SEO has been evolving for about a decade. Back when Google first emerged, getting a page one rank was largely attributed to meta-tags and keyword stuffing.

Today, Search Engine Optimization, more informally known as SEO, has changed dramatically. When a consumer keys a query into Google’s search engine, they want relevant answers, not thousands of suggestions. As a result, the Google ranking system sorts through billions of webpages in its search index before popping out the most useful and relevant results in a fraction of a second. Impressive, right?

Understanding SEO

Google is an amazing tool that changed how people use the Internet. But even in those early days, there were people who tried to take advantage and game the system. Getting onto page one for a popular enquiry could yield a lot of business. As a result, people were making the search engine believe that their business pages were related to unrelated queries for say, popular movies or other events that were generating a lot of searches.

Google is primarily a search engine—their whole business model hinges on providing relevant results to searches. And when people suddenly started seeing pages that weren’t related to their searches, they jumped to other engines. Google lost a lot of market share. Consequently, the search engine had to become smarter about how it measured and ranked websites in an effort to stay ahead of those trying to game the system.

Today, Search Engine Optimization is an industry approaching $80 billion dollars in the US alone. There are all kinds of theories about SEO, but the premise is quite simple—you want to prove to Google that your website is as represented. If you want to rank for a term like “SEO Vancouver,” you need to prove that’s what you’re all about. And you do that by creating pages that prominently feature content about SEO—in the body, headers, URL, metatags, subtitles, and even pictures. What’s essentially happened is that search engines have made it virtually impossible to misrepresent yourself. And if you do resort to nefarious Black Hat, sooner or later you’re going to be penalized—big time.

Why is SEO important for business?

Speaking frankly, SEO isn’t for every business. It depends on how you get your leads. If your business is based on referrals from happy clients, SEO might not play much of a role for you. However, if you’re reliant on your website to bring in fresh customers and leads, then SEO is going to be your lifeline.

Business is a numbers game. It always has been. The more people see and learn about your business, the more likely it is that someone is going to make an inquiry and eventually convert into a paying customer.

There’s a psychological aspect to SEO as well. When people see a business on page one of Google for a search query (any query), they mentally align it with the industry leaders. After all, you’ve got to be pretty good to get to page one of Google, right? And if you’re there for several related queries, it’s going to help distinguish you when someone is looking for a provider for a service or product. This is essentially how advertising works—familiarity through repetition.

Benefits of SEO

Optimizing a website for search engines is a strategic means for strengthening your website and extending its reach. It allows you to connect more effectively with customers and increase brand visibility. Stated simply, a business that’s at the top of Google is going to grow faster through benefits which typically include:

• Higher traffic numbers
• Better conversion rates
• Increased brand exposure and awareness
• A more tailored customer experience
• Better mobile site reach and conversions

SEO in Vancouver

Unless you’re fairly web savvy, the process of SEO will likely begin by locating a trustworthy SEO consultant in Vancouver. Keep in mind that SEO does not yield instant results. It’s a process that starts by working with the structure of your website—the layout, pictures, subtitles before transitioning to the content and internal links, and finally building good external links. In our experience, it takes about three months before a business will start to see results.

As an experienced team of  SEO consultants in Vancouver, we will be able to guide you on which keywords will attract the most traffic in your industry. It may take a little work to find the search terms that work with your brand, but with a little diligence and hard work, SEO is an unbeatable strategy for long-term success.

Remember, the overall goal of SEO is to bring more organic traffic to your website. And when it comes to getting discovered, it doesn’t get much better than having your website pop up on page one of Google.

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