Search engine optimization is more commonly known as its acronym SEO. Optimization is the basis of all SEO practices. Once your brand’s presence (website, content and social media platforms) is optimized across the internet, you increase its online visibility. Your website will find its way to the first page of the search engine results pages (SERPs). Your online customers will find your business much quicker too.

SEO is the practice of making changes to your online presence, particularly your website, making it more attractive to search engines like Google and Bing. Search engines crawl (or scan) your website to understand what it is about. The best SEO practices make sure it is easy for search engines to understand your website. SEO increases the quantity of organic website traffic and the quality of your site visitors at no additional cost. It doesn’t include any paid media or placement and it excludes direct traffic. With a robust SEO strategy implemented on your website, Google will identify it as an authority site and point users in your site’s direction.

There are subtle differences between the various search engines. However, you can usually focus on Google in your SEO strategy, since most of your target market will make use of this leading search engine. Also, the majority of organic traffic is from Google.

It’s advisable to employ an experienced SEO agency or expert and this cost should be included in your marketing budget. The amount you should expect to pay is aligned to the scope of work needed to ensure success. A digital agency or SEO expert will charge after considering the project scope and once you have presented your predetermined expectations. The average hourly rate of employing an agency or SEO expert is approximately $150 per hour.

Yes, you can – it takes a bit of know-how and learning by trial and error, but it’s possible to implement a basic SEO strategy across your website. However, SEO is time-consuming and to do it properly you need to consider both technical SEO and on-page SEO. What’s more, you will need to keep up-to-date with the algorithms’ changes to the various search engines.

There are three factors that directly impact your SEO ranking, even if you’ve only implemented a very basic search strategy on your site. The factors to be aware of are:

Page Load Time — If your website loads too slowly your visitors will bounce and likely go to a competitor’s website. Google (and all search engines) will rank your website lower because of a slow page load time. This is something to pay close attention as we draw closer to the major update confirmed by Google. The Core Web Vitals update in March 2021 will focus on three aspects that directly — and dramatically — impact user experience on your site. Page load time features in this update and is paramount to securing your ranking or reaching the top of the SERPs.

Keyword Selection — Your keywords must be carefully chosen so your website and pages are listed under the correct search terms your ideal customer is looking for.

Content Creation — If you create quality content on your website your audience will find your site quickly, easily and will stay on your site to learn more. This increases dwell time which boosts rankings on search engines.

Blogging helps to boost your SEO strategy across your site but only if crafted with optimization in mind. Search engines are looking for the content on your website that will sufficiently answer users’ questions. So, by creating and sharing high-quality and in-depth blogs that address pertinent topics within your industry, you’re likely to be identified as an authority source of the searched topic. With on-page SEO tactics, search engines will find your blog more easily.

SEO and pay-per-click or other paid media options work together to boost your website and position your brand as an authority in your industry or niche. SEO often gives you a far better return on your investment by comparison to paid media options. That’s not to say that SEO is cheap and easy; it takes a fair amount of time and resources to get it right but it’s long-term rewards are immense and sustainable. Most times, SEO and paid advertising will work together to provide the best results.

This is entirely dependent on your goals and the search campaign tactics you employ. Most SEO experts will estimate four to six months before you begin to see results. Bear in mind this is when you begin to see the results not when you achieve your identified goals.

SEO is a multifaceted practice that requires many different actions to be taken on a website for it to be optimized for search. Many people correlate SEO with high-quality content as search algorithms have highlighted content as an important ranking factor. Algorithms are looking for content that answers the users’ search intent. If your content speaks directly to your audience, your website will be served up to users by Google. But content alone isn’t good SEO practice. You need links from authoritative external sites pointing to your site in the form of a backlink and these external sites need to have a good domain authority score.

Also, best practice entails full blown on-page optimization which means optimizing your meta content, images and tags. And then, consider the technical aspect of SEO – does your website have great architecture? How’s the User Experience (UX)? Is it easily navigable? And have you made sure to link your pages internally?