Marketing is essential for any business- whether you are small business, freelancer, or service provider. You need money for business cards, brochures, banners, signs, and many others tools. It is estimated that on average 12%-20% of gross revenue is spent on marketing. And as a business owner you know it’s essential- otherwise you would not be in the business. Marketing is a great investment- the more you spend in it- the bigger return you get. How would people find you and know about your services if they didn’t see you on a banner, or walked by your store and saw your great sign. But interesting is, that many business owners are not so sure about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) being equally important. So think that SEO doesn’t work, or that it is overrated. Other think it’s too expensive and it is a luxury they just can’t afford. So what do you think- is SEO for business a necessity or luxury? To help us determine an answer to that question, let’s first make sure we really understand- what is SEO and what does it actually do?
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Search engines are websites like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others. Those websites helps you filter thru millions of websites to find what you need. You simply go to such website, type a keywords or phrase, and search engine will come up with different results. But have you ever considered- how do search engines work? How do they know which websites to show you and in what order? Each search engine have different algorithms that they use to filter thru websites and show you the most relevant ones. Search engines look for how important and reliable your website is in comparison to others. Google for example uses algorithm called PageRank. You may think- what does it have to do with my website and SEO? Well, the simple answer is- Search Engine Optimization is the process that helps your website to have a higher page rank and be more visible to search engines. So you may spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on your website, but this money would be wasted if your website never came up in search results. Building a website is just the first step. SEO is the second and vey important step to tell the world about your website. Somebody once said that “The website is like your best employee- it works for you 24/7”. It is definitely worth the investment. So you may ask- how does the SEO actually work? What does SEO consultant do to build my website rank?
How does the process of Search Engine Optimization Work
The process of optimizing your process is long and involves several steps. It is also important to mention that it is an ongoing process- it’s not something you can just do once and you are done. Your SEO analyst needs to carefully monitor your website and adjust it as needed. Here are couple of steps.
1.Research and analysis
This is a very important steps that helps your analyst to determine what improvements need to be done on your website and what actions can be taken to help you build the PageRank. When analyzing your website, the analyst will look for things like: how is your website constructed, does it have meta description and meta tags, does it have any errors or broken links and other things like that. Those aspects may not be visible to us, but search engines can definitely see them and they make help or may impact you in a negative way.
Another part of research is keyword and market analysis. As we mentioned earlier, keywords are the words or phrases that people use with search engines to find information they need. It is essential to determine what keywords or phrases people may use when they are looking for “You”, so that those keywords are used when optimizing the website. Each business is different when it comes to that and so each website needs to be evaluated individually. Understanding the market is also very important. For the best results, you want to target relevant traffic that will get you sales, and not just look at your website and leave. There are tons of different tools that help SEO consultant to look at who is visiting your website, what they actually do, how much time they spend and how quickly they leave. All those aspects need to be considered to make sure your website is not just SEO friendly, but also user friendly.
In addition to analyzing and researching your website and your business, SEO analyst needs to also pay close attention to your competitors. If you try to rank higher than them, you need to know how they are doing. Who is linking to their site, what content are they publishing, etc. If you know how your competitors are doing, than you will know what you need to do to get better.
2. On-page and off-page optimization
After doing thorough research, it’s time for some hands on work. On-page optimization includes backend website work like adding meta description for each page of your website, making sure your pictures have tags containing relevent keywords that you want to rank with. It also includes making sure each page has a good content using relevant keywords. Each page needs to be optimized individually. As new pages or blog posts are added to the website, they also need to be optimized.
Off-page optimization includes steps that are taken outside of the actual website to improve it’s online presence. It includes things like creating social networking profiles, submitting your website to search engines, directories, creating local listings, posting online reviews about the business, building links, etc. There are many different options available for off page optimization that depend on the nature of the business and the scope of the seo (local vs national)
3. Ongoing review and link building
Link building is an important step for building online reputation. Search engines consider quality links to your side as a proof that your website is trustworthy and relevant. Building links is not an easy tasks and it takes a lot of time and research. There are ways to buy links by sending out press releases or posting articles on guest blogs. The most important thing is to have relevant links. Link building is an ongoing process- the more links your site had, the higher domain authority it will have and what goes with that- your website rankings will improve.
Common misconceptions about SEO
There are many misconceptions about how SEO works. Those misconceptions often lead to disappointment. I picked out 3 most common things I hear from my potential clients.
1. I am guaranteed #1 rank
This is often a question I hear from my potential clients. And it is a valid concern- after all the main idea of SEO is to build up your website rankings. But the truth is- no SEO analyst can truly guarantee that you will get to rank #1 in certain amount of time. And if SEO firm promises you that- that should be a red flag for you. As we discussed earlier in this article, there are many different factors that impact website rankings that consultants have no control over. Many of those factors often change. Algorithms change and SEO strategies need to be changed accordingly. Another thing is- it takes time for search engines to start recognizing changes done to your website. Sometime it takes longer, sometime shorter, but overall- it takes time that no one can truly predict.
2. I will be able to see results right a way
It is understandable that if you spend money, you would like to start seeing results quickly. However, as I have mentioned it several times in this article, Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing process that takes time. On average it takes 3-6 months to start seeing true results. You may see boost in your traffic on the second month, but as far as rankings- you really need to be patient and give your SEO a change to work their magic.
3. We did SEO once, we don’t need to do it again
That is the most frustration misconception. I sometimes get clients that hired SEO consultant in the past and they want me to sort of pick up from where they left off. Or the client only expects me to work on only one aspect of SEO- like link building. Well, there is more to the process than just link building. Search engines change their algorithms and often there are necessary updates that need to be done to the site. Crawling errors need to be reviewed and fixed. Your site need to be periodically checked for broken links. And any new content needs to be optimized. Please check out the video below that talks about how search engines have changed within the past few years. It will give you an idea of changes that were needed on websites to keep up with the evolution of search.
Conclusion
In this article we have discussed what is Search Engine Optimization, what the SEO process entails and what are the common misconceptions about it. After evaluating all of the facts, it is now up to you to decide whether SEO for business is a necessity or luxury. One thing is for sure- you spent money on the website, it would be a waist of money of search engines never displayed it in search results. So do your research, check your ranking and decide. And if you still have any questions or doubts- let us know.
