SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

What is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimization and it is the process of getting free website traffic from organic, editorial, or natural search results on search engines, which is different than traffic gained from paid advertising.Organic search results are listings that appear on search engine results pages because of their relevance to the search terms, and they certainly aren’t random in their order. SEO is the general term for the things these sites have done to “rank” for any given specific keyword or phrase. About 60% of Google search users end up visiting one of the top 3 positions on the first page which explains why those positions are so valuable and everyone is fighting for those top spots.

What are the types of SEO?

There are really 3 types of SEO. Some that are best practice, some Google will smite you for, and another that quite literally is the “grey” area. There is “White Hat SEO” which refers to the optimization of strategies, techniques, and tactics that focus on users rather then the search engine rules and policies. Next is “Black Hat SEO” which is an aggressive use of SEO strategies that focus primarily on search engines and doesn’t follow a lot of the guidelines. This includes keyword stuffing, link spamming, and meta spam which Google has cracked down a lot more on and will penalize your site if it recognizes this form of SEO. Finally, there is “Grey Hat SEO” which is actually not in-between white hat and black hat SEO, but is more a practice of techniques that are still ill-defined by published material that Google has released. It is a tricky line to dance on because it could either give you some boost in rankings, or much worst, a penalty from Google. In terms of risk vs reward, usually the risk outweighs the reward.

Will SEO help grow my business?

When executed properly, SEO can substantially grow your business. The biggest misconception about SEO, however, is that it is an instant gratification type of marketing. Truth is, SEO can be a short-term strategy (depending on how much time you consider as “short”) as it does take about 3 months before results really start to happen. Typically, SEO is a mid to long term strategy that gets more powerful as time continues and you keep at your SEO efforts;however, there is strategy that goes into this. There are a lot of factors that impact ranking and knowing your industry, competitors, and market play a major role in your SEO strategy and how you develop it.