Organic SEO: What is it and why you should care
Most people no longer use print media to find products. Instead, they rely on search engines to find relevant information used to research and to purchase products and services. 75% of internet search users never click past the first page of a Google search. With that being said, are you being found?
With over 243 million internet-users in the United States alone,
92% of whom make frequent use of search engines - if your company doesn't appear on the first page of a search, you essentially don't exist. Can your business afford not to be found?
A basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy can help you move up the search rankings.
What is SEO?
It all starts with keyword research. Knowing what are words or phrases are relavent and have high traffic. SEO is creating quality websites with great content. Basically that's what search engines want - websites created for people, not for search engines.
SEO can be described as the steps you take to improve your website's traffic in natural or organic search results. It involves a combination of reasoning and creativity to help your company's website gain visibility and to be found. It is both an art and a science.
Items on your site or blog - quality content, site architecture, links - all provide clues to the focus of your website and your company's services and products. Your website is crawled by a search engine and the information (or lack of) is stored to be retrieved later. This results in a database of billions of pages. When someone performs a search, the engines work to match this vast index of websites with the words typed into the search box. Results are then displayed from the most relevant website to the worst.
When working to increase your rankings, be sure you utilize "White Hat" or ethical SEO practices. It uses SEO techniques that search engines widely accept, encourage, and reward. Successful White Hat SEO is slower, time consuming and is a continual, ongoing process. It is sometimes referred to as 'doing it the hard way'. Providing high-quality, unique content, effective keyword usage, proper titles and inbound links are all critical. One of the many benefits of White Hat SEO is the longevity of the positive efforts.
Search engines are increasingly more sophisticated - they know where you are, what sites you have visited, and profile you based on your search and surfing patterns. Sound big brother-like, doesn't it? The continually changing criteria that search engines use makes it all the more important to keep up-to-date. SEO techniques are constantly changing as search algorithms change for connecting searchers with the information they're looking for.
If you are considering a SEO firm to manage your online visibility, make sure it someone who understands the steps needed to update your SEO program on a continual basis. Someone with your best interests in mind, not theirs. Understand that there are no guarantees when it comes to SEO. Anyone who promises you a specific rank in an organic search engine result is full of it! No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.
