Almost all businessmen who own online stores have heard of search engine optimization. Someone is immediately interested in this service, but many are wary or biased towards it. In this article, SEO Ibérica will talk about the benefits of SEO promotion and compare it with contextual advertising.
What is Search Engine Optimization and how does it work?
SEO optimization is a set of measures for internal and external optimization of a resource to increase its position in search results for certain queries for the target audience.
For example, a customer wants to buy women’s white jeans. He goes to a search engine and enters the query “buy women’s white jeans.” If you sell white jeans for women, then naturally you want your online store to appear one of the first on the first page of search after contextual advertising. This goal can be realized with the help of SEO-optimization of the site.
Optimization can be:
- internal – writing texts with keywords, prescribing metadata;
- external – work with external links;
- technical – elimination of errors, broken links, increase in download speed.
Since search engine algorithms are constantly changing, optimization work should be carried out constantly, even if you are already in the top.
Types of promotion
All actions with the site can be divided into white and black methods of promotion.
White
White hat methods are optimizations that do not violate the rules set by search engines. First of all, you need to analyze your competitors. This helps to determine the list of tasks that need to be completed so that the resource is assigned by robots to the desired topic and appears in the search results for relevant queries.
An individual strategy is developed for each site, but the first task for all topics is to collect a semantic core (SN).
The SEO specialist selects keywords and phrases related to the topic of the client’s site. According to them, optimization will be carried out.
In parallel with the work on SA, technical work is being carried out. These include:
- Improved user interface and navigation.
- Removing duplicate pages and broken links.
- Increasing download speed, etc.
External optimization is also carried out, which includes tracking reviews about the company, a natural increase in the link mass.
Black methods
At the beginning of the 2000s, when search engines were still quite simple, unscrupulous site owners wrote texts that spammed keywords or bought links in bulk. Today, such methods quickly lead to a site ban, so honest promotion agencies do not use them or use them carefully. For example, they buy not hundreds of links, but up to 10 and on high-quality resources.
The main black methods include:
- Spam keywords.
- Displaying different content for robots and humans.
- Hidden text visible only to robots.
- Doorway traffic – transitions from end-to-end sites with meaningless texts. By clicking on the link to the doorway, the user is automatically redirected to the main site being promoted.
The use of black methods is dangerous because search engines ban or greatly lower such resources in the search results. As a result, the site owner runs the risk of spending a lot of time and money on removing it from the ban, which in many cases is almost impossible to do – it is easier to create a new resource. This takes a huge amount of time, money and nerves of the owner.
Pros of SEO
This tool for bringing the site to the first positions has a number of advantages:
- Efficiency. Through the search engine, people come who are looking for exactly your product or service. These are potential customers who are ready to perform the target action.
- Long term effect. If the resource has taken a high position in the search results, it means that the robots have approved your content. Good rankings will continue until search engines introduce new algorithms.
- Increase in conversion. As mentioned above, SEO optimization includes work with the functionality and usability of the site. Designers and marketers are working to improve the resource so that it is more convenient for the client to make a purchase. Technical specialists are responsible for page loading speed and competent structure. All these measures help increase sales.
- More trust from users. Today, many potential buyers are distrustful of advertising: they prefer to go to sites that are on the first page of the issue.
Sometimes, to bring a resource to the top, you just need to configure internal parameters. This applies mainly to sites with medium and low competition. In such cases, to achieve the effect, it is enough to work out its structure, content and make competent settings. As a result, the store will rise in the search results without serious efforts.
Even with low competition, there is a chance of promotion to other regions. Consider an example with courses in astrology. There is little competition in this area. If people in Moscow look for astrology courses, they will immediately see the top search results for their region, and then the site, the owner of which is engaged in search engine optimization. This allows for scaling.
However, having studied the above benefits, one may wonder: why are other promotion methods still on the market and have not been replaced by SEO? Like any other tool, optimization has several drawbacks.
Disadvantages of SEO promotion
This tool has two main negative points that can repel businessmen from using it:
- Process duration. Search engine optimization is a long and painstaking job. The first results will be visible not earlier than in 6 months. Be patient and keep track of the monthly reports that the agencies are supposed to provide. If you see positive dynamics, the probability of success is high.
- No guarantees. As is the case with any other promotion service, no one in SEO can give a 100% guarantee of reaching the top. If the contractor promises a quick and guaranteed rise in positions, most likely he is dishonest or silent about the nuances. A conscientious company can only guarantee the performance of the necessary amount of internal and external work necessary for the “promotion” of the site.
The key to SEO success is choosing a good agency that uses only white hat methods. Professionals in their field will work on optimization: SEO specialists, marketers, designers, copywriters. Together they will do everything possible to bring the resource to the top and bring more profit.