What is SEO for a business?
SEO is short for search engine optimization, the process of optimizing a website for search engines.
An effective SEO strategy is necessary for a business website to increase traffic to get leads and/or close sales.
Think of traffic to your website like foot traffic to a retail store. The more foot traffic a retail store gets, the higher the chance of increased sales.
Any B2B or B2C businesses in today’s world must use SEO to get an advantage over their competitors.
What is the difference between SEO & SEM?
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing, which are the ads shown when a person searches for something using Google.
SEM is paid and SEO is free. However, technically you will still need to pay someone to create content and configure your website.
SEM is predictable and SEO is unpredictable. Let’s say you have RM10,000 to spend, you can expect 10,000 clicks if you were to pay for ads using Google SEM, but for SEO you can expect either 0 or 100,000+ clicks for over 10 years.
SEO is useful as part of a large, long-term marketing plan with a huge budget. Smaller businesses can still use SEO to improve search by adjusting their website settings and creating highly relevant content.
How to use SEO for a business?
SEO can be rather technical, especially for those who aren’t in the digital marketing industry. Here are some SEO factors that are simple to understand and implement.
I’ll split them up into 3 parts:
- Search engine factors
- Own website factors
- Other website factors
1. Search engine factors
Search engine factors are factors that are related to search engine websites. Think of them as the main gateway to the internet.
Google dominates the search engine market since around 8 out of 10 searches are done using Google’s search engine, so it’s important to prioritize optimizing your business website for searches on Google.
People who search using a search engine are looking for something specific, and it’s Google’s job to connect those people to someone who can provide that solution.
Be the solution provider by answering any questions that they may have that are related to your industry. For example, people looking for car brands within their budget will read blogs or watch videos that list a variety of cheap cars instead of luxury cars.
Explore some of those questions that are asked, create some content around them, and introduce your products and services along with your answer.
The more suitable your solutions are, the more likely you’ll be placed near the top.
2. Own website factors
Own website factors are factors that are related to your own business website. Think of it as the “online office/retail shop” where you want people to “walk-in”.
Google needs to know the solutions that you can provide before they can recommend you, which is why they’ll need a lot of information about your business.
The best way to go about this is to convey this information through your website by providing as many descriptive keywords as possible.
Here are some of the factors that will affect your search engine ranking that you should optimize for:
- Title – your website title must be concise and you should keep it under 60 characters.
- Description – elaborate more on your title, and keep it under 160 characters.
- Image – size your images accordingly to allow your website to load quicker.
- Video – use YouTube for faster loading time.
- URL link – should be similar to your title, keep it short and sweet.
- Safety – always use website encryption like HTTPS (requires technical skill).
- Shareability – allow your website to be shared easily (bite-sized content).
- Screen size – make your website viewable on mobile or desktop devices.
- Content – focus on providing value by answering questions and education.
- Relevance – create relevant content (cars and motors are more relevant compared to cars and food)
You should also be looking at what your competitors are doing as they will already probably have an SEO plan in place.
Conduct your own research on a few keywords that are related to your business and read up on the content that your competitors have created. Get some inspiration and improve on where they fall short.
3. Other website factors
Other website factors are factors that are related to websites owned by other people. Think of it as what others are saying about you, it can affect your standing on Google too.
Websites such as news websites, social media websites, product review websites, and even your competitors’ websites fall into this category.
Even though what happens on other people’s websites is generally out of your control, there are a few ways to gain some control back.
Social media websites such as Facebook allow you to create content and answer questions. Use them as a secondary website to push your content out (and customer service) but always lead them back to your main website.
Most news websites provide article writing services for a fee. Consider purchasing articles to highlight your business in a good light and link that article to your website.
Product review websites, forums, and other user-generated content websites are tricky as people use them to complain. Consider having a customer service representative to manage customer service, or observe their comments and improve your products and services from there.
Competitor websites would usually feature you in comparison to their products and services. Use this comparison to improve your own offerings, or have a friendly rivalry like Coke and Pepsi.
Conclusion
SEO is essential for all business websites to gain traffic and sales in today’s digital world. Your business website should have an effective SEO strategy in place.
Answer questions that people ask on the search engine, mind some of the technicalities, provide meaningful content, and leverage indirect methods for a better ranking.