SEO is about strategies, techniques and tactics used to increase a website’s ranking in search engines, which in turn increases the number of visitors to that website. These search engines include Google, Yahoo, Bing and others. The ultimate business goal of good SEO is to increase your overall brand awareness, customer base, and of course profits — all by improving your website’s ranking.
It’s About Organic Searches
SEO is centered around “organic” search results. These are the results that appear in the main part of the page when a user types a group of terms in the box and clicks “Search”. This does not include the paid results that show up at the top and right side of the search page, such as Google Ads. To rank well for search terms relevant to your business, knowledge of how search engines work is essential. You also need to know which words or phrases people use to search for your products or services. Researching these search terms or keywords determine which ones will become part of your site’s content and coding.
The Importance of Quality Content
Another key aspect of SEO is having high-quality, keyword-rich content on every page of your website. Because many websites today are doing all of the right things for good SEO, what will separate one company from another in the same industry is quality content.
Content Marketing Defined
According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is a “strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
They add that the “essence of content strategy is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.” Some examples of content marketing including having a Blog Series, offering E-Books, Micro-sites, Educational Video Series, Special Apps, Podcasts, Free Guides, Email Campaigns, eNewsletters, Articles, Webcasts and more.
Hiring a SEO Company
Based on our experience, the ideal time to hire a SEO company is when you’re about to launch a brand new site for a new business, or you are planning a website redesign for an existing one. This way, you can be assured that your site is search engine friendly and fully coordinated from the bottom up. However, if you want the best return for your marketing dollar, there really is no bad time to a talented SEO professional.