If you’re like most businesses, your main goal is to attract new customers. This means you need to find people or businesses that are interested in what you offer.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is all about making your website more visible and higher up in search engine results. The goal is to boost organic traffic to your site, which makes it more likely that potential customers will discover your business.
Plus, SEO is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your company!
What is search engine optimization (SEO)?
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a technique that helps your website show up higher in online searches, which drives more organic (non-paid) traffic to your site.
There are several techniques involved in SEO to boost your website’s performance, including:
Keyword Research
It all starts with finding the right keywords and phrases that people might use when looking for information about your website’s content or services.
Web Page Analysis and Optimization
You need to make sure your web pages include important elements like title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and content that naturally feature your target keywords. Your content should also be high-quality, informative, easy to read, and shareable.
Internal and External Link-Building
Getting high-quality backlinks from trusted sources is crucial for SEO success. Search engines see these backlinks as a vote of confidence in your site’s credibility. Just one good backlink can boost your traffic as much as several low-quality ones.
Buying links isn’t recommended. Instead, link to sites where your readers can find valuable content. This is usually not the case with purchased links.
Internal linking is also important because it improves the user experience on your site, spreads authority across your pages, and helps organize your website.
Technical Optimization
To rank well in search results, your website should be mobile-friendly, secure (using HTTPS), and use header tags correctly. It also needs to load quickly for users.
Local SEO
If you’re targeting local customers, it’s essential to optimize for local search. This includes creating a Google My Business profile, getting online reviews, and making sure your business information is consistent across online directories.
At its core, SEO is all about making your website relevant and attractive to search engines like Google, Yahoo!, or Bing. In fact, Google is the most popular search engine, handling about 92.4% of all internet queries as of April 2023, according to Statista.
“A lot of searches are questions about how to do something,” says Jean-François Monfette, a digital marketing specialist at BDC. “Users want answers, and search engines aim to provide helpful content. If you offer the most relevant and useful information, you’re more likely to land at the top of the results page.”
Monfette also emphasizes that it’s crucial to deliver on what you promise.
“If you say you’ll answer a how-to question, you need to actually do it. When readers finish your article or video, they should know how to achieve what they were looking to do.”
How does SEO work?
Search engine optimization (SEO) takes advantage of how search engines find, organize, and show information on the internet.
Search engines use web crawlers to scan the web for the most relevant information based on what someone types into the search bar.
There’s also a human touch to this process. For instance, Google employs third-party Search Quality Raters to help improve search results.
Google and other search engines decide which websites best answer user queries by looking at how thoroughly and authoritatively the topic is covered. They check for keywords and related subjects in the page content, headings, URLs, and back-end descriptions.
Other factors that can influence your page’s search rankings include the relevance of images and videos on your pages, credible sites linking to your content, how user-friendly your site is, and how quickly your pages load.
Why use SEO?
SEO is a crucial part of marketing your products or services. It helps your website rank higher in search results, making it more likely that potential customers will click on your link and visit your site.
Depending on the keywords you choose and the results you achieve, SEO can be cheaper than paid search ads for bringing people to your website. Plus, optimizing your page speed, using clear calls to action, and ensuring your site looks great on all devices can boost your conversion rates.
SEO also helps people get to know your brand. If your site is easy to find, customers are more likely to engage with it. Websites that rank high in organic searches often come across as more trustworthy.
“You need to align your website with what potential customers are searching for. You want to offer helpful information. If they have a problem, you should provide a solution,” says Monfette.
By discovering the terms and questions your clients are searching for, you can understand the challenges they face and what they value.
What is EEAT?
EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It’s really important for figuring out how well your website will rank in search engine results.
EEAT matters a lot in fields where having the right knowledge is crucial, like medical or financial topics. You can show your expertise and experience by including author bios and credentials. You can build your authoritativeness with valuable backlinks and show your trustworthiness through clear sourcing and accurate information. Adding user reviews or testimonials on third-party sites can also help establish trust.
Search engines favor websites that regularly post about specific topics and provide fresh information. By posting consistently on subjects related to your field, you can improve your ranking and boost what’s called your domain authority.
“To have domain authority, you need to show expertise in your area,” says Monfette. He adds that Google considers this along with the experience, authority, and trustworthiness we talked about.
