What is SEO and Why Are Keywords so Important?
While the word, SEO, may be prevalent in all things internet marketing, not everyone knows what it means. Don’t worry if you find yourself in that group of newbies just trying to develop or expand an internet presence with a little marketing.
SEO is short for, Search Engine Optimization. SEO in its most basic definition is a method websites use to bring in new visitors through good listings on popular search engines. Site developers make it easier for search engines to find their sites. Hopefully, they also make it so these same engines want to place their websites first on a results page.
It seems simple enough doesn’t it? All we’re really doing is bringing new visitors to a business website. In practice though, SEO can get a little confusing. Let’s break the process down a little:
What do we want?
More visitors to the website and more potential customers.
How do we get that?
Make the site show up on the search engines – Ideally, the first page of results.
How do we get on the first page of anyone’s search results?
- Pay for first page listings when a certain search term is typed in.
- Advertise on search engines sidebars with ads related to specific terms.
- Optimize the website and content for specific, related and popular search terms.
Once we look at the different ways to get first page ranking and more customers, trends start to pop up. Take a look at the three options above for getting a good ranking. Is there a common tie between them? They all rely on good keywords.
That’s one of the keys to bringing in more visitors with SEO marketing. Find the best keywords, or the most popular search terms used by people looking for your product or service online. Once found, these keywords can be used strategically on website names, Meta descriptions, web content, articles and more to increase rankings.
A business can use one or all of these three methods to achieve the ranking they want for that website. Of course, the first two are tried and true advertising and require payment each month to the search engines for those great listings.
Paying for a listing is fine if you’re an established business with a large advertising budget. Advertising based on searches can get pretty expensive. Not everyone has the money to sustain a first or second place listing on a results page.
However, there’s an option for the little guy. SEO for your website is a lot cheaper in the end and you’ll find that marketing money is put to better use in updating a website with good search terms.