So what is SEO, and how does it work for my small business?

So what is seo and how does it work? Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short is not as complicated as people make it out to be. As Shopify puts it it is, “a measurable, repeatable process that is used to send signals to search engines that your pages are worth showing on Google’s index”. Therefore SEO is all about creating relevant content your customers are looking for, and making sure that search engines like Google, know you have it on your website.

In order to understand how SEO works, you must first consider the role of search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Search Engines have two jobs; to crawl and build an index, and provide search users with the best answers to the question they are looking to have answered. So how do search engines figure out what the best answer is? They assume that the more popular a website, page, or document, the more valuable that piece of information is. This is accomplished through mathematical equations that determine the relevance of your website, and determine your ranking as well. These algorithms are comprised of hundreds of variables, and change constantly. Speaking with a SEO Specialist can go a long way in determining how successful you will be through SEO.

So now that we figured out what SEO is, let’s figure out how it works.

In order for SEO to work, you need to find out what your target audience is searching. Finding these keywords is imperative in ranking your website. Utilizing tools such as the Google Keyword Planner, or Moz Keyword Research can help you identify what to look for. Here are the items you should consider for your SEO strategy.

• Pick long tail keywords
• Utilize your keyword in the Meta Title of the page, post, or document
• Utilize your keyword in the Meta Tag description
• Utilize your keyword in the URL itself
• Make sure to include your keyword in the H1 Tag of your page, post, or document
• Include your keyword in the H2 Tag of your page, post, or document
• Make sure the keyword can be found throughout the text in the page, post, or document
• Create inbound links throughout your website
• Include outbound links on the page, post, or document

MarketKeep offers a free SEO Analysis of your website, and the ability to speak with one of our SEO specialists about a particular page on your website. Instead of a written guide, we would rather show you how SEO works. To schedule a meeting with our team please visit our Contact Page.