What exactly is SEO and why does my website need it?
Some people are not familiar with the term SEO. Others may have heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but may not be aware of its meaning and importance. There are actually a number of things that are critical to a website more than just high search engine rankings, although, when you ask different people, they have different ways of achieving it.
For a more comprehensive and accurate answer, people can take a close look at Google’s guidelines found on the Webmaster Tools site and look under the hood of SEO.
SEO has gotten a bad rap in the past due to a number of people using unauthorized techniques to profit from search engines, instead of working with them. The wrong choice of SEO professionals has negatively affected the reputation of many websites, making them invisible in search engine rankings when Google updates its algorithms.
On the other hand, deciding to choose quality SEO professionals can give a website several advantages, including further enhancement and promotion of its web pages.
The right SEO professionals:
- Review the quality and structure of web content;
- Fix bad meta settings that hurt rankings;
- Add new content to meet high quality standards, in order to improve the position in search results;
- Include keywords that are relevant to a company’s products/services to drive strong traffic;
Create a development plan online to make the websites a destination for your target demographic.
It is best to hire the services of an SEO professional when starting a new web design or planning to reformat a website. An SEO professional can significantly transform a website in many different ways, and the result can appear brand new and unrecognizable to its owner. Also, the website must be search engine friendly from the bottom up.
Better practices
It is important that any SEO professional adheres to the best practice guidelines required by Google and other search engines. That being said, an SEO should be able to share a number of things up front:
- Success Stories: An SEO professional should be willing to share the things he did for other websites, as well as the results.
- Knowledge of the Guidelines: You should be familiar with the Google Webmaster Guidelines: Chapter and Verse.
- Online Marketing Services – Must be able to improve existing web content.
SEO professionals who follow best practices will offer some specific things. They will also be transparent about the methods to be used, as well as the specific time frame to achieve the best possible results.
Deciding on the right person or company to look after SEO interests will benefit a company. On the other hand, making the wrong decision can lead to your failure. In case it is difficult to find the right SEO professional, it may be better for a business owner to do it on their own.
