What business owners should know about SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a term that has only been around a few years. As such, there are a lot of misconceptions about SEO. Let's get two of those out of the way, right up front:
1. SEO is not illegal; and
2. No, it's not voodoo!
All kidding aside, SEO is more science that art. And as a science, SEO is driven by processes and principles. But I won't bore you with those. As a business owner, you're more interested in how SEO impacts your bottom line. Here's a quick primer.
One in five searches are
related to location
Someone searches on Google an estimated 34,000 times every second. That's roughly 3 billion searches per day.
Google says about 20 percent of searches are location-related, so that means roughly 600 million searches per day where someone (perhaps a potential customer) is looking for "something + somewhere." That's why ranking on the first page of results for searches like "pediatric dentist in Carlsbad," "San Diego auto repair" or "North County flower shop" is so important.
People typing in these queries are very likely buyers of your products and services, and they are actively seeking you out. If only they could find you and your company quickly and easily! Capitalizing on this idea is how the Yellow Pages became a $14 billion industry.
"Organic" SEO is earned, not paid
Speaking of the Yellow Pages, did you know that Google's pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, known as AdWords, last year eclipsed the entire Yellow Pages industry by selling more than $15 billion in PPC ads?
These ads, usually highlighted with a yellow or red background, are displayed on the search results page above and to the side of the "organic," or non-paid results. Advertisers are charged not for displaying their ads, but instead pay a varying amount for each time a searcher clicks on an ad.
Note: Organic SEO is NOT focused on AdWords, or paid results, but rather the organic, or "natural" search results that Google and other search engines display after you type in a query. SEO is like having a favorable article written about you in your local paper. PPC is like purchasing a, page advertisement in that same paper. Like the favorable article, SEO is much more valuable and effective because you have an implied third-party endorsement (in this case, the search engine's first page listing) for your website.
Page one is the only
page that matters
If you rank number 12 in the Fortune 500, that's quite an accomplishment. But if your website ranks 12th in the search results (in other words, the second site listed on page two), nine out of 10 searchers will never even see your website listing, and less than one percent will click through to your website.
In fact, the top three search results on page one get a whopping 60 percent of clicks and visits. The click-through rate for the first search result is 36 percent! Just moving up (or down) a few ranks on the first page, say from result number one to result number three, can catapult your search traffic up (or down) more than 300 percent. Put simply, a page one ranking can make or break a business.
SEO is not just for
consumer websites
"But I'm in a B2B space," you might be saying. "This doesn't apply to me, right?"
The truth is, whether you are in software, professional services, manufacturing or renewable energy, other businesses are looking for you. And businesses are made up of individual people. As consumers, we have been trained over the years to "just Google it" to find what we need. Think about it: in a few short years, a search engine nobody ever heard of became a household name, and then it became a verb.
Do you really think business-minded professionals are less likely to search for information about products and services online just because they are not "consumer-focused"?
Search engines (not social media) are the top source of traffic
Search engines are the top source of external traffic for content-driven websites, outpacing social media by more than 300 percent. In a recent study, search drove 41 percent of traffic, followed by other websites (31 percent), portals (17 percent) and social media (11 percent).
In addition, visitors who find your site via search engines tend to spend more time on your site and look at more pages than visitors who find your site via other means.
When you think about it, it makes sense: if someone's actively looking for you (versus just stumbling onto your site via a link or referral), they are going to be more engaged by your content and more interested in what you have to say.
In conclusion, I hope I've been able to de-mystify some of what SEO means, and doesn't mean, for your business. One final thought: many people believe Google and other search engines are battling against SEO providers. Nothing could be further from the truth. The search giant actually endorses SEO as a legitimate and necessary business practice, and in March, Google and two partners invested $32 million in HubSpot, a company that delivers SEO-focused services. So while the definition of SEO continues to evolve, one thing is certain: even Google considers search engine optimization a wise investment.
