Search Engine Optimization

What is Search Engine Optimization, or SEO?

SEO is the practice of optimizing your website content for better displays in organic search results. —adapted from Yoast SEO

As a service, search engine optimization is the enhancement of your website content with “search engine language” that tells them what you have.

It involves paying an expert to reorganize menus, rewrite text, revise images, add keywords, use detailed descriptions, and apply structured markup data to the backend of your content with HTML.

How do search engines work?

Search results are determined by an algorithm.

When someone searches for what you provide, a search engine’s algorithm meticulously qualifies the content in your website for potential use as a search result. It also locates other content available online that might be related to the search, such as

social media posts and attention,
other websites that link to yours as a resource, and
any other forms of digital marketing that increase traffic to your website.

How do I get my website to appear in search results?

If your website has fresh and relevant information to a particular search, then your website may be included in search results.

When we optimize your website content, it will:

appeal to people
appeal to search engines
answer questions
provide solutions

Better content outweighs more content.
—Rand Fishkin

Website content ranks better when it is professionally written, organized, and updated. Search engines will also evaluate it as “likely to satisfy a search” based on standard elements, which are surprisingly within your control as long your website uses modern content management software.

The reward is that you can achieve priority placement in organic search results, which are earned by creating helpful website content for people who are looking for it. The biggest challenge is that this approach takes time.

Should I pay for search engine advertising?

It’s possible to pay for sponsored placement above organic search engine results, but we don’t recommend it.

Implementing an intentional strategy for search engine optimization using your own content yields a better return on investment. With advertising on the other hand, results are instantaneous, but you also have to keep paying for placement. In the long run, it is more proactive and less expensive to create high quality website content that people and search engines love.