SEO stands for search engine optimization. Without any context, that word probably means nothing to you.
First, SEO helps your organic or unpaid search results. This means that you aren’t paying to have your website appear at the top of search results. Second, SEO optimizes your site to reach more of an audience with specific key terms. These key terms relate to what people type into their search bar to find what they are looking for. Lastly, SEO is the most impactful to maintaining a higher ranking. To explain, it is an investment that sticks. Search engine optimization doesn’t go away like ads do. It is the most effective way in which your website can gain rankings.
Why is SEO important?
SEO is important if you want to see your website on the first page of search results. Anytime you type something into Google or any other search engine, it returns a list of links. Depending on what you’re searching for, chances are there they are going to be a list of businesses in the area. For example, if Bob needed a website for his small business in Cold Lake, he might search “web design in cold lake”. All the businesses that fit that search will be on his search results. Of course, being on the first page gets you the most attention. Most importantly, if you’re not on the first page of search results, you’re missing out on 95% of the market.
How you can improve your ranking with SEO
To improve your ranking includes a variety of SEO factors. To separate them, there are off-page and on-page factors. Each can help you improve your search engine ranking.
On-Page Factors
At AB Web we pay close attention to the on-page factors of SEO. The most important factor being quality content. Getting people to visit your website is making sure you’re providing them with what they need. To do so, the content on your website is well-written and not spammed with key terms. Essentially, the content has to make sense. In fact, Google will penalize your website if you’re stuffing key terms into your web content.
Another on-page factor is site structure. Are your services easy to find? Or does your menu make sense? A proper site structure makes it easy for people to navigate through your website. Not only that but Google rewards websites with an excellent site structure. A website that is hard to navigate increases the bounce rate. In other words, people will leave your website fast.
Off-Page Factors
Some off-page factors include social media and trusted backlinks. Social media not only helps build a connection to your audience but assists with SEO as well. Every time someone shares a Facebook post with a link to your website can help improve your ranking. This isn’t limited to Facebook, this could be any of your social media accounts. What’s important is that you’re using social media that best suits your business.
As for backlinks, these are links that come from other trusted sites. For instance, if your website is listed on a popular directory, it could increase your ranking. A perfect example of this would be if you had your website listed under services on Infomall (a popular directory in the Lakeland). Infomall is a trusted website used by hundreds of people in the Lakeland. Because the backlink comes from a trusted website, Google looks at this as a good thing. The opposite would be to include backlinks on a website with spam. So websites that aren’t trusted.
In summary, one page and off-page factors relate to trust. Visitors trust a website with a great site structure because it makes sense. Also, if your website isn’t on suspicious websites. Google always awards trustworthy sites. We don’t know how it’s calculated (they are very secretive about that) but we know how to improve it. Proper SEO will always put the visitors perspective into view.
Get started with one of our SEO Packages
Looking at getting your website ranked higher on Google? Have a look at our basic or advanced SEO packages. We got our SEO professionals to help you out with any questions you might have.
