SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.

It’s the art of making websites appealing to Search Engines (like Google or Bing) so that they appear higher for certain keywords.

It is a constantly adapting field as marketers adjust to changes in Search Engine algorithms and new technology.

Your website is useless to you unless it’s seen, and websites with high rankings for the right keywords are practically guaranteed more visibility.

You see, research shows that about 50% of people will click on one of the top 3 search results for any given search (not including Ads, Maps, etc.). After that, the chances of a website getting clicked on is significantly smaller, with practically no one going to the second page of Google.

Think about it. How often do you scroll down when searching on Google? When was the last time you went to the second page of Google? Amongst SEO groups, the second page of Google is often metaphorically referred to as, “the best place to hide a dead body.”

If your website controls one of the top 3 spots for a popular search, you will get more visibility than potentially thousands of other websites. For a business, this means more chances to turn website visitors into customers. However, if you don’t control the top 3 spots, then you may have to win at other keywords, or find an alternative method to be seen.

SEO is applied to a website in two ways: On-Page-SEO and Off-Page-SEO.

On-Page-SEO is taking the pages on your website and making them relevant to keywords (words used in Google Searches) you desire to appear in, while appealing to search engines. This involves making sure your website is fast, mobile-friendly, includes a healthy amount of the right keywords, has alt-text for images, linking between pages, not having a high bounce-rate, and more.

Off-Page-SEO is making your website “popular” amongst other websites. The main way of doing this is having other websites link to yours. For example, by getting links from social media (yours or others), local news stations, and blogs, you are telling Google Search Engines that your site is relevant to a specific keyword, and all these other sites agree.

Think of it like how race cars are built. Hours and hours of study have been spent optimizing cars to race as fast as they possibly can be so they can be first in a race. Things like wind, gravity, traction, etc. all have an effect on the car, and the builders have taken the time to find out how to build a car to take advantage of all this.

Let’s take an example: you own a Taco Restaurant, and you want to appear first for the search term, “Taco Restaurant Boise Idaho” because you’ve done research and know it’s a search that gets a lot of traffic.

For on-page-SEO, your site would frequently mention the words Taco, Restaurant, Boise, and Idaho. Meanwhile, you’d ensure the website was of high-quality, with fast load speeds, attractive designs, etc. For off-page-SEO, you might ask local review places to mention your restaurant in their posts, get the news station to take a tour, link to the site from your social media pages, and more. Ideally, this would tell Google that your site is relevant to the search “Taco Restaurant Boise Idaho” and rank your site higher for it and other similar searches.

SEO sounds necessary right? Or is it? The results can be worth it, but here are things not everyone will tell you.

• If your site doesn’t end up and remain in the top 3-5 spaces for quality searches, or at least enough mid-traffic searches, then the time and money you invested in SEO will be for nothing.
• SEO is also a field where it’s far too easy to cheat (known as Black Hat SEO), making it harder for companies trying to do it the right way (White Hat SEO). Learn more in the FAQs.
• Even if your White Hat SEO efforts get you #1 rankings, there is the risk of being pleasing to Google, yet not pleasing to your site visitors, making it less likely for them to turn into customers. In other words, in seeking higher Google rankings, you may sacrifice your website’s ability to sell.
• There is no guarantee of rankings. SEO is a constantly changing environment. Search Engines are changing the rules of SEO all the time. Most of it these changes are small, but a big change could drastically affect your rankings.
• Other businesses or advertising companies could be competing for the same spots as you, and even direct bad-links to your website to negatively affect it. It’s like making a bowl of chili while others are adding unknown ingredients.
• It consumes a great deal of your time, money, or both. These are resources that could be aimed at more reliable and more profitable forms of advertising.
• White hat SEO is a very slow and tedious process. And your best efforts may not bring you to the first page of Google.
• Black Hat SEO breaks Google’s policies. If you or your advertising company uses Black Hat SEO, there is always the risk of being caught by Google, and your site receiving penalties that will make sure it never sees the first page of Google again.
• Black Hat SEO is like taking steroids, it must constantly be applied. If you stop, you will quickly lose the results.
• You are essentially fighting for a digital billboard, one you will pay for whether people see it or not.

While I believe a certain amount of SEO is necessary for every website, is it right for your website and business?

For small businesses, I truly believe you can find more productive and powerful ways to promote your business. Personally, I love to recommend PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising. Things like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc., offer systems where you only pay if a visitor clicks on your ad. In other words, you are directly paying for people to look at your website.

PPC Advertising allows you to directly see the cause and effects of your investment (x amount of money brought y amount of people, leading to z amount of profits). Tracking such results aren’t as clear with SEO, not to mention there’s no struggle for rankings, little guess-work, etc. If you’re paying enough and making relevant ads, then you will be seen.

Other than PPC Advertising, there’s always more creative ways to promote your business as well, whether it be fairs, having the right contacts, etc.

For larger companies with big goals and aspirations, looking to dominate anywhere and everywhere, SEO is likely something for you to pursue. If done right, it can produce amazing results.

For businesses in specialized, high-priced niches with very little competition, it may be worth investing in SEO on a wide scale to gather business from multiple places.

For now, feel free to learn more about SEO in the FAQs below.