Business Dictionary

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your website so that more of the customers you want to attract will read your content.

When SEO is done well then search engines like Google will rank the pages from your website higher than the pages of your competitor’s websites.

The advantage of this is obvious because it means that when a customer types in a search query for the types of products and services you provide, then the pages from your website will appear closer to the top of the search results. When this happens then it is more likely that the customer you want to show off to will find your page first.

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Google’s 200 SEO Factors

If you want your website pages to rank higher on search engines like Google, it’s worth getting to know the Google 200 SEO Factors (Backlinko and Hubspot have excellent resource to help you get started with this).

While there are obviously many factors that Google uses, there are three main areas to consider:

Off-Page Ranking Factors

For example, when another website publishes a link that goes directly to your website

On-Page Ranking Factors

For example, what is the quality level of the content that you’re putting on your website.

Technical Ranking Factors including:

Page speed, as in, how fast does your website load?
Keyword targeting, as in, does your content contain words and phrases that your customers are typing in to the search engines?
Mobile friendly, as in, does your website look great on phones?
Internal links, as in, does one piece of content lead to the next so the customer can get even more great information?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Example

Let’s say you have an online business that sells hats, and you want more customers to find your website so that you can make more sales. To do this you have to improve your website by doing search engine optimization which may include the following steps.

Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

For example, when somebody looks at your website on their phone are the images easy to see? Is the text easy to read? When it comes to creating a great mobile experience for your customers there are many things to do. But keep in mind that most searches are done on mobile phones, not desktops, so in the end your SEO efforts will pay off.

Page Speed

How long does it take for your website to load? Because if your website isn’t loading in less than 2 seconds, then your competition is going to eat you for lunch.

Security

Make your website secure. If your customer will be buying hats from your website, he has to know his personal information such as his credit card details is safe. The way to know your website is secure is to check for a locked padlock sign at the top left corner of your website address bar.

High Quality Content

Think about it, if you give the best answer, then your customer will really enjoy reading your content. That’s why search engines like Google will rank high quality content higher in the search results. You should also note that your content should be free of grammar and spelling errors (check out services like Grammarly to get help in this area) –

Appropriate Keywords

Use appropriate keywords. Your potential customers expect use specific phrases when searching for solution or information relating to your business. This is why you need to know the exact words and phrases they are typing into Google to find you – so that when your customer types in ‘best hats’ that your page about that topic comes up 1^st.

Make The Investment

So if you want more customers to visit your website and then SEO is one good tactic you should incorporate into your business strategy so you can get organic traffic that will reach the right people, so they ultimately buy more of your products and services.