What is SEO?

Whether you’re switching to a career in SEO or an entrepreneur hoping to improve your website’s performance on your own, we’re pretty sure your journey comes with a lot of questions.

Finding the answers to your questions might be a daunting task too since it’s not uncommon to find several resources online with contradicting answers. It also doesn’t help that Google’s algorithms change often, so while certain updates are necessary, it makes sticking to a single tactic difficult though not impossible.

Despite these changes that make using the same best practices over and over again impractical and ineffective, there is still SEO information that remains the same no matter how much the algorithms change, and we’re here to present and explain them to you. Read on to get the answers to the most common SEO questions online:

What does SEO stand for?

SEO means Search Engine Optimization. As the name suggests, it refers to the process of optimizing your website (content, link popularity, technical configuration) so it becomes easier to find through search engines. This method also involves the use of relevant keywords that aid people’s search queries and help search engines rank them better.

What Is SEO in Marketing?

In the marketing world, SEO is the process of getting traffic to your website from free or organic search results in various search engines. The goal of SEO in marketing is to improve (if you’re not at the top) or maintain (if you’re already on the first page) your website’s ranking on the search results page. The higher the rank or the better the performance, the higher the chance that people will see your website first.

What Is SEO Marketing?

SEO marketing is a strategy that aims to improve your website’s performance and ranking to get more organic or non-paid traffic. SEO is free traffic. Generating free traffic takes time but the rewards are lasting, long-term, and worth the investment. Sure you can generate traffic and ultimately sales through paid channels like Instagram or Facebook, but the high costs can easily consume a huge chunk of your profit margins. With SEO marketing, practitioners get the best value for their money.

What Is SEO in Digital Marketing?

SEO is a vital digital marketing activity because statistically, roughly 70-80% of people searching for products or services will click on SEO results as opposed to paid results. So the greater number of clicks actually belong to organic search results, which is why any sound digital marketing plan should always include a solid SEO strategy.

Why Is My Business Not Ranking?

If your web pages are listed and you can see them, that means that your website is indexed by Google. If it’s still not ranking, these are the possible reasons:

1. Your website is too new – If your website is newly built, it wouldn’t have significant authority to rank for search queries that are competitive in nature. Building authority isn’t something that happens overnight. There’s much work to be done for your website to demonstrate its worthiness to rank.
2. Your content doesn’t match the intent – All searchers have a certain intent when browsing for products and services. If your content doesn’t match that need, your pages are likely to go unnoticed.
3. You’re blocking search engine crawlers – Certain blocks like noindex tags can prevent your website from showing up on results. Addressing these issues will give your website the means to be more visible.
4. You don’t have Google Search Console set up – It’s important to submit your website to Google for indexing after launch. If you haven’t done so already, your website is unlikely to rank no matter what you do.
5. You have been penalized by Google – Violating Google’s Webmaster Guidelines is grounds for receiving a sitewide penalty. Although rare and very unlikely, it could still happen. You need to work with a skilled SEO professional or SEO specialist to fix this problem.

Does This Mean My Business Needs Professional SEO?

Yes, and here’s why. Some business owners think that online efforts to increase sales end with having a website, but that isn’t true. A website that was designed for the sake of having a website is no different from picking a random building, putting up a store, and hoping the customers come filing in. A company’s website works like an online storefront, the more you make it attractive to people, the higher the chances of potential customers checking to see what’s inside.

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are a helpful option if you want to increase traffic to your website. However, you get charged for every click to your website passing through that channel. Ranking naturally (organic) gives you the same benefits minus the charge per click. This gives you more value for your money.

PPC ads allow you to get to your marketing goals faster. However, they’re not free and will only work while the ads are turned on. When you run out of budget and the ads have to be turned off, you will no longer be able to enjoy its benefits. When you rank organically, you will have online visibility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And if you stay on top of your game and optimize as necessary, you will get to enjoy the fruits of SEO for as long as possible.

Should I Hire an SEO Agency?

Small to medium businesses as well as startups have the option of doing SEO on their own. It is possible to learn the complexities of this method but it will take a long time. Google’s algorithms alone will take at least months before anyone can fully understand how they work and how to navigate them. It requires hours of work and effort on your part before you can effectively come up with a solid SEO strategy.

This is why it’s better to just hire an SEO agency that’s versed in handling companies like yours and knowledgeable about your industry. This way, you can start optimizing your website as soon as possible instead of using your resources and energy trying to learn a complicated craft.

What Do I Have to Gain When Hiring An SEO Agency?

If you think hiring a digital marketing agency is just going to cost you money with minimal gains, then you’re mistaken. When working with an SEO agency, you can expect to get more leads, better online visibility, and more traffic which will eventually translate to more conversions.