Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a strategic way to increase web traffic to your site. Google’s algorithm is known to consider the content of your website and external hyperlinks when determining your site’s positioning.
Content in the first position of Google Search results receives over 25% of clicks and 3.8x the number of backlinks than the results in positions two to ten. Appearing in this first position substantially increases site traffic and can be earned through SEO tactics.
Conducting keyword research through MOZ and SEMRush allows you to pinpoint terms and phrases to increase your ranking. Quality V.S. quantity of keywords is significant because your site is more likely to rank higher when using keywords with fewer results.
Each type of SEO brings unique benefits, and when combined, the results yield holistic optimization.
Technical SEO optimizes your website for crawling and indexing.
The process in which search engines use bots, or crawlers, to search for content on websites.
Crawlers follow links on sites, index these links, and add them to databases for quick access by searchers.
Indexing.
After crawling your site, the search engine will index, or file, the data collected. These groupings of material are used to provide searchers with the most relevant content.
Website architecture is how searchers view your site, meaning that good architecture is pivotal in determining the user’s experience.
Rendering is when the search engine determines what information is on the site so it can crawl. Without rendering, crawlers would not know how the website is structured.
Optimizing your site through Local SEO directs customers to your office location if you have one, or your service area if you do not have a brick-and-mortar office.
On-page SEO includes elements of your website such as the quality of the website’s code, text, images, and user-friendliness. This form of SEO increases the probability that your other SEO efforts will yield positive results.
Off-page SEO includes digital marketing activities that take place outside your website. Links to your website from other sites and posts about your products or services on social media or on pages not run by your company are both examples of off-page SEO.
Link building is when you earn backlinks to your website from others. A prestigious site carries significant authority when determining how the link will affect your ranking.
Purchasing links does not benefit your site, and your site may completely disappear from search results if its links appear on questionable sources—so be selective.
Not only will utilizing SEO grow your virtual presence, but it will also increase the potential for your agency to increase revenue. When your agency is more visible to the right people, it is more likely that your site will earn more viewership and sales.
Lauren Gilly, a junior strategic communications major with minors in communication studies and education at TCU, is a content creator for Magnus Opus who enjoys search engine optimized writing.