SEO is the cornerstone of every good online marketing strategy. It’s something that everyone from bloggers to multi-billion dollar enterprises engages in, and it can make or break a business. But what exactly is SEO, what does it mean, why does it matter, and how do keywords, backlinks, and other common elements translate into high rankings?
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. You probably knew that already. What you might not know is how those three letters have transformed into an industry worth billions of dollars.
It’s all about tapping into the best organic traffic source on the web: search engines and, more specifically, Google. When you search for something online, Google will work its magic and showcase a series of results.
Sitting below the ads and applicable shopping results are a series of organic results. The websites haven’t paid for those positions, yet they can receive millions of impressions and countless clicks every month.
The higher you are in those rankings, the greater your share of those impressions and clicks. And as you’re not paying for each click/impression like you do with Google Ads, it all helps to drive up your return on advertising spend (ROAS).
The Elements of Good SEO (and why they really matter)
One of the misconceptions of SEO is that you need to understand complex algorithms and consider various aspects every time you post a piece of content.
It’s important to remember why it exists in the first place.
It’s all about catering to Google, and Google’s goal is not to give the highest rankings to the companies with the biggest budgets. This is not paid advertising. If you search for “How to tie a tie”, it wants to direct you to the page that has the best methods, cleanest writing, and simplest instructions, all provided in a digestible format.
It doesn’t care whether that content was provided by a blogger with an unhealthy obsession for ties or a million-dollar company.
It all comes back to the user experience.
If you produce content that helps the user, Google will reward you. Of course, Google can’t tell which content is best, so it considers a variety of different things to calculate a website’s value:
Keywords
Going back to the tie example, if you use phrases like “how to tie a tie”, Google will know to show your content to people searching for those terms. But that’s not the only thing that matters, otherwise we’d all be stuck in the early days of the internet when webmasters copy-pasted keyword lists everywhere.
It comes down to density (how many times the keyword appears compared to the article size) and relevancy (does the article also reference types of knots, or is it filled with irrelevant spam?).
It’s a formula, but if you think about what the perfect article on any given subject should look like, it will naturally touch upon most of the points that Google seeks.
On-Page Content
The more content you have, the easier it will be for Google to determine your industry and purpose and the more relevant keywords you’ll cover. On-page content covers everything from product descriptions and FAQs to helpful guides and blogs.
Off-Page SEO
How does Google know if a site is truly helpful and valuable if it can’t judge content quality? That’s where off-page authority comes in.
You’ll often hear SEO experts talk about authority links, which are links to your site from sites that Google respects.
Google is not saying, “We can’t trust you unless you buy backlinks”. It actively discourages this behavior. It’s actually saying, “If these respected sites link your content, it must be good”. You can get those links by negotiating with high-authority sites or by producing high-value, sharable content.
Why You Need SEO
Producing a lot of valuable content takes time and money, so why should you go to such lengths?
It Drives Organic Traffic to Your Site
As discussed above, higher rankings put your brand in front of more people. Your site will be ranked regardless, but no one cares if your blog about tying ties is on the 100th page. No one digs that deep.
Getting the top result puts your site in front of every single person who searches for that specific keyword.
It Improves Visibility
After seeing your brand on social media, in person, or on YouTube, one of the first things they’ll do is search for it. They want to know that you’re credible, and if you have low rankings for relevant keywords—including your own brand name—they’ll think twice about buying.
Good SEO puts you front and center for everyone who regularly searches for keywords related to your brand.
It Improves Page Authority
If high-authority sites are so valuable for backlinks, how do you become one? Well, it all comes down to your SEO strategy. The more quality content you publish, the more high authority links you’ll acquire, and the higher you’ll climb up the rankings.
At the same time, your site’s authority will increase, which in turn will make SEO efforts easier while ensuring new content gets a foot-up.
It Makes Your Site More Accessible
Always begin a new SEO strategy with the user in mind. That’s what Google wants.
It also means you’ll be producing relevant content that users want to read, descriptions that help them with purchase decisions, and FAQs that stop them from hassling live chat teams.
The user is happier, and when the user is happier, they’re more likely to buy what you’re selling. They’re more likely to tell their friends, click your links, and spend time on your site, too, and that also helps your search engine rankings.
Summary: Improve Your SEO Game
Although SEO shouldn’t be seen as a complex beast that drains your marketing budget and leaves you scratching your heard over ranking changes and algorithm shifts, it should be integral to your marketing strategy.
Setting up a good SEO plan is more complicated than running a few paid ads, but if you get it right, it can pay for itself tenfold.
If you work with an experienced SEO agency that knows these strategies inside-out and always focuses on user-friendly, highly optimized content, you could get those results without any of the headaches.
Get in touch below to learn more and get the ball rolling on your own SEO strategies.