There are millions upon millions of websites about everything you can imagine. Over the last two decades, the world of digital marketing has exploded, and there are no signs that it is going to start slowing down anytime soon. More and more people are getting online each day from all over the world. Internet speeds have got faster and technology has been advancing at an amazing rate.
The future is in the present, and every business has a website to promote the products or goods that they sell. Whatever you are looking for, you just need to pop over to Google or Bing and start searching. Most of the time, you will find what you are looking for on the first or second page of search results.
What happens to all the other hundreds of thousands of websites that never seem to appear anywhere? Why is it that some websites are always on the first page of Google results, and others are nowhere to be found. This is all done to search engine optimization or SEO for short. If you are serious about having a top ranking website, it is very important that you start to consider using a seo services company to improve your website’s rank and authority.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization is where your website has been optimized to rank better in the search engines for their specific keywords and search terms that they are targeting. There are various types of SEO such as local SEO, on-page SEO, off-page SEO or even content optimization.
The type that a website will need to use will depend on a variety of different factors, though there certain elements of SEO that apply to all websites, regardless of whether they are a local boutique store targeting local customers, or an international chain of hotels that are targeting clients all over the world.
How much SEO does a website need?
This is a question that depends entirely on the website itself, as well as the competing websites that are appearing in the search results. If the website has been properly built with clean code, unique content, and has had good on-page SEO carried out on it, then the website will most likely need a range of off-page SEO such as backlinks.
If the website has been poorly built, then before you start building backlinks to the website, you will first need to take care of the on-page SEO which includes things such as proper site structure, clear user interface, quality content that is unique, and proper optimization in terms of things such as title tags, headers and schema.
Is SEO easy to do or do I need to hire a professional?
SEO is a complex thing, and there are lots of elements and factors to consider. Everything in SEO can be done by yourself, providing you allow yourself the time to learn and test things. For most businesses, this isn’t an option, and they will need the SEO work carried out right away, and not let someone spend 6 months learning and testing SEO on their business website.
If you have your own personal website as a hobby, then this is the perfect situation in which you can start learning the different aspects of SEO and test different things and measure what has a positive effect, and what has caused a negative effect with your website dropping in rankings, rather than increasing.
Where can I find an SEO Professional?
There are lots of SEO companies and professionals all around the world that offer a range of different SEO services. Some of these companies offer all aspects of SEO from on-page SEO, backlinks, videos, content creation and social media management. Others may focus on a specific part of SEO such as guest post providers, or technical SEO experts.
If you do a search on Google for an SEO company, you will find hundreds of results. The first thing you will need to consider is if you want to use a local company, or if you are OK with using an overseas company. There are pros and cons to both options, so it is up to you to decide which you are happy with.
You can also find a lot of SEO related groups of Facebook that have members who are professional SEOs from all over the world. As well as offering helpful advice about SEO, many also offer their services, so it might be worthwhile joining a few of these groups and getting to know some of the members before deciding who you want to hire for your SEO.
How much does SEO cost?
This is the magical question, and one where there is no right or wrong answer. You can find SEO being offered for $50 a month, or for $10,000 a month. It all depends on the level and type of SEO that you want. Most SEO companies and professionals will work on a monthly retainer, and you will need to give them at least 3 months to get working on your website before you can start seeing improvement in your website’s ranking.
Some of the work that may be required for your website will be ongoing, such as the addition of new backlinks every month, while content creation and blog posts are also something that will need to be continued on a regular basis. Again, it all depends on the level of SEO that you want, and whether you want a professional to take over everything related to the SEO for your website, or if you want them to manage a specific element such as backlinks, technical SEO or social media.
What to avoid
The one thing you’ll want to avoid when it comes to SEO is when you are told that someone will get your website onto the first page of Google within 30 days. Though this is very possible, and not actually hard to achieve, it most certainly won’t be the main keyword or search term you want to rank for, and will most likely be an obscure search term that no one is searching for.
There are also various SEO techniques that are now very much outdated, and no longer work like they used to years ago. Things such as bookmarking, article submissions, PDF submissions and other outdated techniques could cause serious problems to your website’s ranking, rather than help improve it.
If something in SEO sounds too good to be true, it usually is. If it were so easy to get first page rankings for all your main search terms in less than 30 days, then everyone would be ranking their websites like crazy, and the search engine results pages wouldn’t be dominated by companies such as Amazon, Expedia or TripAdvisor.
