How to Boost Your Business Online
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for building your business online. It refers to measures you take to boost your business’ visibility on search engines like Google.
A high SEO ranking means your webpage appears closer to the top of related search results. This builds your credibility as a business and leads to a positive feedback loop: more people visiting your webpage further improves your search ranking, which leads to even more views, which leads to higher digital engagement, increasing brand awareness and sales.
Beyond the number of visitors to your page, other factors that affect your SEO ranking include the user-friendliness of your website (is it easy for your website visitors to find what they are looking for?), the amount of content (more high-quality content, no filler, can help give you an edge over competitor websites), and the use of key words (does your site incorporate language that the people searching for your services are likely to punch into a search engine?).
Here is a brief explanation of the three SEO criteria you should keep in mind while crafting your digital marketing plan.
1. On-Page SEO
This refers to the way that the copy on your webpage is crafted to enhance your SEO ranking. Think about keywords that people are most likely to search that are relevant to your brand. You’ll want to incorporate those words and phrases in your website copy. This is particularly important in your headlines as well as your opening paragraphs and sentences.
However, you want to avoid overloading the copy with keywords at the expense of readability. This can actually detract from your SEO performance. Relevant, high-quality, and high-resolution images can also help improve your SEO performance, but placement is key – you do not want to push relevant written content down the page.
2. Off-Page SEO
This refers to the use of links to your page from other websites and vice versa, both of which enhance your SEO performance. For example, you own a cookie gram company, and a credible food blogger mentions you in an article and links back to your website. By doing this, they help validate your website.
For Google, these backlinks are crucial for your SEO ranking because it offers an indication of how visible and well regarded your business is externally. Backlinks that come from authoritative sites — meaning websites that are well known to search engines like Google — are especially valuable. This is why social media and influencer outreach can be a powerful tool for SEO.
3. Technical SEO
This refers to the way your website is structured and coded. Think of it as your website’s foundation. According to Google Search Central, by improving the backend structure, you’re focusing on creating a good user experience (i.e. faster loading time, mobile friendly, security and more). If your website is secure and works on all devices, then search engines tend to rank it higher.
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