What is SEO and why is it important

What is SEO?

Search engine optimisation has changed massively over the past few years along with the changes in the google algorithm. Honestly speaking even though the changes have been turbulent they have been for the right reasons and place user experience at the heart, first and foremost.

Search engine optimisation or SEO is the process of optimising your website so that the search engines:

1. Understand you site.

2. Understand where your site should feature in the results along with your competitors, which is based upon your deemed authority and Google’s judgement.

3. Increase traffic and conversions through positioning your site in front of the right people at the right time.

That is of course a very top line view and does not touch on the different technical and linking requirements in order to achieve success, it does however present the aim of SEO.

I was always surprised to see so many businesses who did not understand the value and importance of SEO when in a B2C market. They knew and understood paid search as this had offered quick returns so they invested time and time again. Unfortunately whilst paid has massive impact and value especially in the short term, it is by its very nature expensive and can easy grow unprofitable.

In order to have a long standing business, in my view you either need to or should have a strong low cost per sale / acquisition channel, built to support and enable the high cost of paid advertisement for growth and capturing opportunities.

SEO can be split into two parts, this has not changed over the years. You have on- page and technical requirements which essentially help google to effectively understand the content and quality of your site (part a). Then you have the external link authority (part b) which provides the search engines with a view on how authoritative your site is and how more or less valuable your site is compared to your competitors.

Over the years there have been many updates to the google algorithm which sent shock waves through the SEO industry. Google issued penalties which resulted in the offending site receiving less traffic, being pushed far back in the search results pages for relevant terms and even removing sites from their index. You will find more about these updates here:moz.com/google-algorithm-change but needless to say these changes were put in place for the right reason and it is clear how business owners can avoid getting themselves into these situations. Unfortunately, there still are many “out dated” SEO organisations who are still carrying out the activities which are questionable and “wrong” in the eyes of Google. These are the very practices which will ultimately result a “penalty” or similar and provide a very poor return on investment, ROI for the business.

There are a few fundamentals to get in place and maintain however once you know and understand the requirements you can manage the optimisation and growth in a frugal manner, most likely with a mix of internal and external support to achieve success on a limited budget.