16 Sep What Is SEO?
Get more visits to your website via SEO strategies from Pandan Social.
SEO is short for search engine optimization. It’s a way to improve your website’s ranking and visibility in search engines like Google.
Knowing how SEO works helps to improve the chances of your customers finding your business online. And to start understanding how SEO can help your website, these are the important terms that you should know.
Glossary of terms used in SEO
Average time on page
The average amount of time an online user spends on one of your website pages.
Backlinks
A backlink is any link in a website (that does not belong to you) that sends an online user to your website.
Bounce rate
The bounce rate is the percentage of online users who leave your website after viewing only one page on your website. That is, they “bounce” back to their search results or a previous website.
Direct traffic
Direct traffic is a visit to your website from an unknown source or when there is no referring website. An online user may arrive at your website this way when they:
– typed your website address directly into a browser
– clicked on a link from a customer email newsletter
– clicked on a link from an offline document, like a PDF or a MS Word document
– clicked on a link from a mobile social media app
Image alt-text
Image alt-text (or ‘alternative text’) helps screen-reading tools to describe the images on your website pages. This is helpful to visually impaired readers as well as search engines that rank your website.
Internal linking
Internal linking is connecting one page on your website to another page on your website.
Keyword research and targeting
Keyword research involves researching your target customers’ keywords when they look for products or services like yours on search engines. After that, targeting the most relevant keywords will help to drive traffic to your website.
Meta descriptions
The meta description is found in your website page’s coding and briefly describes your website to search engines and the online users who look up your targeted keywords.
Organic search
Organic search refers to search engine results that are not influenced by paid advertising. That is, the search outcome does not involve advertisements and is fueled by relevant content and keywords instead.
Organic traffic
Organic traffic is a visit to your website from a search engine results page. An online user will arrive at your website this way when they click on a search query that is not placed via paid advertising.
Knowing how SEO works is the first step to make your website more visible.
How does SEO work?
Using SEO strategies involve signaling to search services like Google that your website is relevant to its online users.
As search engines are designed to find and rank the most relevant results for its users, knowing how to do this is important. This is because the more optimized your website is for these search engines, the higher your organic traffic will be.
Website owners can do this by first auditing their website to determine how optimized it is for search engines.
After that, they should implement effective SEO strategies on their website’s new design, structure, keywords, image alt-text, internal links, and more.
In addition, the website should also be regularly maintained by removing broken links, ensuring the website’s mobile-friendliness, and monitoring the pages’ loading speed.
What each website needs is dependent on its content, target audience, and marketing goal. Consulting with Pandan Social can help you determine what yours will require.
Get more website traffic as you make your pages more SEO-friendly with Pandan Social.
What SEO can do for your company
Using effective SEO strategies improves your brand’s visibility on search engine results pages like Google. This is helpful when online users look for products or services that are similar to yours.
When your website ranks higher in these results pages than your competitors, you have an edge over the other websites. This is because when an online user finds your website first, the chances of a website visit and a sales transaction improve.
In addition, SEO also helps your business by:
1. Enhancing your brand credibility
Many online users trust Google to provide accurate answers to their search queries. When your website ranks in its top search results pages, your brand gains credibility and trust amongst these online users.
2. Influencing the online user’s purchasing decision
As your position improves with effective SEO strategies, it will also help in influencing the purchasing habits of online users. As they notice your website in Google’s top search results more frequently, it will also be more likely that they’ll shop from you.
3. Providing consistent traffic to your website
SEO also generates consistent traffic to your web pages. This means when your website is highly ranked in a search engine results page, traffic to your website will flow continually in the long term. This is because search engine results do not need to be ‘switched on’ like paid advertising.
4. Working together with your paid advertising plans
However, using SEO does not mean you cannot use paid advertising (which is also called pay-per-click, PPC). In fact, most advertising experts will recommend using SEO alongside paid advertising. Your website will benefit from both by dominating the top results pages in both organic searches and paid ads.
Important Takeaways
Using SEO strategies on your website not only makes it more likely that your customers will find your business. It also ensures that what they’re looking for will be what your website is offering.
This helps to keep them around in your website longer and increases the chances of them buying something.
Despite the various challenges of applying SEO strategies to your website, it’s benefits are both long term and rewarding. In exchange for a website audit and its adjustments, as well as the average 6-month period to notice results, your website will experience increases in website visibility, credibility, and traffic.
Get started on your digital marketing campaign now. Contact us at info@pandansocial.com or visit our Facebook page.
