Originally published on March 18th, 2019. Updated for November 23rd, 2021.
Small business owners need to keep up with today’s digital marketing trends. Social media, blogging, web design, the list goes on. A major digital trend that you need to pay attention to is SEO. If that statement makes you ask, what is SEO, then keep reading!
What is SEO?
SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. It is the process of optimizing websites and content for Google and other search engines. In today’s digital marketing world, web design and content strategies revolve around SEO. Why is it so important? It’s because SEO helps your website rank on Google.
Ranking on the first page of Google’s search results is essential. People are less likely to visit sites on Google’s second and third pages. Higher Google rankings mean more website visitors.
Google 101
Google’s mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” It organizes information by using two tools: a crawler and an index. The crawler, also called a spider or robot, follows links. Then, it stores those links in an index. Or, in other words, Google’s giant database. This process is part of Google’s algorithm.
Google’s algorithm is secret. Nobody knows the exact methods Google uses to evaluate and rank websites. Fortunately, we do have a pretty good idea. This makes search engine optimization possible.
What goes into SEO?
There are two main parts to SEO. They are on-page factors and off-page factors. On-page factors include the quality of your website and your content. The quality of web code, web design, web copy, internal links, and the use of keywords are on-page factors. Off-page factors include links to your site from outside websites. Outside websites that share links to your site will help you rank higher in Google’s search results.
Holistic SEO
Holistic SEO is the idea of actually being the best result. Google is smart and can tell when a website is trying to cheat the system. There is no shortcut to getting higher rankings in Google. Good technical experience, user experience, flawless website security, and quality content all contribute to search engine optimization.
Applying these factors help website visitors understand your mission. When visitors understand your mission, it builds trust. More trust means lower bounce rates and more social media attention. All in all, these factors contribute to higher rankings and higher conversions.
SEO is an essential part of digital marketing. Ranking on Google will help attract visitors to your website. It will also help increase client conversions. Being the best search result will not only help you rank on Google but build trust from visitors as well.
Not sure where to start? We at Technology Aloha design SEO-friendly websites and create awesome content marketing plans. Contact us today!
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