SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Whether you’ve just got your own website, or you’ve had one for a while but aren’t seeing results. SEO is probably what you’re missing! Here we’ve answered the top 8 questions about SEO.
What is SEO?
SEO isn’t just a marketing ‘buzzword’ it is something that every website will need at some point in their business journey. Ideally implemented from the get go! SEO is about showing search engines that you’re an authority in your niche so that they rank your pages higher in the search results.
To put it simply, it is a way of helping you gain more valuable traffic to your website and increasing your brand awareness. This time, it’s not your typical Google ads, these listings are free and up for grabs. Well, with the help of some good SEO.
It’s not only about understanding what those pesky search engines want, but it’s also about understanding what your customers want and giving them exactly that. As you begin to learn more about what they’re actually typing into Google (Plot Twist; maybe it’s not what you think!) you can then create content and optimise your website to give them all the information that they’d ever need. Solving people’s problems and answering their questions. Simple, right?
The aim of SEO is to increase two things: your relevance and your authority within your given sector. You want your users to find your content relevant and engaging, whilst knowing that you are the company they can rely on.
How much does SEO cost?
How long is a piece of string? At Breakout we charge you based on days, the more days you pay for, the quicker we can make changes.
Really the cost of SEO is what can you afford and how quickly do you want the work to get done? But keep in mind that SEO is still a long-term strategy and changes take time to produce results.
Do you need SEO?
Yes…
Sorry to break it to you, but everyone who owns a website should be paying an SEO specialist to manage their website.
Google changes their algorithm constantly, then there’s the big updates they do periodically. This means search engine rankings are also changing frequently. The best time to start is now, and the best time to stop is never.
If you want your website to rank organically for relevant keywords. Then you need SEO.
How does SEO work?
SEO is made up of 3 main areas: content, technical and link building.
Content is about providing your audience with valuable and knowledgeable information. This can be on your website pages and through blog posts. This tells your potential customers and search engines that you’re an authority in your field.
Technical SEO includes the speed of your site, accessibility requirements and metadata. These days, if your site is slow, people aren’t going to hang around waiting for it to load. You should also implement accessibility features, such as image alt. text. Search engines can’t tell what your images are, by using alt. text you can help give them even more information about your site.
Lastly, link building is about showing search engines your authority and trustworthiness. You need to get links from other reliable sites to improve your domain authority. Which in turn tells search engines that you deserve to rank higher.
How long will an SEO strategy take to work?
SEO is something that should be ongoing. This is because algorithms and rankings are always changing. If you stop all SEO activity, your rankings will eventually start to decline again.
We recommend at least 6-12 months to see the real effects of an SEO strategy.
Do I need to do PPC and Social as well?
You don’t need to, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea.
If you can do all 3, then you should. SEO is your long game strategy, building up your site authority with search engines to increase your organic traffic. PPC will get you in front of customers when they’re specifically searching for your products. Social can help compliment SEO and PPC by providing further authority with search engines and showing your customers that you’re trustworthy and knowledgeable.
Is SEO dead?
There’s a cheeky rumour that SEO will be old news at some point. But people have been saying that for years and SEO is still absolutely necessary.
If we were you, we wouldn’t hold out hope that SEO is going to become irrelevant one day. As long as search engines are around, SEO will be necessary for a high ranking site.
Can I do my own SEO?
Sure. But do you have the time and can you do it well?
SEO is ever changing and time consuming. You can absolutely do some of it yourself, but there’s a reason big companies hire agencies to do it for them. If you get it wrong, you dig yourself an even bigger hole to pull yourself out of.
So now you know what SEO is and why it’s important, reach out for a chat about how our SEO services can help your business.
At Breakout Media, we’ve got a team that can help improve your SEO. We can do the hard work for you. All you have to do is sit back and watch your site climb to the top of Google.
Give us a call on 01642 955370.
