Remember the Yellow Pages? If not, they were huge books that listed every local business for each city. If a shoe store wanted to be the first one you called or considered, they would make the name of their business AAAA Shoes to ensure they were the first footwear business listed in the shoe store section. SEO is really similar to that. It takes the idea to place a business first and blends it with the oldest marketing tool in the book, word-of-mouth. However, instead of a business putting several A's in front of its name to be listed first or your best friend telling you to try a particular website or store to find something you need, the internet is using a ton of hidden info to refer options for you to try. When someone Googles (searches) particular products, services, or information SEO helps to push the most popular (or most optimized) websites to the top of the search results.
SEO Practice Exercise: Go to your Google search bar and type low price black jeans
Understanding all this starts by looking at the first options that appear at the top of the page. In this picture, they're paid ads that 70-80% of users completely ignore. Why? Because though shoppers are looking to buy, they really don’t want to feel like they are being sold something. We humans are complex. Any who, the websites that appear under the ads are called organic search results. These are the web page listings that most closely match your search inquiry based on its relevance. Talented marketers are hired to determine what makes the black jeans their company sells relevant to your search. The marketers are creative little geniuses that have gathered information about your lifestyle, location, shopping habits and used keywords (i.e black, affordable, pants, ripped, jeans, cheap, slacks) to ensure their company's website appear first in organic results when searching for a product or service they have. All of this is done to encourage you to click on their websites first. In the above example, American Eagle Outfitters is the first organic result, while Levi's is the second.
This whole SEO process matters because (if you noticed) right above the paid ads there is a note that lists how many search results on the internet actually mention “black jeans”. In the above picture, there are 155 million website links for black jeans. That’s because there are businesses all over the world selling black jeans, it’s called global competition. Smart online businesses use SEO to ensure they don’t get lost in the sea of competition where potential customers will be unable to find them. Whether you're an online seller or a brick and mortar store 81% of shoppers begin their buying process with a Google search and of those shoppers, 75% of them will never scroll past the first page of search results to find you. When consumers Google products, services, or info that you have for consumption it's smart to place your website as one of the first choices the internet offers for them to browse.
Investing in SEO is one of the smartest business decisions you can make to put yourself on the map, as 35% of all e-commerce traffic comes from search engines. To get started with implementing it for your website you'll need:
Funds- as with most paid options, your visibility will be tied to your budget
Education- Lynda, Google Analytics, Google Website Tools or Yost SEO
Time- dedicate time to practice and you'll be a guru in no time
Patience- SEO is a valuable LONG-TERM investment and will not show major results right away
Depending on your time commitment, your willingness to learn, and the complexity of your website(s), you may decide you need an expert to handle things for you. Firms that practice SEO can vary; some have a highly specialized focus, while others take a broader and more general approach.
Marketing, Communications, & Business Growth Strategist
The Layman’s Term Series is Intended to turn business industry jargon on it’s head in an effort to make it understandable, relatable, and approachable.
