A strong approach to search engine optimization will form the foundation of any marketing work which you do online. This digital marketing method has proven time and time again to be incredibly efficient and successful in terms of growing your brand, increasing leads and sales, and improving online reputations.
Within SEO there are a number of areas which you could look to attack, but choosing the right one will come down to what your business is all about and what you are looking to do. To help you to understand a little more about what search engine optimization is, and how to pick the right campaign for your business, we’re going to break it down just what SEO is all about, how it works, and which option will suit you.
What is SEO?
To those of you unsure of what SEO is, the simplest explanation is that it is an approach by which your website can rank higher up the search results for certain keywords. Let’s assume that you have a plumbing firm in Darwin, when people go to search engines and type in ‘plumbing in Darwin’ or perhaps ‘Darwin plumbers’ it is important that you rank on the top pages. The reason for this is simple, customers rarely look beyond the second page, which means that you may not be seen at all if you don’t feature up at the top.
Which Campaigns Are There?
The best SEO campaigns look to cover all bases in terms of how best to please the search engine’s algorithm, but there are some more specific areas which different approaches can focus on.
– Local SEO
Local SEO is crucial for small businesses who attract customers within their geographical areas. Almost 9/10 people will go online to look for products, services and businesses, which is why this is so vital for local businesses. Ranking well on the search engine for local results is essential and this method will focus on map data, mobile device SEO and driving positive reviews.
– Enterprise SEO
For those business which operate worldwide and utilize complex technology and have vast global reach, enterprise SEO is the answer to their ranking needs. The key here is being able to scale up the SEO efforts to fit in with such a large operation, which will require high level ecommerce and link building work, as well deep rooted efforts on the company’s homepage and online store.
– Ecommerce SEO
Ecommerce SEO needs a slightly different strategy than most campaigns as it focuses purely on driving traffic to sales pages, and increase visibility on search engines which encourage the conversion of leads into sales. The key here is driving the right customers to your pages.
– Link Building
Link building is a feature of most SEO campaigns but on its own it can still deliver excellent results for your online reputation, your ability to grow a brand and for your ranking goals. For this to be successful there must be a real focus on securing high quality links to your site which are recognized as trustworthy by search engines and can help to supercharge your website.
SEO You Should Never Use
There is a branch of SEO which is referred to as Black Hat, which are essentially shady techniques which you should never use. If you speak with an agency or a professional who recommends any of the below methods, you should say no right away.
– Keyword stuffing
– Duplicating content
– Hidden text
– Fake Clickbait
These practices have a terrible success rate, they are underhanded and you should avoid them at all costs.
Understanding What Your Business Needs
To identify exactly which type of campaign your business or entrepreneurship needs, you must first think about what you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to bring in more ecommerce sales? Are you looking into encouraging more mobile use for your website? Are you trying to increase your standing in your local marketplace? These questions will lead you to the conclusion as to which SEO campaign you should be using, or at least what exactly you want your SEO campaign to be focusing on.
Once you understand what your business is looking to achieve through its search engine optimization campaign, it is recommended that you speak with an SEO or digital marketing agency that will be able to offer you some options which will meet your needs. The process of implementing an SEO campaign is difficult to learn and execute, which is why it always makes more sense that you look to outsource such a campaign for your business, both in terms of time and money. Any further questions which you have about SEO and how your business can use it to reach its goals, feel free to ask away in the comments section below.
