What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO as it is better known, is responsible for optimizing the content from the website so it responds to the searches generated by the users in the search engines like Google or Bing to make our website appear in the first positions for users to access our website.
Why is it necessary to implement it?
Implementing SEO is necessary because it makes the website more useful for both users and search engines. Recently, brands have been looking to be found by users navigating the internet, thus, having an excellent SEO strategy can support the brand in being found by users and in this way close more business with them.
If the optimization is overlooked in the search engines, then it will be difficult to position pages and when people make the search with keywords that identify the brands, even if they have the correct information for the search, they simply will not show up in the first positions.
How is SEM different?
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. In other words, SEM is everything we can do to promote our products and services. It is divided in PPC (pay per click or publicity) and SEO (organic positioning). SEO then is born from SEM and consists in equipping your website with good texts so your pages can be positioned in the first places of the search.
What types of businesses or ventures should implement SEO?
In an ideal world, all businesses and ventures which have a digital fingerprint should invest in a SEO strategy that will help them organically position their brand.
What are the concepts and techniques to have in mind when talking about SEO? (organic positioning, Black Hat SEO, SEO Local, SEO in Google)
Keyword Research: Indispensable for a good SEO strategy. We need to understand what type of searches our potential clients are making so we can create content related to those key words used in their searches. By taking into account the users’ intentions, we have more opportunities to create high value content and this then appears in the users’ searches.
Backlinks strategy: Backlinks are links from other websites that direct to our website. These signals tell the search engines that our content is valuable and this helps the domain increase its authority. One backlinks strategy is based on making strategic alliances with other websites, so they place the link to our website in other pages. For example, a news article talking about the development of software and shares a link to a software provider.
Local SEO: The “close to me” type of searches have grown enormously in recent years, due to a considerable increase in the use of mobile devices. Google enabled a tool known as Google My Business. A powerful tool, but sadly forgotten, that allows brands to place the location of their store or area of coverage in the Google map free of charge. The optimization of this tool supports signals to the searchers to better position the brand’s website.
Mobile Friendliness: In 2019, Google implemented the indexing for mobile devices, which means that the search engine looks for the mobile device version of a website, considering this is the “principal” version instead of the desktop version. Therefore, having a Mobile Friendly website is very important today.
What benefits and results can brands obtain by implementing SEO?
Implementing a good SEO strategy results in ranking in the best positions in the searches on search engines. This gives a better positioning and brand recall for the users navigating the internet. Undoubtedly this means more organic traffic to the website and would be an opportunity to nurture new commercial relationships with clients they did not have before.
Having a SEO strategy will contribute to a more qualified traffic to their business website because the created content is thought to respond to the needs and searches that users are making that are related to the brand.
SEO is a long-term strategy, it can take between 6 to 12 months to achieve the optimal positioning. But nevertheless, in the same way that it takes time to improve positioning, it is difficult to lower it. The only way for this change is if there is an increase in the SEO competence or if there is a change in the Google algorithms.
What is needed to gain SEO positioning?
a. Make sure the website is accessible to the Google trackers
b. Making excellent use of titles, URLs, descriptions
c. Having a website with good speed and that is mobile friendly and ensures a great user experience
d. Share valuable content
e. Optimized images. Not just low-weight images which download quickly but also images with ATL labels to simplify tracking.
f. Use of optimized keywords that are related to the users’ search intent.
g. Optimize Local SEO to be positioned in geographic searches or “close to me”.
Why invest in SEO?
Investing in SEO means:
- Gain visibility in browsers.
- Improve the brand’s image.
- Increase organic traffic.
- Greater number of conversions.
- Savings in investment in publicity campaigns and marketing.
- Generate credibility and engagement with the client.
- Increase the usability and performance of the business’ website.
- Maintain relevance on the internet.
Myths about SEO (there are businesses that think SEO is to respond questions via WhatsApp)
The positioning can be bought: The search engines do not take economic factors into account to order their organic results. Instead, the pages that are positioned are those that comply with the best SEO practices and also those that successfully respond to the users’ interests.
Repeating keywords: It is true that certain repetition is important, but we should not fall into a senseless repetition. The key words should be put in the suitable context, giving the text sense where they are included.
Optimizing images is not necessary: Inserting ALT labels to the images will allow Google to read and index them. This way they will have a positive impact on the text and image searches.
