SEO is an acronym that undoubtedly you’ve heard over and over again. It stands for Search Engine Optimization. Although it sounds like a bunch of marketing jargon, SEO is vital to the internet presence of any business. SEO affects your placement, as in what page and where on that page you will appear when someone uses a search engine. Just having a website is not enough to catch a new customer’s attention. If you’re not one of the first options on the page, or not even on the first page of a search, then the likelihood becomes drastically slim. Following the best SEO practices will raise your placement on those searches.
Why is SEO so Difficult?
The biggest problem with SEO is that it’s an ever-changing, nebulous concept. Google, for instance, is constantly updating its search engine to prioritize more and more specific information. The current algorithm is named Hummingbird, so-called because of its speed and accuracy in regards to searches. When someone does a google search, what appears are links that have been indexed by Google under applicable categories. Whether or not your website appears is dependent on whether the content of your site is tagged under that category and relevant search terms. Keywords used to be one of the best ways to improve SEO, but now the algorithm not only looks for those words but also the context in which they are used. That means your content needs to be unique and well thought out as well as relevant.
Why is SEO Important?
As mentioned before, SEO decides on your rank in a search. One thing that people new to SEO occasionally have trouble understanding is that even in a search that is your business’s name if you haven’t implemented proper SEO, you’re not guaranteed to be one of the top searches. Considering 73% of people don’t move past the first search result, you want to make sure that your website has the best chance possible to grab their attention. Through SEO you can promote your website and increase sales in a way that doesn’t feel like an advertisement to the consumer.
What are the Best Practices Right Now?
At the time of writing this blog post, the best practices are fairly simple. You need to make the content on your website relevant and unique. Copy-pasting blog posts or articles from other sites is—not only unprofessional—it’s also easy for the algorithm to spot. Not only does your content need to be distinctive, but you also need to add content on a regular basis. The algorithm preferences websites that do this. Another important aspect to keep in mind is that loading times on your website affect your rank. Google puts websites with faster loading times higher on the page than those that are slower. Faster loading times will also help with another factor of SEO, which is engagement. The more people engage with your website, the more the algorithm will notice you.
Conclusion
SEO is both one of the most important and confusing things to deal with when you have a website. Although the premise of keeping a consistent schedule of imaginative content sounds as though it wouldn’t be too difficult, the constant upkeep can be a frustrating downside. That’s why so many businesses rely on SEO experts to keep their websites relevant and in the public eye. At ScannedMedia, our focus is to create content that is not only unique but also branded specifically to you. That way, not only will your search rank increase, but you’ll leave a positive memorable impression on those who visit your website.