The term SEO gets bandied around a lot, and many of us have a vague idea as to what it refers to, but most of us would have a hard time explaining exactly what it is? And why you would actually need it other than, “oh I remember reading blog ages ago and it said it was important”. if you want a more in-depth look at SEO and how it works and how to do it check out this other blog post on our website!

So below I go through 4 of the most frequently asked questions about SEO to help you in 2021

What Is SEO?

SEO is an acronym that stands for search engine optimization. It refers to techniques that help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This makes your website more visible to people who are looking for your type of product or service when using internet search engines like google, yahoo or bing

How does Search Engine Optimization actually work?

SEO works by optimizing a website’s pages, for search engine usage. Basically, search engines read your website and collect various pieces of data which is then used to classify your website on their interior ranking systems. Seo makes this princess easier for the search engine. This is usually done by conducting keyword research and earning inbound links. You can generally see the results of SEO efforts once the webpage has been crawled and indexed by a search engine. An easy example to help you understand is the hashtags function on Instagram. SEO is like a more complex version of hashtag optimization that occurs on your own website.

Why is SEO important?

Search engine optimization is important because it helps you get your website in front of your customers with greater ease. SEO is also important generally as it is how search engines are able to categorize the infinite amount of information. All you are doing with SEO on your website is making the search engines’ life easier, and thus by extension your customer’s life easier.  SEO is especially important for businesses as it ensures they’re answering their audience’s biggest questions on search engines while driving traffic to their products and services.

SEO success can be obviously measured by whether or not you were ranked high on the first page of the search engine of your choice. This is important, as you want to be the first thing your potential customers see, but, like with Instagram, you might have the wrong keywords, and the wrong kind of people are seeing you. This can result in getting high traffic, but a low customer retention or engagement rate. This is where you have to pay attention. As you want the right people to see your website or else you are wasting a lot of time and energy

Also, you don’t necessarily need to be on the number 1 page to have a useful impact on your sales. If you are further down the google search you may still have a high clickthrough rate, albeit less traffic.

(if you want to know more in-depth about this check out: Here’s Why your Website is getting No Traffic)

What is a Search Engine Optimisation strategy?

An SEO marketing strategy is a comprehensive plan to get more visitors to your website through search engines. Successful SEO includes on-page strategies, which use intent-based keywords; and off-page strategies, which earn inbound links from other websites.

These are quite simple beginner-level questions about Search Engine Optimisation, but if you are just starting out these will help you understand how and why your website does the things that it does! SEO is a little cryptic and none really fully understands it, as most search engines keep their algorithms’ actual rules very secret to prevent anyone from gaming the system.