Website SEO can drive more business your way

Imagine having a catchy advertisement in the middle of an uninhabited island that's miles away from any human activity. Would you be surprised if your business received absolutely no phone calls or e-mail enquiries from people who said they saw your advertisement and fell in love with your product or service (and the advertisement)? Chances are you wouldn't be very surprised. After all, if nobody saw your advertisement, it is hardly likely to evoke any response, isn't it? This example illustrates the concept of Website SEO.

These days, pretty much every business worth its salt has a presence on the worldwide web, which has become a mainstream channel for marketing and sales. Web-based marketing usually begins with a website that describes the company, its products and services, how to get in touch etc. Marketers then spend loads of time, money and effort in improving navigation and content. Over time, landing pages, downloadable assets like videos, podcasts, brochures etc. are added. But think about it: unless prospective customers know your website URL and consciously seek it out when they are on their computer (or with their smartphones), it is unlikely that they will reach your website except by accident. Website SEO is aimed at increasing the odds that your target audience gets to your website.

If you are unsure about what SEO stands for or means, perhaps this simple explanation will help. Search Engine Optimization, to give SEO its full name, is the process of ensuring that whenever someone searches for keywords that are relevant to your business, then your website ranks as close to the top of the results shown by the search engine. Contrary to popular perception, website SEO is not just about keywords or their density. Yes, having the right keywords on your website is necessary. But that's not sufficient. Site navigation, meta tags, URL structures and filenames are all important in optimising your website for search engines. Each search engine- Google, Yahoo, Bing- uses different search algorithms to trawl through the worldwide web. It is therefore important that your website is optimised for all major search engines. After all, you cannot predict which search engine your prospects will or will not use.

Search engines tweak their search process regularly, in order to deliver the most relevant web pages to users. That is why Website SEO is a continuous process and not a one-time effort. If your business operates in non-English speaking countries, you may need websites in local languages. Many countries have local language search engines. So if you want prospective customers from those markets to be aware of your company and products, you will need to optimise your local language sites as well. Optimising websites is a blend of science and art. It requires a thorough understanding of how search engines work and how they treat various techniques that are aimed at "optimising" a website. Some techniques, such as "keyword stuffing" are frowned upon. But remember also that the search engine only works on the keywords that the user types in. So optimising content also requires knowledge of the underlying subject matter.