Although paid advertising, social media and other online platforms may generate traffic to websites’ websites, most traffic comes from search engines. Search engines generate more traffic than paid advertising, as organic search results have more digital real estate and appear more trustworthy to searchers. They also receive more clicks than paid advertisements. For example, only 3.14% click on paid advertisements in India (according to LocalIQ data of September 2021).
SEO is one of the few online marketing channels that can pay long-term dividends if it’s done correctly. Your traffic will increase if you have solid content that ranks for the right keywords. Advertising requires continued funding to bring traffic to your site. Although search engines are becoming smarter, they still require our assistance. Optimizing your website will improve the information available to search engines, so your content can be correctly indexed and displayed in search results.
Do I need an SEO consultant, professional or agency?
Depending on your time and willingness to learn, you can do basic SEO by yourself. You might decide that an expert is more beneficial for you. It doesn’t matter what, it is OK!
It is important to understand that although many companies and consultants claim to offer SEO services, they can differ in their quality. It’s important to know how to select a quality SEO company. The wrong SEO techniques can cause more harm than good for your website.
SEO: White hat or black hat?
White hat SEO refers to SEO strategies, best practices, and techniques that adhere to search engine rules, primarily providing more value to users.
Black hat SEO refers to strategies and techniques that spam or fool search engines. Although black hat SEO is possible, it can put websites at great risk of being penalized (removed from search results) or de-indexed (removed). It also has ethical implications.
Penalized websites have bankrupted businesses. It is another reason to be careful when selecting an SEO agency or expert.
The SEO industry and search engines have similar goals. Search engines want you to succeed. Google has a Search Engine Optimization Guide. They are also supportive of the efforts of the SEO community. Google supports webmasters and SEOs via their Webmaster Central Help Forum, and hosts live office hangouts.
Although webmaster guidelines may vary from one search engine to another, the basic principles remain: Don’t try to trick search engine spiders. Instead, give your visitors a wonderful online experience. Follow search engine guidelines to fulfil user intent.
Google Webmaster Guidelines
The basic principles:
- Create pages that are primarily intended for users and not search engines.
- Don’t deceive your users.
- Search engine ranking enhancements should be avoided. It’s a good rule to ask yourself if you feel comfortable telling a Google employee what you did to a website. A good test is to ask, “Does it help my users?” What if search engines weren’t available?
- Consider what makes your website special, valuable, and engaging.
Avoid these things:
- Content automatically generated
- Participating in link programs
- Pages with very little or no original content (i.e. Copying content from another source
- Cloaking is the practice of showing search engine crawlers content that is different from visitors.
- Hidden text and linked
- Doorway pages rank highly for certain searches and funnel traffic to your site.
Guidelines to represent your local business on Google
A Google My Business listing is available in the SEO business you are performing has a local presence. It could be a physical storefront or a vehicle that drives to customers’ homes to provide service. Google guidelines govern local businesses such as these.
The basic principles
- You must ensure that you are eligible to be included in the Google My Business Index.
- All aspects of your local business data should be accurately and honestly represented, including the name, address, phone number and website addresses, business categories, hours and other features.
Things to Avoid
- Google My Business Listings for entities not eligible
- A false representation of your core business information includes “stuffing your business name” with geographical or service keywords or creating listings for fake addresses.
- Instead of street addresses, use PO boxes or virtual office instead.
- Use of Google My Business review section to fake positive reviews for your business and negative reviews from your competitors.
Knowing your end goal is necessary to draw a good SEO strategy. Each website is unique, so it’s important to take the time and understand each site’s goals. It will help you decide which SEO areas you should focus on, track conversions, and what benchmarks to use. It will also help create talking points to help you negotiate SEO projects with clients, bosses and others.
SEO is more than just vanity metrics. SEO can help real businesses reach their goals when done correctly.
