Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is now a basic requirement for any company or organization that is serious about its online presence and reputation. Even so, not many clients really understand what SEO does and what to expect in terms of services. Here, we explain how to be an informed client and the ways in which you can contribute towards making your SEO campaign more effective.

What is SEO?

SEO is often defined as a set of practices and methods for driving organic traffic to your website with the help of keywords. However, SEO is so much more than simply finding the right keywords and getting a good ranking on the search engines. At its core, the real purpose of SEO is ‘to help those who are looking for you to find you.’ It involves anticipating the needs of your potential client base and presenting your website as a means of fulfilling those. SEO is about getting free traffic, yes. But more than that, it is about getting the ‘right’ kind of traffic – the kind that will result in a high conversion rate.

Let us take the example of a party planner who runs a blog themed on party ideas and current trends. Since she posts articles that include mentions of party menus, people looking for ideas for party recipes often land on her website. However, someone looking for recipes for party food and drinks is most likely to be organizing the party themselves. So the traffic from those keywords does not help her business in any way. This business owner needs an SEO strategy that brings the kind of traffic to her website which has a higher potential for conversion.

Why does my website need SEO?

It is important to be visible to your clients and customers who are looking for your products and services. However, a search engine reads a web page much differently from human eyes. It can only process text, and not images or video. It has no way to judge the relevance and quality of the content in a video or image.

Good SEO techniques involve the use of correct keywords within the content to tell the search engines what your website is about. Labeling and tagging techniques are used to help convey the relevance of images, videos, or flash animations on your website. By targeting the correct keywords within the content, you can ensure that your clients land on the correct pages on your website. This helps reduce the bounce rate and improve the conversion rate.

Cheap SEO vs. Good SEO

There is no such thing as cheap SEO. It is not uncommon for clients to employ SEO services mainly on the basis of cost and then to wonder a year or so down the line, whether they threw the money away. There are a few ways to tell whether the SEO firm you are hiring is on the level.

Beware of any SEO firm that claims to get you on the top of search results every single time.  SEO is no longer about just keywords and links. Search engines are constantly trying to improve the user experience based on history, preferences, location, etc. This means that search results can vary from person to person based on a number of factors. The best way to consistently rank higher in search engine results is to produce relevant and good quality content. A good SEO firm will outline a strategy that is largely content driven, and will not depend entirely on keywords and back links for traffic and search rankings.

Some SEO bad practices to watch out for

When employing SEO services, it is a good idea to check whether they follow the Webmaster guidelines. Search engines are constantly updating their methods to eliminate bad SEO practices. The use of black hat techniques such as keyword stuffing and buying links may boost traffic to the website for some time, but the search engine could penalize the site by marking it down in search results or even banning the site altogether.

A clear indicator of a good SEO firm is how open they are about their methods and how willing to educate the client. Of course, all companies have their trade secrets, but a good SEO firm will ensure that their client has at least a basic understanding of SEO and is able to participate in formulating the SEO strategy and aligning it with company goals.

What to expect from your SEO expert?

An SEO company usually provides a wide range of services. The package that you opt for usually varies from client to client based on the business needs and goals. However, the services can be broadly divided into the following three parts:

1. An initial technical review of the website

An SEO company usually starts with an analysis of the existing website to identify weaknesses in the structure and to determine site’s current search rankings. Even if they are building the site from scratch, this is the point where they review and identify your business objectives, educate their client about SEO, and perform a competitive analysis.

2. On-Page optimization

Based on the technical analysis, recommendations are made to improve the existing structure of the website to make it easy to crawl along with recommendations for changes to the existing content. SEO experts use tools to find the right keywords that can be targeted to drive both organic and paid ad words traffic to your website. These targeted keywords are then used to optimize all the parts of the website such as title tags, alt tags, metadata, page URLs, etc.

3. Off Page optimization

Off Page optimization involves using various techniques to make your website easier to find and to improve search rankings with the help of valid back linking. It can include directory submissions, link building, social bookmarking, etc.

How can I tell if the SEO strategy is working?

Exponentially increased traffic to your website is not the only measure of an effective SEO campaign. A good SEO strategy is aligned with the goals of your website. These goals could range from selling products online to generating leads to brand building.  Your SEO campaign is considered to be truly effective only when it helps in translating the goals of the website into business goals. This is accomplished by driving relevant traffic to your website that engages in the type of behavior that helps meet your site objectives.

Finally, tools like Google Analytics are used to track whether your website goals are being met. The analytics tool can be used to track Key Performance Indicators such as the site’s search ranking, traffic from referrals and social sources, and the performance of target keywords with regards to the quantity and quality of traffic that they bring to your site. Apart from this, the conversion rate and the increased engagement of your site’s target audience on the social media are also pretty strong indicators that your SEO campaign is doing well. Reports generated for purpose of performance tracking should be clear and concise and contain actionable data.

Conclusion

SEO is a continuous process, not a onetime solution. Search engines constantly change and update their techniques to keep improving the user experience. SEO experts need to stay on top of all developments to ensure that their clients’ websites are consistently visible to those looking for their services. As a client, understanding how SEO works helps you contribute better towards building an effective SEO campaign.