Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an effective way to increase the visibility of your brand or products or services.
Because it enables you to know what your customers want and helps you to position your products and services to customers on the search result page.
At its most basic, SEO is the process that makes web pages appear in search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo just to name the major ones - there are many other search engines you may want to know.
Industry jargons
There are many acronyms in digital marketing that may want to confuse you - and "SEO" is one of them.
Looking at the acronym, one thing is clear which is - you're optimizing search engines.
But in reality, no one optimizes the search engines, instead, you optimize your website so that it enhances its chances of featuring on the search result page.
I know this may be confusing to newbies, but if the acronym is to go by…….it means you're optimizing Google, Yahoo or Bing. But that's not it.
Don't get caught up in the "SEO" thing.
One more thing which you'll frequently come across is….
- An SEO: An SEO is someone who practices or whose job is search engines optimization
- SEOs: SEOs means group of 'an SEO'
- seoing: Seoing simply means the process of doing SEO.
The role of an SEO
The job of an SEO is to enhance and improve the visibility of your website in organic search results and drive relevant traffic to the targeted web pages.
Why is SEO necessary?
SEO is the most cost-effective way of making your products and services known to potential customers.
People turn to search engines on a daily basis looking for solutions to their challenges. And your products or services might just be an answer to what they're looking for.
Each day, Bing and Yahoo receive over 200 million searches and on Google, it's a different case entirely as there are over 3.8 billion searches per day.
Earlier on, I defined SEO at its most basic…. right?
Now, let's take a step further to see how it can get complex.
Search engines optimization at its most complex is about managing the programming, content, visibility and overall success of a website.
This complex nature of SEO is why we have many areas of speciality:
- Technical SEO
- SEO content writing
- On-page optimization
- Off-page Optimization (Link Building)
It's not surprising to see some SEO focusing on one aspect or the other. Although, many SEOs have skilled themselves in all areas.
But it's a matter of the 'T' theory - the breadth of understanding and depth of knowledge.
When starting with SEO, it's good to focus on one aspect at a time while developing in other areas.
Again,...
These aren't rocket science, if you stick around with my posts, you will be able to understand all of these aspects that make a complete SEO.
I will assume that you're either reading my post to find solutions to your website visibility or learning to acquire the skill. Whichever one, you're in the right place!
Skills developed from SEO are applicable to paid search, content development,
and social media marketing and analytics.
Surprised?
Search Engine Optimization is a core activity that extends to all other digital channels.
And like I said earlier, it is the primary way that visitors can find your website.
Let me explain this…
Paid Search
When it comes to paid search, you need knowledge of keywords - how to analyze and optimize and strategically place them in the ad copy. SEO teaches you everything to know about keywords, and I'm going to show you how it works.
But for now, take it as …simply the words or phrases you type into the search bar in Google or Yahoo when you're looking for something in mind.
Content development
Content powers the world of information. Content is king! I'm sure you must have done some searches on Google in the past. In fact, a few moments ago, before you landed here - reading this...you catch what I mean?
Now, those results that appear below the search bar - and what you're reading now is possible because I have done the SEO. And that's why you could find this content on the search engine result page (SERP) and land on my website.
Let's take a look at social media and analytics…how does SEO play into this?
Social Media Marketing
All search engines, most especially Bing, use social signals to present their searchers with the necessary information - meaning, information on your social media platforms can act as means to strengthen your online presence (visibility).
How?
By optimizing the content ( the about me and descriptions on your personal profiles, pages and groups) for search engines to easily pick them up.
After all, your market on social media to draw attention to your products, and now search engines are helping you present your brand across channels.
That sounds like a plus, right?
Now, let's take a look at analytics, but you'll have to do me a favour here….
Ask any SEO practitioner you know how they got to know about web analytics, even to the extent of taking a full-time project or role in digital analytics. What answer do you get?
In the early days of Google, when social media has not become popular, most web or digital analysts started with SEO - Avinash Kaushik is one.
When you take up an SEO project, you'll want to track changes and progress on your website or on the client's website. And this introduces you to the knowledge of digital analytics, which you can further improve if you find it interesting.
More on that later in our subsequent posts.
Does that look like a digression? Well! I just want you to pick something worth your time.
Here's what you have been waiting to hear…
How Does SEO Benefit My Business?
SEO helps drive traffic and increase visitors to your website.
The more traffic the more people will get to know about your products and services. And the higher the conversion rate towards your desired outcome.
These potential customers (which you can't afford to lose) are ready to commit their loyalty to your brand - even helping you bring more customers in.
Customers acquired through organic search in this way, have a lifetime value that is 54% higher than average compared to Twitter which has a lifetime value that is 23% lower than average lifetime value.
This means it's important to optimize your web pages on search engines to feature on top because higher rankings give you better chances of getting hundreds or thousands of clicks to your website every day.
SEO is an opportunity to develop and promote your business and generate fast revenue.
Take a look at this traffic report between 2016 and 2017.
Here, you'll see how the organic traffic grew from almost 0 to nearly 120,000 in less than a year. And increased revenues for the site.
The Beauty in SEO
- Result is long-lasting
- It's strategy is cost-effective
- Return on investment (RoI) is predictable
If you're not yet using SEO for your business, the best time was yesterday but the second-best time is today. Start now!
Include it in your strategy.
How much does it cost to implement SEO
To get started with SEO, you need tools - software.
Good news...
There are lots of free tools to get you started - you can even use them to develop your skills. And with these free tools, you can do basic SEO implementation without spending a dime.
But free tools ain't features riched.
My advice is to invest in tools that can get you better and faster results - remember you're not alone in your niche. If you want to get your hands on it, consider subscribing to paid tools such as:
Or, you can skip paying for some heavy subscription and hire an SEO instead. They have these tools in their arsenal to help you launch a massive "attack" on your competitors.
Either way, any of these 3 tools will give you a massive return on investment. My Agency uses SEOpowersuite and you can do everything within it as long as it's SEO.
How long do I need to wait to see the result?
You might have come across articles or heard from someone that you don't get to see results until after 6 months.
Well, maybe that's what it used to be those days when I haven't started SEO.
But, frankly speaking, the result can be a matter of weeks - in 4-8 weeks, if you're already an established brand. You can even see results in the first few weeks if you're ranking for an old website.
However, it's important to note that there are factors that play into how quickly you see results. And it can take months for a newly launched website.
Factors that most affect SEO results
- Niche competitiveness
- Keywords usage
- Domain age and records
- Geographical location
The difficult levels of any of these, most especially, keywords that you're trying to rank for, will determine how quickly results show up on SERP.
So, when doing SEO, be guided and study and understand your niche.
Summing it up
Search engines increase the visibility of your website.
It is the primary gateway for visitors to find you.
SEO can 3x if not 5x your conversion rate.
Search Engine Optimization is a core activity that extends to all other digital marketing channels.
The skills you acquired from SEO can be integrated into any other digital marketing discipline.
Including SEO in your marketing strategy is no longer a choice. It's a must!
Now, I'm sure you know the definition of SEO, its importance and its benefits including what makes it interesting - the beauty of SEO.
I think it's time you learned about the first 2 words from that acronym - the Search Engine -what it is and how it works.