How SEO works isn’t a mystery. There are well-thought out strategies professionals can put into place for you. Here’s what business owners need to know.
Did you know Search Engine Optimization (SEO) leads have approximately 15% close rate, while outbound leads, such as print ads have a 1.7% close rate?
This is all the more reason to educate yourself on the ins and outs of SEO to be able to use it to the height of your advantage.
Let’s take a look at how SEO works.
The Foundation of On-Site SEO
While some people opt to pay for SEO professionals, others choose to learn the tricks of SEO for themselves. Either way will get you better results than not using SEO.
On-site SEO refers to the SEO strategies you incorporate directly into your own website. Some of these strategies include proper SEO use in:
- Link-building with internal and external links
- Keywords
- Title Tag and header tags
- Meta description
- Local SEO
Whether you choose to invest in professional SEO services or do on-site SEO yourself, you’ll want to make sure not to be excessive.
Some people think, “well, if some SEO is good, a lot must be great.” It is possible to overdo your SEO, and you want to avoid this pitfall by following SEO guidelines.
Strategy 1: Link-Building
Building links that bring people back to your website is an excellent SEO strategy. You can include links to blogs you write for others (with their permission), comments on social media and replies to comments on other people’s social media accounts.
You’ll want to use both internal and external links to your website. Internal links are ones that link to other content on different pages. External links are located on other sites that link back to your website.
Strategy 2: Keywords
The key with keywords is to use just enough without using too many.
When you are excessive in your keywords, it creates an unnatural, cramped feeling in your text or website. The rule of thumb here is five keywords per page of your website.
Strategy 3: Title Tags and Header Tags
The title tag you place on the pages of your website lets search engines know what the reader will be reading. Your title tag should be a max of 70 characters. You should also include the name of your brand and business.
Strategy 4: Meta Description
Your meta description will be located on pages of your website that offer a bit more info on what the content will be about. Be sure to write your meta description in a natural, engaging way for your target demographic.
Strategy 5: Local SEO
Local SEO follows the same basic guidelines as other SEO. You’ll just be optimizing for local businesses and for people in your own community. This ensures that a person in De Moines doesn’t get a hit for a place in San Francisco.
Business Basics of How SEO Works
Whether you’re new to SEO strategies or an old pro, there’s always more to learn and the rules are constantly changing. You’ll want to keep up with the most current strategies available.
If you’d like to learn more about how SEO works, check us out today.
