You are probably asking yourself, what is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), why is it important and why should I care? At the helm of every Search Engine is a robot, and although they have become sophisticated, they still need help to understand the content of our websites. SEO is a way in which we help these robots understand what to do with our websites so that they are visible on Search Engines; the more we help these robots understand our websites, the more visible our websites become on Search Engines.
Why is SEO important
To understand why SEO is important, we must first understand what search engines do exactly. Search Engines work in two ways: by crawling through the internet for information and building an index of everything it comes across; once they have done this, Search Engines create a list that is ranked by relevance to a user’s search.
Search Engines are robots that don’t see websites like we humans do, they rely on our help and input to understand the websites they crawl. This is where Search Engine Optimization comes into play, SEO is a set of guidelines that webmasters can use to improve their sites rankings on search engines. It is important to be ranked the highest possible, as users generally only consider the top 5 results as relevant to their searches; if your site is among the top 5 search results, your website will be visited significantly more often.
Investing in Search Engine Optimization can only benefit your company; as your website rises in the ranks on search engines, your profits will rise exponentially. Potential clients are more likely to trust top ranked sites on Search Engines, they will feel comfortable with your company and will more likely choose you over your competitors. Ultimately, SEO is a long-term marketing strategy, and a return on investment.
Search Engine Optimization will optimize sales
When people need to search for products and information, where is the first place they search? Search Engines such as Google. With proper SEO, potential clients will be able to understand what your company is about when searching for it, and know if it is what they are searching for by pointing the client in the right direction. The better your visibility is on Search Engines and the more true to your company the Search Engine descriptions are, the more likely you are to sell your products and services online.
Easy ways to increase your Search Engine Optimization
There are several methods to increasing your brand’s SEO:
- Place alt text in all your images: This gives search engines a text description of the images so the search engines can find your pictures based on its alt text.
- Use tools such as SEO-browser and MozBar: These allow you to see which parts of the content in your website are capable of being seen and indexed by search engines.
- Use appropriate wording throughout your website: Make sure that words you want your company to be associated with are part of crawlable content in your website. (ie. a cotton candy company would want their site to appear if someone types “cotton candy”)
- Properly name all the files in your website: If you have a picture of a panda in the website, make sure panda is in the picture name as opposed to leaving it DSC007.jpg.
How WebCakes can help
If your Search Engine Optimization is still not up to par after following the instructions or you don’t feel like doing the SEO yourself you can consult a web development agency to review your current SEO and suggest optimizations. WebCakes specializes in Web Development and Search Engine Optimization. We analyze your business’ SEO weaknesses and propose a tailor-made action plan to increase your page rank and conversions. Choose us to empower your website visibility.