If your business is online, then Search Engine Optimisation has to be an important part of your marketing plan to increase your sales and traffic.
We all know that the first step is selling is finding the customer and then getting them through the door.
For a brick and mortar business it is about location, location and location – the best spot on the street or in the mall – and promotion.
If people can’t find you they can’t buy from you, if people don’t know what you sell they won’t know to visit you.
Online it is the same deal. Except this time instead this time the street is hundreds or thousands of miles long and these days the mall is called Google!
And this time to get noticed, you’re relying on the search engine describing or classifying you properly.
This is where search engine optimisation comes in.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) refers to practices that are used to promote your page and increase your ranking within search engine results.
Ideally, SEO will ensure that your website is on the first page of search engine results, resulting in increased traffic (visitors) for your site, and therefore an increase in business. There are a variety of practices that can be used to do this and most of them are about helping the search engine classify (index) you correctly.
On Page SEO
On-page SEO refers to the features of your page which are, quite literally, on the page. These features include:
- URL (your web address), which prepares a website for search engines, and pave way for better user experience.
- Content (the text on your page), which helps a business drive visitors beyond geographical boundaries.
- Alt text for images (the text which appears when you hover over an image), which enhances accessibility to a great extent.
- Title tags (your page title), which allow Google or other search engines to find a website easily.
Search engines use this information to help it work out what you do and work out what search results you should show up on.
So, it is important for these features to clearly refer to the subject or topic of your page. It is also important to update your website regularly to improve the on-page SEO.
Off Page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to online practices which happen outside of your website. These practices are often within your control, but do not take place on your actual page. These include link building and sharing, social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) and the use of social bookmarking websites (Reddit, Pinterest etc). Off-page SEO practices essentially ‘tell’ search engines that your page is important, as it is linked elsewhere on the internet, and that other people think the information on your page is important and useful.
Link sharing involves other websites linking to your website. While link sharing is a very useful tool, it is also a difficult one to get right. Search engines can downrank a page if link sharing is done incorrectly. It is important to follow tips and instructions carefully if you plan on using link sharing, otherwise your page hits will suffer.
On-page and off-page SEO work together to improve the visibility of your website, and therefore your business. Effectively utilising SEO practices is crucial for your business success.
