Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Basics
Understanding SEO basics - a crucial tool in today’s post-pandemic digital landscape.
Ok, let’s get real. We’ve all heard of SEO, but not many of us know what it really means, let alone how to implement it into a marketing plan. Together, we’re going to break down what SEO is, how it works, what the benefits are, and how you can get started.
What is SEO and how does it work?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the most traditional form of digital marketing to date, yet it’s importance hasn’t diminished over the years. SEO remains steadfast as one of the most effective tools for online growth today.
We’re all familiar with Google searches. When you search for anything on Google, a list of websites, images, and videos are populated, based on their relevance to the content you entered. The user usually clicks on one of the first few listings that pop up, finds what they’re looking for and - boom - they’re off to the races!
Search engines understand consumer psychology and they know that we’re just too darn lazy to scroll through a giant list of websites looking for what we want, so they always try to prioritize the most relevant and high-authority websites at the top. In short - they try to make our lives easier! Search engines want to make sure the content people are clicking on is helpful and valuable, and they do this by ensuring that those links have good quality content and provide a good user experience.
But how do you stand out against your competition when everyone offers good content and a good user experience? How do you get users to land on your site?!
Well my friend, SEO is the answer!
As the name suggested, SEO refers to optimizing the on-site and off-site elements of your website, to get you ranking as high as possible for organic internet searches.
What are the benefits of SEO?
SEO offers three major advantages that benefit any business, no matter the size, across any industry.
1st-page search results usually receive more clicks, and by more we mean 71% more, and if you’re really good, you can increase your traffic by up to 92%! Higher rankings gain more visibility, which is crucial in the age overabundance and declining attention spans.
The smart algorithms of search engines are specially designed to ensure they match user data to the businesses and services that best align with the content provided. These matches are based on relevance, credibility, and location. If your website is SEO optimized, you can be confident that you’re capturing any potential leads in your industry and demographic area.
SEO is FREE! Yes, you read that right - free. You don't need to spend money on costly ad campaigns because SEO works to position your business right in front of your consumers. If you rank high in search results, it assures the user that your business is reliable, relevant, and useful in the eyes of search engines, and in turn, in the eyes of consumers. SEO brings you a sustainable and cost-effective solution to promote your business to the right audience, gaining more traffic organically without spending any dollar on costly advertising. Sweet deal, amiright?
The smart algorithms of search engines are specially designed to ensure they match user data to the businesses and services that best align with the content provided. These matches are based on relevance, credibility, and location. If your website is SEO optimized, you can be confident that you’re capturing any potential leads in your industry and demographic area.
Hands down, a well crafted SEO strategy should be at the forefront of any marketing strategy. Especially in a post-pandemic climate where clients are spending more and more time browsing online and searching for potential purchases digitally.
Getting started with SEO basics
Your business deserves an online presence that lives up to the real deal! So where do you start?
This is probably the most talked about first step in any marketing strategy, but there's good reasons for that. If you own a sushi restaurant, you wouldn't want to promote yourself to people looking to buy pizza, amiright? When you effectively market to people who are searching for your product, you have a higher chance of increasing your click rates and sustaining high convergence rates.
Skipping market research is tempting, we know. It’s time consuming and many businesses think that they already understand their target audience. However, most of the time, data suggests otherwise. You need to base your audience profile on digital analytics tools (such as Google Analytics) to measure attributes about your current audience, including gender, age range, ethnicity, geolocation, income level, and general interest. Knowing exactly who your audience is helps provide a guideline for researching relevant keywords that can boost your ranking in organic search results.
Now that you've identified your specific niche, it’s time to generate a list of relevant and high-quality keywords. Think of this step drawing a line between what your audience is looking for and what you offer.
So, how do you know if the keywords you selected will work? You need a reliable keyword research tool to test their performance first. Our favorite is Google Keyword Planner! It displays every useful insight about those keywords, including similar phrases, average monthly searches, level of competition, and even how popular they are!
We recommend going for low-competition and long-tail keywords, especially those with high monthly average searches. These types of keywords are proven to improve your search result ranking fast, without competing with other web giants. Consider keywords with increasing popularity trends as well, because their searches have the possibility to skyrocket as the next big thing.
Once you’ve finished up your keyword research, you need to begin integrating those valuable keywords into your web content so that search engines can connect your website to internet searches containing those specific keywords.
Think of it as connecting the dots! You want to make it as easy as possible for Google and other search engines to connect clients (dot one) with your site (dot two). The more incoming dots, the wider you’re casting your digital net!
Search engines are super picky nowadays, so make sure you spend a lot of time brainstorming and composing good quality SEO content! Content optimization is not as easy as cramming as many keywords as possible on the site, you also need to write informative and engaging content that the reader finds helpful. Search engines usually identify SEO criteria by measuring your content quantity, viewer's retention, and abandon rates.
We advise keeping your readers in mind at all times when writing content, and aim for a minimum of 500 words on each page. Don't forget to include your most valuable keywords in the titles and headings to make your site easier to discover!
After having a solid foundation, you can start working on monitoring your results and updating your strategy based on analytics and feedback. Remember, SEO is a non-linear process: there will be a lot of back and forth, revision, and adjusting. See which pages get the most clicks, which ones have the highest viewer retention, and how your convergence rate is performing. Based on those insights, identify any loopholes, and continue updating your site for better results.
After having a solid foundation, you can start working on monitoring your results and updating your strategy based on analytics and feedback. Remember, SEO is a non-linear process: there will be a lot of back and forth, revision, and adjusting. See which pages get the most clicks, which ones have the highest viewer retention, and how your convergence rate is performing. Based on those insights, identify any loopholes, and continue updating your site for better results.
There you have it - as easy as one two three! Hopefully, we've made getting started with an SEO strategy less daunting, so that you are excited to get started experimenting with your own website!