If you own a website, chances are you’ve heard the term “SEO” being thrown around at some point. You may even see advertisements for it around the internet, with companies offering to “improve your SEO ranking” or “increase your sales and leads.” However, the question remains, what is SEO and why would you need it?
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO), is the process of increasing the scale and quality of traffic to your website by improving how your website ranks with a search engine, like Google. In a nutshell, SEO helps your website become featured on the first page of Google for the search terms you want to show up for. There are a number of factors that go into improving your website’s SEO, here are just a few:
- Keywords
- SSL certificate (i.e. https, instead of http)
- A mobile-optimized website
- Loading speed of the website
- Website content being shared on social media
- Backlinks (i.e. Having other websites link to yours)
How successfully your website ranks in Google is largely dependent on whether you meet the criteria for all of these factors. The more factors you satisfy, the more likely you’ll be on the front page of Google’s search results. Fortunately, there are a number of easy-to-use SEO plugins and programs on the Internet that allow you to optimize your website’s SEO.
Why might your website need SEO?
Back in 2017, Forbes reported that websites featured on the first page of Google captured almost 92% of web traffic. In 2019, it’s believed this number may have grown as high as 95%, meaning that if your website isn’t featured on the front page, there is a pretty good chance you are missing out on valuable web traffic. For businesses that want to generate leads or sell their own products online, website traffic is a must. If you’re a company with a product for sale, but you’re on the third page of Google’s search results, the odds are pretty high you’re going to lose traffic and sales to the company that’s on the first page.
Contact the Dauntless team today to get a free consultation on whether your website might need SEO!
Mike Valdez is the Policy Coordinator for Dauntless Communications.
