What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

You’ve heard the term SEO. But what does it really mean?

SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is exactly what it sounds like: optimizing your website to show up on search engines like Google or Bing. But the actual practice of SEO is a lot harder than it sounds. Since Google’s ranking algorithms change constantly — and since Google won’t share what those algorithms even are — it can be difficult for digital marketers to keep up with the latest tactics for SEO, let alone implement them.

Many marketers claim to know the “secret” to mastering SEO, but here’s the real secret: there isn’t one. Ranking highly on search engines isn’t a matter of tricking Google — it’s a matter of making your website as user-friendly as possible by analyzing search trends, creating high-quality content, and making technical improvements to your site. It’s all part of a successful content marketing strategy.

Why Does SEO Matter?

Think about your own shopping habits. How often do you turn to Google to research a product or service?

Every second, Google processes more than 40,000 search queries.¹ That adds up to 3.5 billion searches in one day and 1.2 trillion searches each year. Don’t think for a moment that your customers aren’t going to Google to find their next product or service!

“One of the most foolish things any business owner can do is to throw marketing dollars at a digital giant like Google, Facebook, or Amazon when their website isn’t even showing up in organic search results.”

Need more convincing? Here are just a few of the benefits of SEO for your business:

• SEO brings high-quality traffic to your website. Because your customers are searching on their terms, you can bet the links they click are ones they actually want to see. That means they’ll stick around your site longer — and have a higher chance of conversion.
• SEO establishes brand awareness and trust. When your customers search on Google and find your website toward the top, they recognize your brand as a reputable authority on the topic. And when they read the helpful content on your website, they trust your business even more.
• SEO is cost-effective. News flash: you don’t actually have to pay for SEO. Aside from the time and resources you choose to invest, SEO is completely free — which means you get a much higher return on investment (ROI) than many other marketing tactics.

Independent Auto Dealers See Organic Traffic Increases with Affordable SEO Package

The 3 Main Areas of SEO

Before you can master search engine optimization, you need to know the three main areas:

1. On-page SEO: Improving the visible parts of your website (e.g. incorporating relevant keywords, creating topical pillar pages, or publishing regular blog posts).
2. Off-page SEO: Improving the technical parts of your website (e.g. editing page meta descriptions, adding alt text to images, or improving site load time).
3. Local SEO: Combining tactics from on- and off-page SEO to increase your visibility in local search queries (e.g. claiming your Google Business Profile listing or responding to online reviews).

INTEK Cleaning & Restoration Ranks Nationally on Google with Awesome SEO

How to Know if Your SEO is Working?

It’s hard to know if your SEO is actually working when you don’t know what you are looking for. Setting goals on key performance indicators will help you and your business know if you are doing your SEO correctly. 

Our team recommends four key metrics to track your SEO performance. Check out our blog for more tips and insight on if your SEO is actually working.

How Do You Know if SEO Is Actually Working?

Why Choose 9 Clouds for SEO?

At 9 Clouds, we live and breathe SEO. Not only is it the core of our own marketing strategy, but it’s also at the center of the digital marketing services we offer our clients.

With our search engine optimization (SEO) service, we will:

• Review and optimize your current pages.
• Create topical blog posts and landing pages that attract and convert new visitors.
• Establish your store as a trusted resource in your community by increasing your presence on Google and other search engines.

To give you a better idea of what we’re talking about, you can see the SEO results we’ve achieved for our clients by reading our SEO case studies.

Why Work with 9 Clouds?