The goal of search engine optimization is to get potential clients to your website when they need your products or services. It’s a matching process that’s configured to the way search engines work. So, to understand how SEO works, we first have to understand how search engines work.
Search engines like Google index the content, structure, and quality of every website. While it all happens in fractions of a second, the engine first looks at what the searcher wants. Then it finds all the sites that have content about that topic. Then it narrows down the number of matching sites based on the quality of the site, useability factors like load time and mobile friendliness, and finally the context and settings, such as the searcher’s location.
Google wants to find the best matches for the searcher. You want to find the best matches for your business. Based on the factors considered, you first need to have a high-quality website. That may mean adding, editing, or re-organizing content, improving menus and navigation, or making technical upgrades. Links from other sites recognized for their quality, as well as great reviews, also have a positive impact. An above-average quality site is a basic requirement to take advantage of more advanced SEO techniques.
So, quality gets you on the list of sites considered. Now you need to match content considering your target market. This involves research to find the optimal words and phrases, the ones that searchers will use to name or describe your products or services. While “home detailing” might sound like a posh way to describe what you do, are those looking to have their siding cleaned more likely to search for “power-washing service” or “siding cleaner?” That’s one of the things we’d find out. The best terms are then incorporated onto your site.
Now you have a quality site and content relevant to your target market. So, for anyone looking for a siding cleaner, you’re still on the list. The next step for a business like this is dealing with location. Some people mistakenly believe that if they state their location somewhere on their website that Google will automatically match local searchers to them. There’s much more to do here! You have to look at all of the cities, and even the neighbourhoods, where you provide service, and you need to get on the map, literally, as in Google Maps.
Having passed the quality check and matching your content with the searcher’s query, you’ve now won round three with a matching location. Congratulations! Google has now assessed your site as one of the best for the client in Aldergrove who needs your services and is dialing your number.
To sum up, search engine optimization works like a game of dodgeball. While it’s more complicated in many ways, the bottom line is that if you don’t get knocked out, you’ll end up at the top of the first page of search results.
