Even if you aren’t directly involved in digital marketing, you have probably heard the term SEO. But what does it really mean and how can you leverage it for your business?
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is basically the process companies use to get traffic to their sites from search engine results like Google and Yahoo. This can benefit a business greatly, especially since this is considered “free” traffic and it doesn’t cost a thing!
Taking it a step further, SEO keywords are the words or phrases included in your website that will draw people in by searching on search engines. When your site contains the keywords people use when searching, it helps connect them to your site. Remember, search engines like Google want to provide people with the “best” and most relevant results. Therefore, it’s important that the keywords or phrases are relevant to what your site is offering so that you are attracting the right audience.
Search engines crawl and index everything on the Internet. This is how they find what you are searching for and this is where SEO keywords come into play. The more relevant and repetitive the keywords are in your site’s content, the higher your site will appear is search engine results. This will get your site more traffic and since it is being ranked at the top of the search results, more people will find your site trustworthy.
SEO Fact: Did you know that 60% of people will never look past the top 3 results on page 1? It’s true, and is a great reason to take your SEO efforts seriously.
Some SEO Basics
Since SEO keywords play a large part in attracting free traffic, it is something your company will want to take advantage of and there are some easy tricks that can help you. Make sure to always pay attention to spelling, punctuation, capitalization and even word order. All of these are taken into consideration when search engines are searching for the right content. So also remember to be detailed, repetitive and consistent. All of this will help with where your website will rank in search results.
Curious to know where your site ranks for a certain keyword? Check out this free tool by SERP.
How to Get the “right” Traffic
You can also use keywords to help you target traffic in a specific area. If you’re a local business for example, it’s important that you get customers in your general vicinity. Therefore, you can add your city to your exisiting keywords to help gather more traffic in your area. We’ve helped several companies gain more traffic in Phoenix and surrounding cities doing just that. Why? Because a visit to a local business site from someone hundreds of miles away, is typically a waste of time for everyone.
It’s also critical that you use your keywords in texts, titles and metadata. But make sure to do it naturally and strategically, never be irrelevant. The more specific you are with your keywords, the more your chances will improve on being ranked high and gaining more traffic.
SEO Fact: As you apply keywords to your site, make sure that it still flows well and is readable for humans. Over application of keywords can make it hard for your audience to stay engaged.
What to do Next
Getting ranked higher in search results can be as simple as applying the basics mentioned above. Luckily, it is pretty easy as long as you know the keywords your target audience uses when searching, and you remember to be relevant and consistent.
SEO Tip: If you don’t know the keywords your customers use to find you online, just ask them and they will tell you.
Want to learn more about SEO? Here you can find more great information and free resources to help you boost your rankings and increase traffic. Enjoy!
Lean Digital Systems is an seo company serving the phoenix area as well as nationally.
