A lot of businesses recognize that they need search engine optimization, but they don’t know much beyond that fact. If you aren’t a vendor of SEO, chances are you’ve heard yourself saying “I know I need it, but I don’t know exactly what I need”, at some point in your career.
Businesses are steadily beginning to recognize the true value of search engine optimization, and as a result, the demand for high-quality SEO services has sky-rocketed.
The web has three major search engines, which come together to create over 95% of all of the search traffic that moves throughout the United States. If you haven’t already guessed, these three celebrities are Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
For most countries outside of the United States, approximately 80% of all traffic moves through Google alone, and knowing where your traffic comes from can be incredibly useful. For example, efforts that you engage in through SEO can have a more significant result on some search engines than they do on others. For example, keyword targeting and inclusion can be more beneficial on Bing and Yahoo than it is on Google. The more you scrutinize your SEO needs, the better chance you have of getting the results that you really want. Here are just some of the elements that you should think about.
1. Your Business Goals
When considering any movement for your business, the ultimate end goals you’re hoping to achieve should always be at the front of your mind. A SEO program can involve numerous things, but only by understanding what you want to achieve within your business, can you determine which services are most suitable for your needs. For example, ask yourself whether you’re looking to increase your local visibility, enhance your conversions, build brand awareness, or fix an old penalty? Each option will lead you to a different SEO strategy.
2. Your Current Performance
Another element to consider is how your site is currently performing. Analyze how your website has been performing over the recent years, focusing on conversion trends, traffic trends, and any other fragments of analytical data that could give you an insight into what your website needs. This should help you to understand what you need to do next on that ever-challenging road to success.
3. Be Realistic
No matter how amazing you think certain parts of your business are, it’s important to recognize the areas where you could need help. If you know the places of your business that are lacking, you can start to come up with new methods for helping your SEO provider to fill in those gaps. For example, if you need content, but you don’t have the resources to create it internally, you’ll need to start searching for a professional writer. On the other hand, if your SEO provider is offering you the opportunity to buy content, and you already have ten amazing content writers on staff, then you might just need some guidance on an editorial level to ensure they’re headed in the right direction.
Any business thinking of going forward with SEO should make sure they understand what search engine optimization entails before they jump in head-first. It should make the process simpler, and hopefully, assist you in developing a program that gets you to your business goals quickly and effectively.
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