Search Engine Optimization

GLOSSARY
Written By Lelaina Silvester

Why Optimize for Search Engines?

Search engines (like Google) try to make your life easier by showing the most relevant and trustworthy pages at the top of the search, so that you spend less time digging through pages to find the answers you’re looking for. Search Engine Optimization is, in short, the ongoing process of proving to Google that you’re relevant and trustworthy.

While the exact formula for determining the relevance and trustworthiness (AKA authority) of your site is not something that Google openly talks about, these are the most important factors that we know they (and likely your customers) measure and use:

1. The performance & usability of your site (both on the page & behind the scenes)

3. How many other relevant and trustworthy sites link back to yours.

4. What kind of content is on your site and how frequently it’s updated

How do you Optimize for Search Engines?

So, we use proven strategies to optimize those factors— helping your site build authority with both search engines and your customers. This gets more eyes on your business and keeps those customers engaged on your website for longer, driving connection and creating more opportunities for conversion. The plan of action for your business is going to depend on your goals, the velocity with which you want to work towards them, and your industry/customers behavior. Here’s an overview:

Discovery & Strategy:

  • Conducting customer, market, and competitive research

  • Keyword & backlink research, strategy, planning, and ongoing monitoring

  • Competitor analysis and ongoing monitoring

On-Page & Technical SEO:

  • Optimizing each page’s content, copy, structure, and performance (this largely comes down to how your website is built and what we refer to as foundational optimization)

  • Implementing schema markup (info added to the code of your website to help search engines better understand the context/significance of and the relationship between the content on your pages)

  • Monthly website updates

Local SEO—listing management & backlinking:

  • Building, Optimizing, and continually updating profiles on platforms like: Google, Apple, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Angie’s List etc.

  • Securing mentions in local, authoritative, and industry-specific directories, pages, and publications.

Producing fresh, high-quality content:

  • Developing well researched, quality articles and blog posts about the questions and topics your audience is searching for most

  • Driving traffic to your site, building authority, and engaging your audience (plus serving as the start of your content flow, if you want)

  • This is one of the biggest catalysts in continually improving Search Engine Optimization performance.

Lelaina Silvester
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