What is SEO and Do I Really Need it?

I am sure by now you have heard and seen the term “SEO” and if you don’t know what it means, I am sure you have either Googled or asked a friend, “What does SEO stand for or mean?” It stands for Search Engine Optimization. Now you’re asking yourself “What does it mean to optimize a search engine?” And Do I really need it? If you want traffic to your website then “YES!” you not only need SEO, your website/business’s survival and growth depends on it. Many business owners don’t realize they need it, but once we begin to list the advantages, it becomes very clear that SEO is necessary.

There are millions of websites with billions of pages. Only the top 10 web pages are listed on a Search Engine Result Page (or SERP as you may have seen it written in some text). To Google, these 10 web pages on the first page of the SERP are the most relevant and valuable results for the keywords you used for your search.

About 68% of searchers do not go past the first page. Ask yourself this, “Do I ever go past the first page of the search results when I am searching for anything?” I am sure that many of you could answer, “Not usually.” This should give you even more of an incentive to want to get your business onto that first page in the Google search results for the keywords that your prospective customers/clients are searching. Uncovering those keywords is a constant effort that is only one part of SEO.

You need to be constantly creating original content, using the keywords you researched, to keep the search engines intrigued. Think of it this way… Google has ‘spiders’ which are online robots that are constantly crawling around the ‘web’ [Internet] looking for new content… AKA their food! The spiders do not like duplicate content; they look at it like leftovers. When these ‘spiders’ find the new content, they eat it right up, which results in your business ranking higher on a SERP where your customers will see your brand. You have complete control over how these keywords are used on your page; this is called On-Page SEO.

Off-Page SEO is how the rest of the web links to your website. Think of it like a popularity contest. The more websites that link to you, the more popular your website becomes and the more authority it carries. There are many SEO tactics that are effective in increasing the number of inbound links to your website such as; article & website directories, blog comments, forum posts, guest blog posts, press releases, white paper downloads and of course social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Most people do not have the time to do all of this [social media] work, constantly create original content, run your business/company and still maintain a semi-normal home life, but the need and value of an inbound marketing strategy is crucial. If you have asked “Does my business/company’s website need SEO?” you may want to think about asking “How is my business/company going to survive WITHOUT SEO?” If you think you can do it without SEO and an inbound marketing strategy, then you go! But if not, then consider giving us a chance to inform you about how we can help you do all of the things we have mentioned.