You have probably heard a million times about SEO or Search Engine Optimization and its role as an essential digital marketing tool. But if you know all the vital details and understand what it requires, there is a big chance that you still do not have a good understanding of the complexity and the multifaceted nature of this industry.
Search engine optimization marketing is made up of different elements, and understanding what they are and how this industry work is the key to knowing why SEO is very important. In short, it is relevant because it makes your business website visible. If your site is more visible to your target market, it means more traffic and more chances to convert this traffic into potential customers or sales.
Beyond that, it is also an essential tool for building relationships with potential customers, brand awareness and positioning your business as a trustworthy and authoritative expert in your field of choice. So, let’s get down to business: here is everything people need to know about Search Engine Optimization and why it is very important in today’s online or digital day and age.
Important elements of SEO
Keywords
The days are gone when keywords are the only method that matters in this industry, but it does not mean that they are not vital in today’s world. The difference is that, in today’s digital world, keywords need to be well-researched, judiciously used in the content and carefully chosen in order for them to be very effective.
But what exactly are keywords? These are phrases or words that consumers use to find online content and brand uses to connect with their prospected consumers who are looking for services or products. When looking for effective keywords, it is very important to look for keywords or key phrases that have a high search rate with low competition.
What is SEO? Check out https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/seo-search-engine-optimization.asp for more information.
It would be best if you also chose short-tail keywords (for example dog), long-tail (for instance: German shepherd for sale) and local ones (for instance puppies for sale in Los Angeles) to work in your services and product’s content. Business can also use these keywords to help optimize their URLs, titles, as well as other on-page Search Engine Optimization elements.
Content
It is a very important part of SEO because it is the platform you use to engage and reach your target market. For example, if you are owning or operating a plant nursery and you want to increase its visibility, you need to start working on your blog about gardening, choosing the right plants to grow, tips on how to grow a plant and anything related to the topic.
When people wanted to know everything about gardening and they look for any information, your blog or contents would come up first, and you would be able to create a good relationship with prospects by providing them with relevant information.
For example, when the time comes for these prospects to purchase a plant, you would be the first company or plant nursery to come to mind. In today’s world, contents need to be interesting, educational relevant, shareable and engaging. Materials come in different forms, including:
Videos
Infographics
Web page content
Podcasts
Social media posts
E-books and white papers
Off-page Search Engine Optimization
Local Listings
Off-page Search engine Optimization involves external optimization practices that usually happen away from the website instead of on it. The primary method used in this off-page SEO has been creating backlinks for good and quality backlinks to your website from the external website will tell Google or Yahoo that your site is high-quality and of value, and it builds site authority.
To know more about off-page SEO, click here.
There is a lot of methods to build backlinks. Some of the best practices include creating a lot of relevant infographics that can be shared by other websites, guest blogging and mentioning relevant influencers of your contents.
Local SEO
Local SEO is starting to become more important because more people are now using smartphones or mobile devices. Today, more or less 60% of all searches are performed from smartphones and tablet devices. Half of these searches have local intent. If you are owning or running a restaurant, local SEO will make sure that when consumers in the area where you operate went looking for a restaurant in your area, they will come across your content or your website.
Aside from using relevant keywords, other local SEO practices include creating a location-specific page for your website, claiming directory listings, as well as create related pages for your company on Google+, Google Maps and Google My Business.