Websites from government, universities, and reputable media sources usually have strong EEAT because they publish reliable information, research, and articles on many topics.
“Stick to what you know,” says Monfette. He encourages you to dive deeper into your subject to build a solid EEAT.
Examples of good SEO
Here are some examples of how five companies figured out what their potential customers might search for on Google.
In the first column, you’ll see the company’s industry; the second column shows a popular question people ask; and the third column explains what each business created to rank number one for that question.
| Business | Popular Question | What They Created to Rank High |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen countertop maker | Are marble countertops still in? | An article about the top countertop trends for the year |
| Cosmetics company | Which lipstick color is best for dark skin? | An FAQ section that answers questions about lipstick shades for different skin tones |
| Manufacturer of temperature-controlled trucks | Does a refrigerated van use more fuel? | A blog titled “How economical is it to run a fridge van?” |
| Industrial lighting manufacturer | What voltage are stadium lights? | A blog called “8 Factors to Consider About LED Stadium Lights” |
| Data management service | How do I create a network disaster recovery plan? | A step-by-step guide to making a disaster recovery plan |
As you can see from the table, search engine results might not always match the exact questions asked.
For example, when someone searches for “Are marble countertops still in?” Google might think they’re interested in trends. Similarly, if someone asks, “Does a refrigerated van use more fuel?” the top-ranking answer might be more general, focusing on the overall costs of running refrigerated vans.
How much does SEO cost?
SEO doesn’t cost money in the same way that paid ads do, but you will need to invest time and resources to analyze, create, and carry out an effective SEO strategy. Plus, it can take a while before you start seeing results.
While you can do a lot of this work yourself, many business owners choose to hire someone internally or team up with an outside agency to make the most of their time.
David Girolami, a Senior Business Advisor at BDC Advisory Services, estimates that if you hire a firm or consultant, you should budget around $3,500 a month and plan to stick with it for at least six months to see meaningful results. If you decide to hire an individual SEO specialist, expect to pay about $75 to $100 an hour and commit to at least three months of work.
SEO vs Paid Search
Monfette points out that some business owners prefer to spend their money on pay-per-click advertising. While this can bring in new visitors, he warns that you have to keep paying for it to work.
“As soon as you stop paying, the results stop coming,” he says. “With SEO, you invest time and resources upfront, but the results can last a long time.” He also notes that pay-per-click rates can be higher in more competitive industries.
However, some search terms are so popular that getting a high ranking with SEO can be really tough, even if you put in the effort. In those cases, you might have to pay to get noticed.
Monfette advises checking your results regularly to see if your investment is paying off in terms of organic traffic or pay-per-click results.
Also Read: Creating a Social Media Content Calendar
How to track and measure SEO
Don’t expect a rush of visitors to your site right away. Monfette emphasizes that a long-term approach to SEO is crucial.
“Great results take time. You can write something new and not see any impact for six months,” he explains.
Monfette recommends keeping track of your progress. There are various web analytics tools that can help you see how your website is doing compared to your competitors.
Start with Google Search Console, which lets you check if your pages are appearing in search results. It shows how many times your pages were displayed (called impressions) and how many clicks they received. (Impressions are the number of times your pages show up in search results, while clicks are how many times people clicked on your link to visit your site.) It also tells you your ranking position for different queries.
“Finding out if your content is gaining traction is really helpful,” Monfette says, adding that Bing has a similar tool called Bing Webmaster Tools.
Digital analytics software can show you things like:
- Whether search engines are sending visitors to your website
- How long people stay on your site, your bounce rate, and how many pages they visit
- An overview of your traffic sources and comparisons.
Tracking conversions is another important way to measure your impact. For instance, you’ll want to see if visitors fill out contact forms, subscribe to newsletters, or download key content. If those numbers are low, you can optimize your website to improve them.
Remember, visitors often need several interactions with your brand before they convert into leads, and SEO traffic is one of those interactions.
Your SEO content will attract visitors at different stages of the marketing funnel, each with different conversion points. A successful visit from someone at the top of the funnel will look different from one at the bottom.
Understanding the customer journey for both users and your business is essential for creating effective SEO reports.
