What Is Search Engine Optimization?
SEO works to improve the amount and quality of traffic to a website in organic search results. There are MANY techniques that can be involved in an effective digital marketing strategy. Some are absolute requirements while the use of others depends on your particular website and market needs.
You want your website to be a pertinent, reliable answer for the keywords and phrases that people are using to search for your business, product and related services.
It sounds fairly straight-forward when described in a few sentences like that, doesn’t it? Don’t be fooled.
SEO is not a “one and done” event. It is a continuous process to attain and maintain rankings in the search results. You need to integrate an advanced approach to succeed in today’s ultra-competitive marketplace. Piecemealing random tactics or, worse yet, neglecting your online presence will get you nowhere.
It can take a great deal of expertise, data analysis and continuous tracking to move properties up in search results. Without effective SEO, the business you have devoted your life to growing may never be seen by your potential customers.
More than 90% of online activity starts on a search engine.
Typical click-thru rates for organic results on a Google search results page look like this [from
https://www.advancedwebranking.com/cloud/ctrstudy/ Dec 2017]:
Here some additional food for thought: as long as your business occupies a ranking position [or two], that’s one less place for your competition to appear.
Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing aim to deliver a satisfactory experience to their users by providing simple and appropriate search outcomes. They have algorithms that almost instantly evaluate how well your website answers the question the user is asking. Google uses around 200 factors in their algorithm and not all of them are known. The criteria used in the algorithms ranges from onsite factors to backlinks to user interaction and social signals. The criteria range in importance and can even be situational.
Search engines want to provide the very best, most pertinent search engine results to their users so that they will hang around and continue to use their search engines. If SEO makes a web site pertinent and it gains a high position with material that relates to what users are searching for, that is the ideal circumstance for the online search engine, their users, and the optimized web site.
Google standards are not always clear, may even be contradictory and are frequently updated. The online arena is known for frequent, dramatic shifts that impact the how, when and why of site rankings and traffic.
Effective SEO changes because the landscape of ranking changes. What previously worked to help a site rank may not budge it now. In fact, some older SEO techniques may even get your site penalized where it cannot be found at all. If your site is being penalized, there are options available to deal with it. Far better to direct your time and money to resources to attract more customers and grow your business than fighting your way back from the penalty box.
Your rankings and online traffic can be a major factor in the life and growth of your business.
The Goal Of Search Engine Optimization
Everyone wants to show up at the top of the search engine results because we all understand that’s where the majority of our prospective customers look. It may seem to be a daunting task to appear there when you think of the numbers involved- there are more than 20 million sites contending for the top spots. There are strategies that can beat the probabilities and make it possible to create niches where your website will stand out and be seen.
The key is getting your services or product to appear where and when someone is looking for you.
National SEO
National SEO is often considered the “next step” after local SEO but that is not necessarily true. Every business does not need to use national SEO. Ranking for terms with a nationwide scope demands different strategies from those used in local SEO.
Of course, there are more companies competing across the nation than there are within each local market. That fact itself helps you understand that a business will face stiffer competition in the national arena.
If your business aims to compete effectively on the national scope, you want to have a good understanding of both the keywords that are now important to you and the use of techniques that can rank you for those keywords. Ranking for national terms can be a longer, more involved, and more expensive process than for local terms.
Local SEO
Local SEO targets a certain geographical area around a business. If you have a business that is primarily focused on serving your immediate community, you want to have strong local marketing. Rankings for keywords that include your city name, like ‘best Asian restaurant in Charlotte’, are important to have in your arsenal. It won’t help your business much at all to appear outside of this area.
Local SEO is typically more affordable than SEO on a wider scale. There is less competition which affects the intensity, duration and expense of a campaign.
Should You Switch from Local To National SEO?
This is an important question to ask yourself. Not every business can benefit from national attention.
If you are a small business that has been successful in your local region, you may be ready to serve customers nationwide but do not make that leap without carefully considering what is involved. Naturally you need to consider if your business is physically able to serve customers across the USA but the leap to ranking nationally is a big one. Discuss what is involved with a trusted digital strategist.
As mentioned earlier, ranking for national SEO terms can require more time, effort and money than local terms. That is not a point to take lightly.
How Does National Search Work
A campaign designed to rank for national keywords may include areas like:
- Comprehensive keyword research
- Onsite optimization
- Website Architecture
- Customer reviews
- Backlinks and citations
- SEO analytics and monitoring
Every good campaign begins with a thorough assessment of your online presence. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Where are the best opportunities to increase your presence? Are there threats or obstacles in your path? How does your traffic and ranking compare to those of your competitors?
The needs of every business are different. We offer customized services, designed to fit your budget and your market environment. Attempting to compete on a national scale with a generic package of services will wind up costing valuable time and money. Knowing where to focus and how to adjust can make a huge impact on the success of your digital marketing.
Benefits of Effective National Search Engine Optimization Campaigns
Businesses who want to be found online face a number of challenges. Our current culture lives largely in a digital world. Whether we’re chatting with our friends, checking out what’s happening in the world or researching our next purchase, it’s happening online.
Do you want your prospective customers to know you, trust you and buy from you? Then your online presence needs to be strong and visible.
We can develop and implement a complete digital marketing strategy for your website to improve and sustain rankings and attract continuous traffic.
We implement the most current strategies based on extensive research of what is happening now and where the internet is headed.
Applying this knowledge can put you YEARS ahead of your competition and lock you into a stable position within your market segment for both traffic and rankings.
How Our Digital Marketing And SEO Agency Is Different
We’ve invested significant time and money into proprietary systems and software based on extensive, ongoing testing of search engine algorithms, Google patents and actual online activity.
These systems and software are used by Fortune 500 companies in national markets on the major search engines [like Google, Yahoo and Amazon] as well as local businesses concerned with Google My Business listings. We understand the subtle interactions and complexities of these factors and adapt quickly to drive online authority, improve ranking and increase traffic.
While we have tremendous systems available, we customize our approach to leverage your assets. We know what works, what doesn’t and won’t waste your time.
It’s easy to collaborate with us. If you are already a business that serves a national audience, you have likely developed to the point that you have teams in place to help you grow. It is crucial that your website and digital marketing strategies are developed, implemented and overseen by minds that understand the complexities involved. Our Outreach Strategic Marketing team is comfortable collaborating with your current marketing team or even functioning as your outsourced marketing team.
We care about our clients and take pride in being good partners.