SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” In simple terms, SEO means the process of improving your website to increase its visibility in Google, Microsoft Bing, and other search engines whenever people search for:
The better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely you are to be found and clicked on. This is considered "organic" search results. Ultimately, the goal of search engine optimization is to help attract website visitors who will become customers, clients or an audience that keeps coming back.
SEO is a critical marketing channel. First, and foremost: organic search delivers 53% of all website traffic, according to a BrightEdge study. Don't be fooled by the online advertising companies pushing you to spend thousands of dollars a month on paid advertising. Per the same study, only 15% of website traffic is generated through pay-per-click.
SEO drives real business results for brands, businesses and organizations of all sizes. Whenever people want to go somewhere, do something, find information, research or buy a product or service – their journey typically begins with a search.
Because SEO is so obscure and confusing, it is an area where "big" companies tend to take advantage of small business owners. They essentially charge a monthly fee for as high as they think they can scare you into paying, then sit back and do very little, because it is hard to quantify the work being done on SEO. At DAR Web Consulting, we have a fixed price for SEO and our clients know exactly what we are doing for them at all times.
There are a lot of things that factor into SEO, but I will break down into three main categories:
It all starts with architecture – creating a website that can be crawled and indexed by search engines.
We make it easy for search engines to discover and access all of the content on your pages (i.e., text, images, videos). What technical elements matter here: URL structure, navigation, internal linking, and more.
Experience is also a critical element of technical optimization. Search engines stress the importance of pages that load quickly and provide a good user experience.
Plus, web hosting services, CMS (content management system) and site security all play a role in SEO.
In SEO, your content needs to be optimized for two primary audiences: people and search engines. What this means is that we optimize the content your audience will see (what’s actually on the page) as well as what search engines will see (the code).
The goal, always, is to publish helpful, high-quality content. We do this through a combination of understanding your audience’s wants and needs, data and guidance provided by Google.
There are several activities that may not be “SEO” in the strictest sense, but nonetheless can align with and help contribute indirectly to SEO success.
Link building (the process of acquiring links to a website) is the activity most associated with off-site SEO. There can be great benefits (e.g., rankings, traffic) from getting a diverse number of links pointing at your website from relevant, authoritative, trusted websites. Link quality beats link quantity – and a large quantity of quality links is the goal.
Additional aspects of Off-site SEO are brand building through social media, online listings management and reviews which are all areas we help our clients with.
If you read through all of that, God Bless You! Here is all you really need to know.
Schedule a free consultation today and let us provide information tailored to your unique needs. This is the first step towards a more successful online presence for your company.
We value meaningful partnerships and are always interested in talking to others for networking and collaboration efforts. Please feel free to reach out if you think we could work together to have a positive impact on the small, local businesses in our area.
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