Search Engine Optimization (SEO) allows you to place your services in front of people who are searching for them on the internet. It’s seems very abstract – that the internet can catalog so much data and magically know who feed it to—but it’s actually fairly scientific, and artful and…hard.
The key to ranking high on Google or Bing boils down to having killer content. Although adhering to any given search engine’s definition of “good content” is easy enough to understand, it’s less easy to execute because you need access to someone who can string a coherent sentence together, and let’s be honest, that is becoming increasingly rare. In general, executing “good SEO” requires a meticulous content developer and strategist to map pages, account for page titles and back links and still create gripping experience that’s easy to understand.
How SEO Works
Search Engines have a crawler that retrieves information every piece of content imaginable on the internet. Then, all that data is swept by an algorithm that attempts to match data with the appropriate query. There’s a lot that goes into this algorithm, including keyword agnostic features, domain level keyword usage, social metrics, traffic, brand mentions, keyword content features, link features and link authority features (links to your site from 3rd parties). All of these whizbang metrics factor into whether or not a search engine deems your content valuable. Remember, the search engine’s primary product is the results page…so they want to serve up the best content for every search.
What Good SEO Produces
The goal of any SEO project is to receive a page one rank on a search engine. Because 93% of all online activity comes from search engines AND 75% of users never click past the first page, topping the charts is of utmost importance. This is the goal of any given SEO project– to make your services visible.
SEO Is Not an Exact Science
Because the algorithms for determining valuable content are always shifting, SEO is not an exact science. However, at the end of the day, it’s very safe to say that the content on your website should be usable, understandable and easy to navigate. Ultimately, creating a good experience for the person finding you online and navigating your site and services is what constitutes “good SEO.”
What SEO Agency Services Provide
Working with SEO experts, you can expect them to thoroughly research your services and come up with high ranking keywords closely related to them. Then, a skilled writer who can accurately describe your services while optimizing for the appropriate keywords will create as much content as needed (the more the better). Finally, you can expect a web developer to consistently provide metrics that reveal which pages are successful (low bounce rate) and which need to be reconsidered. Low ranking pages should be edited for clarity and keyword strategy.
Good SEO Doesn’t Happen Overnight
After your site has launched with its fresh SEO strategy, don’t expect to see yourself on page one right away. That’s right – jumping to the front of Google’s results usually takes between 90-180 days, depending on the competitiveness of your industry and popularity of your keywords.
SEO Strategy Is Necessary
If you’re looking at your site analytics wondering, why is no one visiting me, then it’s time to rethink your SEO strategy. If you’d like to work with a team who can provide a holistic marketing strategy, website expertise and killer content, contact Access Marketing Company today.
