SEO Mysteries Revealed – Part 1/3

A term commonly used by web designers and SEO service providers, ‘SEO’ can seem like that magical pot of gold that you’re aware you probably need to have¹, but you’re not sure where to start with it.

In this article, we’ll take a peek behind the curtain. Let us give you some clear insight into why SEO is so important, and why you definitely should be investing in expert assistance. It can be the difference between being successful or otherwise in this area of your web presence.

What are SEO Services?

At some point you may have asked ‘What does SEO stand for and what does it do?’ A common answer is “It stands for ‘Search Engine Optimisation and it’s what you need if you want your website to rank highly on Google.” This simplistic response does start to point towards offering an understanding, but it’s not quite there.

If you type “What is search engine optimisation?” into Google, one of the definitions that pops up is “the process of maximising the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine”.

SEO Services, then, is what an expert in the field offers to take care of this for you.

How To Apply SEO to You Website?

Ranking highly on Google and other search engines is a good thing; it leads to more exposure and often higher sales. This is what the majority of website owners want… But how does it work?

There are essentially 3 main elements to the magic of ranking well on Google (or any other search engines).

We will look at the first one in a little more detail now.

Key Search Phrases

The first step in influencing a website’s ability to rank is keyword research. This helps identify those industry related keywords and phrases that your audience are typing into the search engines. Ideally, you want to match your website wording with these phrases so that you maximise your opportunities to rank and rank well.

As a starting point, you can attempt to come up with some of these keywords and phrases yourself, however it’s incredibly valuable to leverage statistics to ensure you’re on the right track. Sometimes, the closer you are to a business, the easier it is to assume knowledge and connections from the general public that aren’t as general as you may think. 

For example, you might be an environmentally friendly cleaning company based in Brendale named ‘The Green House’. You chose the word ‘green’ because, like a lot of people, you associate it with being environmentally friendly. You may use the word ‘green’ a lot in your website content. However, you may have completely overlooked the word ‘eco’, which is a common search term for environmentally conscious consumers. You may also have completely left out the phrase ‘environmentally friendly’ because using the word ‘green’ seemed so obvious! You may also barely mention your location, which is a key element in an in-person service such as cleaning.

Without the clear use of quality key phrases, your ‘green’ cleaning business website may just end up getting a lot of dud hits from people from Sweden looking for green coloured houses, or retirees in California looking for structures to grow their tomatoes in! Seems a bit silly, but it’s what happens.