SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of improving the quality and quantity of traffic to a website or web page from search engines. SEO is an essential element of digital marketing, and research shows that companies using search as a core part of their marketing strategy experience higher ROI than those who don’t.
The main objective of any SEO campaign is to help a business rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), which drives visibility and ultimately leads to more customers. To achieve this, there are many different things that need to be done, including keyword research, creating or optimizing content and building links. In addition, there are technical SEO elements such as website architecture and coding, and social media SEO.
Emerging verticals like voice, local, image and video search also present opportunities for businesses, but these new ways of searching still rely on the fundamentals of SEO. Keeping up with the latest research, best practices and other developments is an ongoing effort that needs to be built into any SEO strategy.
The purpose of a website or a web page is to provide information that will be useful or entertaining to its users, and ideally drive sales or conversions. To be successful, the content must include keywords that people are searching for, and it must be structured in a way that makes it easy for search engines to find and understand.
A web page’s title tag is one of the most important factors in its SEO, because it tells search engines what the page is about. It is also often the first thing a user sees when they open up a result in a search engine, making it an effective way to grab attention. A title tag should be clear and descriptive, and avoid stuffing keywords or making it too long.
Another important element is the alt> text for an image, which gives search engines a description of what the photo is so that they can include it in relevant searches. The URL slug is another area where keywords can be included, as it is what displays in the URL bar of a browser.
The most effective SEO strategies consider the full picture of a business, from the products and services it offers to its target audience, to its brand identity and even its physical location. By combining this knowledge with the most up-to-date research and best practices, SEO can be used to create more powerful marketing campaigns that deliver the right message at the right time to the most relevant audiences. This will in turn shorten the buying cycle and lead to more revenue for the business. Forrester research also shows that search has become the primary channel for researching product and service categories, so ranking highly in SERPs is critical to business success. This is why SEO has taken on a more prominent role in the planning stages of digital marketing.