Regardless of your industry, chances are your customers are looking for your products or services online. Online marketing is the single most important form of advertising for businesses today.
As a result, SEO (search engine optimization) is becoming more and more important for businesses who want to stand out from the crowd. SEO is the process of optimising your website so that it can easily be found in search engines.
Let’s take a look at how customers are finding your business online, and how you can make sure your website is getting in front of them.
Chances are your customers are using Google to find your business. Sure, there are plenty of other search engines out there (like Bing and Yahoo), but Google takes up the largest market share with nearly 4.5 billion searches every single day.
It’s important to remember, though, that not all Google users are equal. The majority of customers finding your website via Google will be visiting on their smartphone, so it’s important for your website to be optimised for mobile viewing.
The second most popular device is usually web browser (PC) followed by tablet.
Think about the last time that you searched for something online. You probably went straight to Google and typed in the name of the product you were looking for - or, if you knew exactly what you were looking for, maybe you searched the business name.
This is exactly the same way your customers are finding you online. They will be conducting a keyword search of either your business name (if they already know who you are) or the services/products you provide.
We’ve been helping businesses get to the first page of Google for eight years now, and a huge part of that involves staying on top of Google’s changing ranking strategies. Here are some of the things we consider when doing this:
Link building is a popular SEO strategy that involves getting external websites to link to pages on your website. This acts as a sort of map when Google ‘crawls’ your site with the links being the streets of that map. This strategy makes your website appear more valuable, so Google is more likely to show it to its searchers.
Though most people think keyword targeting is the most important SEO strategy, link building actually accounts for about 75% of what moves a properly built website to the first, second or third ranking on page one.
Keyword targeting involves using the search keywords that relate to your business and its products and services. They are essentially the search terms people use to look for your services.
You should never blindly guess what keywords your customers are using, as this could actually hurt your SEO efforts. So, the first step to keyword targeting is always good keyword research, so you know exactly which words to use in your content.
Once you’ve figured out what your most important keywords are (what we call “high value keywords”), you need to make sure they appear consistently and strategically in your content.
The best way to make sure your website appears when someone searches your business name is to have a “Google My Business” page. This is the first thing that will appear if someone searches your business name.
If you’re not on the first page of Google, you’re missing out on some BIG sales opportunities. Simply tell us your top selling services or products and we know we can deliver more visitors to your website - and more sales as a result! Get in touch today and let’s talk all things SEO.
Saltmedia Inc operates on the traditional territory of Treaty 8 in what is now known as Grande Prairie. We value the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit who lived and cared for this land long before Canada was founded, and we recognize that it is a privilege to operate our business here.
Our Prince George site operates on the traditional territory of the Lheidli T’enneh.
We are grateful to the Elders and Knowledge Keepers who are with us today, and those who’ve gone before us.
