Nov
03
2016
What is search engine optimization (SEO)?
The really great news about getting your Alaskan business to the top of search results is that search engine optimization (SEO) is a new concept. Businesses in Alaska have not really adopted SEO into their internet marketing plans. Starting SEO now means getting a big head-start.
SE-What? The primary reason search engine optimization is not widely adopted in Alaska is that most people have no idea what SEO is. First off, SEO is an essential part of an effective internet marketing plan. Internet marketing is basically the modern equivalent of what advertising was 30 years ago. People spend more and more time searching Google, cruising on social media, and perusing websites than watching TV/internet ads, promo videos, or reading brochures. Internet marketing is simply trying to direct relevant customers to you online.
Search engine optimization is the attempt to be visible and attract customers who are searching for items/services that your business provides. This involves two things: ranking high on search results and providing content that is highly relevant to what potential customers would want to see.
What are keyword phrases and keywords
SEO is an essential part of helping the relevant customers find you. When customers are searching for services/items that your business provides, they will use different "keyword phrases" to find answers to their questions or needs. Keywords are the primary words that are used in the search, and the phrase is how those words are put together.
For example, a tourist looking for a fishing company in Alaska might search for things like "Best fishing company in Alaska," or "Top Alaska fishing guides." Can you see the keywords in the two examples above? For a fishing company in Alaska, their main keywords would be things like "Alaska," "Fishing guide," "Fishing company." The keyword phrases would be different variations of those keywords.
The more relevant your keyword phrases are, the higher you will appear on search results.
Use keywords to rank high in search results
Once businesses have their keywords, the main concern is how to use keywords to reach a greater number of relevant customes by increasing search rankings. To do this, businesses should:
- Include keywords in image names (i.e., image alt tag)
- Include keyword phrases in the website
- Write blogs based around keyword phrases, and peppering them in blogs
- Share blog posts and content on social media and including keyword phrases
There are other important technical aspects of search engine optimization, but the above bullet points give you the basic idea. SEO keywords are an extremely important part of an internet marketing strategy, and can dramatically increase business.
Why is SEO important?
To give you an idea why SEO is important, here are 5 statistics:
- 1/7 people who find you from search results will become customers vs. 1/50 for traditional advertising
- 60% of all clicks go to top 3 search results
- 90% of people never go to the second page of Google
- Companies that blog have over 4x as many indexed pages (4x more opportunities for people to find them when searching)
- 70%-80% of people ignore paid ads and only focus on search results