become more competitive within your industry. For assistance with search engine optimization, you can rely on our professional team here at Evolution Business Marketing & Communications. Call us today at (250) 740-1844 or email us at info@evolutionbusiness.ca.
