Search engine optimization, or SEO as it is otherwise known, has been one of those digital marketing buzzwords for a while now.
While it might have seemed to be the new trendy practice a few years ago, the time has shown that SEO is here to stay and for a good reason.
Search engine optimization can offer online businesses a huge range of advantages that they need to excel in today’s competitive online marketplace.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search engine optimization is the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of traffic to your website. If you are unaware of what SEO is then, this definition might be a little confusing.
To better understand what search engine optimization is, it is useful to further break down the aims of the practice. Increasing the quantity of traffic to your site is fairly simple to understand. It involves means getting more people to click through to your website.
Increasing the quality of traffic to your site involves targeting relevant markets. This means that not only will you experience an increase in traffic, but this traffic will contain highly relevant parties that are likely to convert. Not getting the results that you want can be frustrating, but hiring an SEO agency like Sure Oak can help get your company found online and ensure more traffic to your site.
How Does Search Engine Optimization Work?
Search engine optimization works by proving to a search engine that you are a trustworthy and authoritative site. Of course, it would not be realistic to assume that a search engine can employ individuals to personally go through and rank every single website listed on their system.
So instead of using people, search engines use bots. These bots are programmed with an algorithm that checks certain metrics of a website which are then used to rank the site.
Search engine optimization is not so much one method but a range of techniques that are used to increase your appeal to the search engine bots. Some of the methods that are used to increase a website’s search engine ranking include:
- Increasing a site’s loading speeds
- Increasing backlinks
- Increasing external links
- Posting regular content
- Increasing keyword usage
- Decreasing bounce rates
- Increasing time on site
There are many practices involved in increasing a website’s search engine ranking, which is why some of the best SEO companies find it useful to have a website audit before diving into SEO. An audit will help you to identify the areas in which you excel and where your site needs a little more work. This will help you to be more focused and increase your return on investment with your SEO spending.
Why Does Search Engine Optimization Matter?
The first reason why search engine optimization matters is an obvious one: it helps drive more relevant visitors to your site, which means more potential customers.
The difference SEO can make in this respect is huge. The drop in click-through from the first to the tenth search engine result is about 90%.
However, SEO is not only useful for increasing traffic to your website, but it also boosts your site’s credibility. The majority of internet users perceive businesses that boost their search engine rankings organically to be much more trustworthy than their competitors that pay for search engine visibility.