What is SEO?
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the practice of working to increase both the quantity and quality of web traffic to your site.
Understanding SEO involves an understanding of people and what they are searching for on the web. Google uses a series of web crawlers that search web content and decide what content people will see first.
Organic vs. Paid Traffic
There are two types of traffic that are included in SEO:
- Organic traffic: Web visitors that find your website by searching a certain keyword, brand name, or typing in your website address
- Paid Traffic: This type of traffic comes from the text ads, web ads, and shopping ads that are at the very top of the page when searching for a certain piece of content
Better User Experience
Having good or bad SEO is usually a good indicator of the user experience (UX) on your website. Google will intentionally draw people away from your site if its web crawlers have a hard time navigating your website. If your traffic is low and is not increasing, this could be the issue.
If you are having a hard time figuring out why Google is having an issue crawling your site, there are a few things you can try:
- Check to make sure you have a sitemap uploaded to Google.
- Check your code to make sure the different elements on your site are properly defined.
Google has resources that will help you check these two steps.
SEO Is Cheap
If you build your website with SEO in mind from the very beginning, this process is a lot easier. What makes SEO so cheap is that, for a relatively low cost of $50 – $500, you can pay an expert to audit and make subtle changes to your site that will help drive in more traffic. After the initial work is done, you can continue to reap the rewards in the future.
To understand the value of search engine optimization and the organic traffic it brings, we have to compare what it would cost to bring the same traffic from advertising.
In this example, the amount of website traffic one business is getting through organic views would cost over $94,000 in advertising to replicate. This shows how expensive web traffic can be and how beneficial and cost-efficient SEO is in the long-run.
Long-Term Strategy
People should be able to find your website with or without advertising. In a down year or as a new brand, you may not have the funds to throw at advertising or to pay someone to advertise for you.
If you are currently are running advertising, ask yourself, “Is my current web traffic sustainable if I stop advertising?” If the answer is no, it might be time to invest in SEO.
Build your brand for free, and choose to pay for more traffic down the road if you want. Advertising should be a choice–and with SEO, it is.
Not sure how your website is performing and how it stacks up to your competitors? Contact me today for a free audit of your website. I will show you how Google sees your site through your Domain Score as well as give you the top 25 keywords that your website is ranking for in search.
MAD Man Marketing 