SEO

Why SEO?

When you search something on Google, you pay closer attention to websites that are on the top of the search results page rather than the second page, and so on. When someone is searching for anything, they have the intent of either learning, buying, or watching—making this tool lucrative. If a potential customer is intending to buy something, and your website is at the top of their search results, has great content/product/service, you have a higher chance to convert. SEO is a good way to bring in organic traffic to your page, and when paired with other marketing tools, it can help you convert your visitors into leads/customers—whatever your goal is. SEO can also be cheaper in the long run compared to other marketing tools—and cheaper, in this case, does not mean low quality. It can take 4–6 months of consistent SEO to see results, and even longer when trying to rank for popular keywords, but with the right strategy, SEO will bring value to your website.

How to rank higher?

There are a lot of different strategies that allow websites to rank higher on Google. These strategies can make a difference one by one, but an even bigger difference when used hand in hand with each other. First things first, you have to have a website to do SEO. Duh, right? After you have that, you need to identify improvements on your website. You would do so by conducting an SEO audit. There are many different technologies—from free to paid—that can help, like Semrush, Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, etc. The two important free sites are going to be Google Search Console and Google Analytics. These two resources will identify how your site is doing, with important metrics to measure and aim to improve.

When conducting an SEO audit, you want to know what it is that you're auditing—and the easiest thing is what everyone sees. What I mean by this is whatever is on your website, which is considered on-page. On-page optimization is an important tactic used to rank higher on Google, and one of the main aspects is to make sure your page is relevant to what your overall message is. What does this mean? If you want to be found by Googlers for your jewelry business, you probably shouldn’t have content about fish bowls. Your content needs to be intriguing and relevant to what users are searching for. On-page optimization consists of keyword research, content writing, web design, mobile optimization, image optimization, and other behind-the-scenes technical work. Consistency is the key with on-page optimization—you have to continue producing great content to stay relevant.

The next important SEO tactic is off-page optimization. Off-page optimization refers to the important things you do outside of your website that bring in organic traffic. A great example is backlinks. Backlinks are when another website links to yours—often giving you credibility. The more sites that link to yours, the higher the chance Google bumps you up. One way to do this is to reach out to blog sites that are in a similar niche and ask them to link to your page, or even see who’s linking to your competitor and reach out to them asking for backlinks. You should also have a social media presence with the appropriate links to your website. Another strategy would be to get positive Google reviews.

Technical SEO is an important behind-the-scenes strategy. Your website may look good, but it might have many errors behind the scenes that no one can see. SEO auditing software can detect what’s wrong with your page, and you would need to implement those changes so your website can rank higher on Google.

Lastly, if you are a local business, local SEO is crucial. When users search for something local, they want to see reviews, addresses, phone numbers, pictures, etc. Without the proper setup—or no setup—your business will lack the credibility that others have just by having a simple business profile.

SEO is not dead or dying—in fact, it is very much alive! Do not let these influencers tell you any different. SEO is no longer just tailored for search engines. A lot of people are now using the term “Search Everywhere Optimization” due to there being many different platforms with searchability. Don’t get left behind—SEO is evolving, so evolve with it.