by brandnestWhat is SEO? A no nonsense guide
What is SEO? And how can it benefit your business?
The question, “What is SEO?” is one our customers ask often. And it’s a topic we’re always happy to talk about, because SEO is a big deal in the world of digital marketing.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is all about boosting your rankings in Google. The higher your web pages rank, the more likely people are to see them, and visit your website.
So, if you’re not sure what SEO is, but you’re keen to attract more website visitors, and make more sales, read on…
Why SEO?
Over 90% of all online searches take place on Google. People use Google to search for solutions to their problems, answers to their questions and suppliers to provide services.
For this reason, Google is regarded as an essential part of the Marketing mix. Many businesses invest a huge amount of their marketing budget in SEO, but don’t understand what’s actually involved in the process. As a result, it’s easy for many agencies to mystify the practice of SEO and overcharge customers.
This is why we, the Brand Nest team, want to give a clear answer to the question, “What is SEO?”. Our hope is that we can provide a simple explanation that will allow business leaders to understand what they’re paying for, and what to expect in return.
What is SEO?
Google displays search results in a page hierarchy, using an automated algorithm. Plainly put, this means that Google ranks each page in its search results based on how useful, relevant and credible that page is.
Bigger brands tend to appear highest in the search results because they offer the most credibility and Google’s algorithm knows they can be trusted.
Google also ranks pages based on the relevance of their content to the user’s search terms. It factors in other aspects of the website such as usability, performance and responsiveness across devices too. All of these combine to determine the order in which web pages appear in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
The higher a web page’s ranking, the better the chance it will be clicked.
So, ideally, every time a prospective customer searches for something your business can offer, a relevant page from your website should appear on Page 1 of the search results. And, through SEO, you can improve your chances of this happening.
How does SEO work?
SEO is the practice of optimising your website pages to appear high up in Google’s SERPs.
It involves a mix of;
- Tagging and naming in your website’s content management system
- Keyword selection so Google returns your pages against relevant search terms
- Linking techniques so your website appears credible to Google’s algorithms
- Implementation of a Content strategy, including landing pages and blogs
- Website performance enhancement as Google rewards websites that work seamlessly across devices
- Customisation of images and photography across your website
SEO isn’t just one thing. It’s a combination of multiple practices which work together to improve your presence in Google.
How much does SEO cost?
This really depends on what you need and who you work with to implement it. SEO is not a one off investment. Instead, it’s an ongoing commitment of tweaks and enhancements to ensure your website remains prominent.
More important than the cost of SEO is the measurements of success. If you work with an SEO expert, they should be able to share the impact of their work through monthly reporting. The reporting should show;
- improvement in your Google rankings across relevant keywords and website pages
- increase in organic traffic to your website (this means visitors who found you via unpaid Google searches)
- site performance like load speed, which can impact your Google rankings too
Most SEO providers start with a free site audit to identify any areas that need improvement.
Getting started
Before you embark on your SEO journey, you’ll need to make sure your website is set up so Google can find it. Some businesses have a traditional ‘hard coded’ website, which requires a developer to make any changes. This can be restrictive, because it means you need to pay a developer’s day rate to make even simple changes. And it makes it more difficult to implement the incremental tweaks and enhancements required for SEO benefit.
For this reason, it might be time to consider upgrading your website to a newer platform. Ideally this should include access to a content management system where you can login and make changes to the back-end (e.g. SEO fields, tags and titles) and the front-end (images and content).
At Brand Nest, we build our customers’ websites in WordPress because it offers the best value and functionality. Plus, the content management system is easy to use.
We offer full training on WordPress so you can manage your website and make changes with ease. We can also talk you through the basics of SEO so your website will appear prominently in Google.
Get in touch for a website quote today!