In simple terms, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a method of using online content to ensure a website is found by search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.). To ensure this happens, content developers utilize both technical and creative solutions to improve a website’s rankings, generate new hits, and, ultimately, increase sales. A successful SEO strategy is one that combines a variety of aspects: continually updated content, keywords, a site structured such that search engines can easily understand and index the content, and if and how other sites link to your page.
Do You Need SEO
In a word, YES. Though social media use is on the rise and many potential customers do use the various platforms to research and find companies, the majority of users turn to commercial search engines. These search engines are the primary vehicle for driving targeted traffic to your website. If your site doesn’t show up within the search engines’ results, your target market cannot find your business and you’re missing out on a great number of opportunities to potentially make a sale.
Why Can’t They Find You?
Small business owners new to online marketing will often ask “why do search engines need SEO to find my site?”. In short, search engines have been engineered to be “smart”—they are based on extremely complex and constantly changing algorithms to search the web for new and relevant content associated with a particular search query. But they need help to find the information they’re looking for. So, the more new content you add to your site and the more often you repeat relevant key words/phrases will make it easier for these searches to find and index your site.
Optimizing your website for SEO is complex but not impossible once you understand what SEO is and how to utilize it to your advantage. It could involve modifying site content, adding relevant keywords, or editing the HTML and related code (site structure) to make it easier for search engines to find your site and to eliminate obstacles to search engine indexing.
If you’re new to online marketing or want to refresh your website using SEO, Growth Squad experts are here to help. Our team affords your business the full capabilities, experience, and expertise of a marketing team without the expense of a complete in-house solution