If you have a website, or have ever had any part in creating one, you have probably at least heard of “SEO”. Of course, you may not know exactly what it is or why you should be interested in it.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. When you properly implement SEO on a website, it helps the site show up in search engine results, preferably within the first few pages so people actually see it. For example, if you have a website about granny smith apples in Ohio, you’ll want your site to show up as close to the top of Google, Yahoo, and Bing search results when someone searches for “apples in ohio,” “granny smith ohio apples,” etc. If your site is not search engine optimized, it may only show up on page 20 of the search results… and honestly, have you ever gone as far as page 20 when you are trying to find something? You probably pick something off of the first page of results, which is what most people do.

So SEO helps you get your website to where people will see it when they search for the subject of your site. More importantly, your site visibility is improved within “natural” search results (this is also referred to as unpaid, “organic,” or “algorithmic”), as opposed to paid listings. However, SEO is not necessarily free, and it requires some work and research. The search engines use an algorithm to rank websites, and this algorithm occasionally changes which in turn affects rankings. The point of the algorithms are to provide the most relevant results based on the actual content of a website (no one likes getting search results for oranges while they are searching for apples).

Keywords make up a big part of SEO, and you need to know what keywords are relevant to your site AND what people are searching for. Then your website content and HTML need to be edited to include these keywords. That’s not even close to the end of it, however… you need to bring the search engine robots in to index your site, utilize backlinks and inbound links, and update image tags to name just a few other methods of improving your site SEO.

It’s a time consuming process that can get very in depth, but it’s worth it if you can bring more people to your site to buy your apples. Keep up on your SEO, and you are sure to get into the algorithmic pearly gates!

If you’re interested in improving your site SEO, we have solutions ready to discuss. Give us a call at 215-256-4512, or send us an email at tomb@bergeycreativegroup.com.