SEO- if you don’t know what this means, you’re not alone. The marketing world is full of so many abbreviations and acronyms that you can feel overwhelmed at times. But SEO is an extremely important concept to understand if you’re an entrepreneur, a small business owner, or a professional in the industry at any level.
Let’s brush up on some basics of SEO:
Search Engine Optimization
SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization, which encompasses organic search engine results. Organic search is what happens when you open up Google, search something, and look at the pages of unpaid results.
Unpaid results means that there’s not advertising money being funneled into these search results. The little tag that says “ad” in the first couple of search results, then, are not part of the organic search results.
Why is Search Engine Optimization important?
“If you’re not on the first page of Google, then you don’t exist” really rings true. This is especially important for e-commerce websites, like fashion retail, food and beverage products, electronics, and more product-based merchants. Search results will lead new, potential customers to click on your website and hopefully be instigated to click on your products as well.
The catch is that these search results are always evolving; Google has changed how their algorithm chooses to rank numerous websites so it’s very important to be updated. Usually, they search for pages with relevant content to the keywords and have high quality, trusted sources.
You want some real-life eyes on your website and content, don’t you? Search engine optimization is a tool to get to where you want to be.
Some nitty gritty info on SEO…
There are short and long-tail keywords for SEO purposes. Search for your targeted keywords’: search volume, competitor keywords, and relevance. This is an important step that many people overlook, but it pays to do your research!
Reevaluate your meta descriptions, title tags, and other page content that you might overlook otherwise. It’s best to simplify and target this content towards the audience that would find you by searching specific keywords.
Take note of what works for you and what does not work- this is a tool that changes, so if you stick to a strategy that sustains readership, consider yourself in the clear (for now!).
Parting thoughts on SEO Practices
Alongside SEO keyword research and best practice, ensure that your website is functioning properly across different devices, as well as loads quickly. As mobile device search increases, Google’s algorithm will also start judging your page by its ability to load quickly and look good on mobile devices.
Track your SEO results consistently, to see which keywords are ranking well and which ones need more improvement through different strategizing.