In a digital world bogged down with information, your business’s message may be easily lost in the clutter. Everybody is vying for attention on the web and on social media. If a business is to survive in the highly-competitive and confusing world of e-commerce, there must be an aggressive digital marketing campaign.
At the forefront of this marketing battle is Search Engine Optimization or SEO, especially in Utah, the place many SEO professionals have decided to call home.
What was once simply dubbed as Internet marketing has evolved into a much more complex process.
What is SEO?
If you’re a local Utah business owner and you want to establish an online presence, you need more than just a website. Having a website and address is easy enough to accomplish; getting that website to the top of leading search engines’ results page, such as Google and Bing, is where SEO experts come in.
Simply put, search engine optimization is a marketing strategy that attempts to put a website on top of the rankings of major search engines by appealing to that search engine algorithm. The algorithm is the criterion for providing relevant search results; it is secret and it changes from time to time.
To use an analogy, think of it as Internet marketing musical chairs. When the music stops, the goal is to grab a chair and sit on it, as fast as you can. When a search engine’s search button is pressed (with keywords that are pertinent to your business), the goal is for your website to be at the top of that page so that your target customers can see your website easily.
How Do I Do That?
The best way is to hire a top SEO agency to do it for you. SEO professionals are experts in other aspects of Internet marketing as well, and their job is to ensure that your website appears on top of the list of the search engine results. Some of the things that they optimize are:
Title Tags
This is what the search engines will latch on first when a search is initiated because it gives the SE relevant information that relates to the keyword or keyword phrase. It’s important that title tags differ from page to page. When you see a highlighted keyword or keyword phrase in search results after initiating a search, this simply means the user entered those terms.
Site Speed
Google is very keen on the website’s ability to load fast and without issues. This is considered as well when returning search results to the user. Your SEO will work closely with your website designer to ensure the quick loading of your webpage.
Meta Description
This is not as important in SE ranking, but their importance lies in their ability to lead the user to click to your website. Crucial to meta descriptions is the use of keywords and a description that would catch the user’s interest and lead him or her to your site.
Sitemaps
It is a map of your site. Its goal, however, does not begin and end with the user. SEO uses a sitemap to quickly tell the navigability of your business’s web pages. This is where it gets more technical, but your SEO professional will take care of this for you.
Images
Images tend to slow the download speed of a website, so image optimization is extremely important. This has a direct effect on the website’s SEO ranking. Again, this is on the more technical side of SEO.
SEO as a process is much more complex, but it is key to maintaining your web presence and boosting it to the top at the right moment. If an online presence is crucial to your business, whether you’re an online business or a local business that relies on online marketing, then SEO should be on top of your list of digital campaign strategies.
