If you run an online business, you've probably tried a Google search for your company and been pleased to see your website at the top (or at least near the top) of the page. But what about the people who don't even know that your company exists? They won't be searching for your company. They'll be searching for the products or services that you offer, things that all of your competitors offer. They'll be finding your competitors first because they can't find your company in the search results.
The competition might not necessarily be the best. They might not have the best website, products or be 'better' in any way. So how did they manage to be ranked above you in a search engine? No witchcraft (depending on who you ask!) or trickery. It's down to SEO, or search engine optimisation.
What is SEO? The basic aim is to get more visitors to your website by finding out what people search for, what's most relevant to you and identifying the best keywords for your website or business. SEO is a way of improving how your website ranks in Google, Bing and Yahoo! searches, the most commonly used search platforms. It takes a little while to understand how to achieve this, but the aims are always the same - the outcomes not so much. Running a successful SEO campaign is best left to a professional SEO or SEO agency. Not only is SEO time consuming and difficult for an individual to do whilst running a business, it requires delicacy, experience and knowledge.
So what can a small business gain from SEO? Let's say we do SEO. And let's say our business is in Portsmouth. We've set up a fantastic website and it looks great! Now its time to be seen. The best practice would be to target locally, so go for key phrases like 'SEO Portsmouth'. Take a local approach if our business is in Portsmouth, SEO efforts should be focused there first before we go on to optimise for other key words and phrases further afield.
Targeting locally is best practice whether you're business is online or not. If you ran a pizza shop, you probably wouldn't target pizza delivery in Edinburgh if you're based in Portsmouth SEO could lead to you being seen nationwide, which would be great, but remember to operate within your means and your local first.
The competition might not necessarily be the best. They might not have the best website, products or be 'better' in any way. So how did they manage to be ranked above you in a search engine? No witchcraft (depending on who you ask!) or trickery. It's down to SEO, or search engine optimisation.
What is SEO? The basic aim is to get more visitors to your website by finding out what people search for, what's most relevant to you and identifying the best keywords for your website or business. SEO is a way of improving how your website ranks in Google, Bing and Yahoo! searches, the most commonly used search platforms. It takes a little while to understand how to achieve this, but the aims are always the same - the outcomes not so much. Running a successful SEO campaign is best left to a professional SEO or SEO agency. Not only is SEO time consuming and difficult for an individual to do whilst running a business, it requires delicacy, experience and knowledge.
So what can a small business gain from SEO? Let's say we do SEO. And let's say our business is in Portsmouth. We've set up a fantastic website and it looks great! Now its time to be seen. The best practice would be to target locally, so go for key phrases like 'SEO Portsmouth'. Take a local approach if our business is in Portsmouth, SEO efforts should be focused there first before we go on to optimise for other key words and phrases further afield.
Targeting locally is best practice whether you're business is online or not. If you ran a pizza shop, you probably wouldn't target pizza delivery in Edinburgh if you're based in Portsmouth SEO could lead to you being seen nationwide, which would be great, but remember to operate within your means and your local first.