How Can SEO Help Your Business?

By doing a quick search of the term “best restaurant” in Google you can clearly see that the world famous Zagat restaurant reviewer appears at the top of the list. This is not by accident. Zagat achieved the top Google spot by using SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

SEO is a combination of techniques used by internet marketers to help sites rank higher in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. These high rankings are highly desirable because searchers are more likely to click on the first results that are listed. Everyone knows that increased traffic can result in increased profits.

So how can SEO help your business to rank higher in the search engines?

First, a little more explanation about what SEO is and isn’t. Rankings from SEO are considered organic in that you don’t have to pay for them like other ranking methods. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and ad networks are just two examples of pay methods to garner rankings. However, these results appear in different areas than organic or natural results. Appearing first in the natural results is arguably the best spot on Google’s coveted “first page.”

Ranking determinations are the result of Google, or other search engines, finding the content you offer directly on your website and hearing about this content from other websites. Every minute of every day, search engines send out what are called “spiders” to search through websites and locate new and different content. They identify main topics of pages and posts through keywords. Keywords are words or phrases show up multiple times in your content.

They also look to see how many other websites are linked back to your site. These are called backlinks. If you visit a busy forum or message board and leave a comment with a link to your site, this is considered a backlink. Keywords are important for backlinks as well as your website content.

Understanding this process, you can then begin to target certain keywords and keyword phrases that maybe other businesses haven’t considered or haven’t found yet. Right off the bat you probably wouldn’t want to try to rank for the keyword phrase “best lawyer” as that would take a great deal of time and money. Imagine how many other attorneys are competing for that phrase already!

However, if you found that the keyword “best divorce lawyer in South Carolina” had decent traffic and low competition, it might be one you would decide to target. Going after these narrow phrases can bring you targeted visitors that are searching for exactly what you offer. So how can you determine which keywords have traffic or competition?

By using Google keyword tool or a similar tool, you can research keywords to come up with many options for your particular business. Start with main keywords and look for the suggestions that appear in the results. Is there another word you can add to your search to find an even better keyword phrase?

Keyword research and SEO can be difficult concepts to understand initially and not something that an inexperienced marketer should attempt on their own. Even seasoned online marketers struggle to figure out Google’s infamous algorithm which changes every day.

Unfortunately, some mistakes with internet marketing cannot be undone.  Therefore, it is very important to use a successful SEO marketing company like Local-One for all of your internet needs.