Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the practice of improving the position of a website within search engines results pages. Its ultimate aim is to get a website or webpage placed in position #1 for the keywords and keyword phrases being targeted. For example, Cadbury will want to appear in the #1 position for the search query ëchocolate barí.
The reasons for making sure your businessís website appear in position #1, or at least on the first page of the search engine results are plentiful. First are foremost, almost all consumers surf the internet on fact finding missions before they make a purchase. Browsing paper directories has become something of the past and we now make all enquiries for products and services through search engines.
Looking at the habits of people using search engines it has been found that 90% of people will never actually look past the first page of search results. Moreover, staggeringly 42% of people searching on Google always click on the #1 ranking page. Figure 1 below shows how the rest of people click.
Can you afford to miss out on consumers who are willingly searching for your product or service online?
You will notice that results that appear on the third page of Google do not even merit a single percentage point. If your website is not present on at least the first two pages of Google, to some extent your website is invisible. Liken it to your physical shop-front being down a back lane where no one goes! If your businessís website does not appear on the first page of the search engine results pages (SERPs) but your competitors are, then imagine how many potential consumers you could be missing out on. You need to be ranking on page 1 to be making the most of the demand in your industry.
A powerful SEO campaign will increase the amount of targeted traffic and potential customers to your website dramatically.
A powerful SEO campaign will increase the amount of targeted traffic and potential customers to your website dramatically. The ëState of Digital Marketingí 2012 survey showed that SEO is the #1 channel for developing leads online with almost 60% of digital marketing companies surveyed saying that it makes the biggest impact on their lead generation efforts. Imagine the sort of money you could be making if you were ranked #1 on Google for your targeted keywords.
Having your businessís website appearing on the first page also creates a feeling in the consumers mind that your business is a well-respected brand that is highly authoritative in its industry.
It is often thought that applying SEO best practices to a website is a highly technical skill that only a trained expert can implement. Over the course of this chapter I will show you exactly how easy it is to implement the most important SEO best practices to your own businessís website, dramatically increasing its position in the search engine result pages in the process.