For more information, visit www.higherpowerseo.com.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a term that has only been around a few years. As such, there are a lot of misconceptions about SEO. Let's get two of those out of the way, right up front:
1. SEO is not illegal; and
2. No, it's not voodoo!
All kidding aside, SEO is more science that art. And as a science, SEO is driven by processes and principles. But I won't bore you with those. As a business owner, you're more interested in how SEO impacts your bottom line. Here's a quick primer.
One in five searches are
related to location
Someone searches on Google an estimated 34,000 times every second. That's roughly 3 billion searches per day.
Google says about 20 percent of searches are location-related, so that means roughly 600 million searches per day where someone (perhaps a potential customer) is looking for "something + somewhere." That's why ranking on the first page of results for searches like "pediatric dentist in Carlsbad," "San Diego auto repair" or "North County flower shop" is so important.
People typing in these queries are very likely buyers of your products and services, and they are actively seeking you out. If only they could find you and your company quickly and easily! Capitalizing on this idea is how the Yellow Pages became a $14 billion industry.
"Organic" SEO is earned, not paid
Speaking of the Yellow Pages, did you know that Google's pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, known as AdWords, last year eclipsed the entire Yellow Pages industry by selling more than $15 billion in PPC ads?
These ads, usually highlighted with a yellow or red background, are displayed on the search results page above and to the side of the "organic," or non-paid results. Advertisers are charged not for displaying their ads, but instead pay a varying amount for each time a searcher clicks on an ad.
Note: Organic SEO is NOT focused on AdWords, or paid results, but rather the organic, or "natural" search results that Google and other search engines display after you type in a query. SEO is like having a favorable article written about you in your local paper. PPC is like purchasing a, page advertisement in that same paper. Like the favorable article, SEO is much more valuable and effective because you have an implied third-party endorsement (in this case, the search engine's first page listing) for your website.
Page one is the only
page that matters
If you rank number 12 in the Fortune 500, that's quite an accomplishment. But if your website ranks 12th in the search results (in other words, the second site listed on page two), nine out of 10 searchers will never even see your website listing, and less than one percent will click through to your website.
In fact, the top three search results on page one get a whopping 60 percent of clicks and visits. The click-through rate for the first search result is 36 percent! Just moving up (or down) a few ranks on the first page, say from result number one to result number three, can catapult your search traffic up (or down) more than 300 percent. Put simply, a page one ranking can make or break a business.
SEO is not just for
consumer websites
"But I'm in a B2B space," you might be saying. "This doesn't apply to me, right?"
The truth is, whether you are in software, professional services, manufacturing or renewable energy, other businesses are looking for you. And businesses are made up of individual people. As consumers, we have been trained over the years to "just Google it" to find what we need. Think about it: in a few short years, a search engine nobody ever heard of became a household name, and then it became a verb.
Do you really think business-minded professionals are less likely to search for information about products and services online just because they are not "consumer-focused"?
Search engines (not social media) are the top source of traffic
Search engines are the top source of external traffic for content-driven websites, outpacing social media by more than 300 percent. In a recent study, search drove 41 percent of traffic, followed by other websites (31 percent), portals (17 percent) and social media (11 percent).
In addition, visitors who find your site via search engines tend to spend more time on your site and look at more pages than visitors who find your site via other means.
When you think about it, it makes sense: if someone's actively looking for you (versus just stumbling onto your site via a link or referral), they are going to be more engaged by your content and more interested in what you have to say.
In conclusion, I hope I've been able to de-mystify some of what SEO means, and doesn't mean, for your business. One final thought: many people believe Google and other search engines are battling against SEO providers. Nothing could be further from the truth. The search giant actually endorses SEO as a legitimate and necessary business practice, and in March, Google and two partners invested $32 million in HubSpot, a company that delivers SEO-focused services. So while the definition of SEO continues to evolve, one thing is certain: even Google considers search engine optimization a wise investment.
For more information, visit www.higherpowerseo.com.