The world has transitioned from physical advertising to the internet, and that has significantly changed the landscape of how marketing is done. Unlike the traditional print and radio ads, SEO requires continual elbow grease in order to be successful.
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Why SEO Matters
When people go to the internet, they rarely type out the exact website that they are looking for. They will most likely go to Google and search for a particular word or group of words and click on one of the first results. This means that if you are selling a specific product or service, you want to be at the top of the search results for relevant keywords that you can monetize. This allows people to see you first and dramatically increases your chances of getting a sale.
SEO is pretty complex, though, and getting that number one spot won’t happen overnight. In fact, it usually takes 6+ months for an average industry. If you’re in a really competitive space, it can take years before you see any visible results. Unlike traditional advertising, the rules that govern Google’s ranking system are hidden, so it can take a lot of effort to crack the code and ascend the rankings for a particular keyword.
Factors that Affect SEO
Any SEO strategist worth their salt should be aware of the various factors that affect search results. Although the exact algorithm used by Google isn’t released to the public, SEO specialists have figured out how it works and what affects it.
SEO basics include optimizing title tags and meta descriptions. The importance of these two is a huge topic among SEO specialists nowadays as their significance has seemed to decrease over the past few years. Nevertheless, it is important to note that it is still a relevancy signal for the algorithm and, more so, is an opportunity to present a call-to-action to encourage users to click through to your site.
Good SEO articles or blogs used to be as little as 150 to 300 words, but now Google is looking for authoritative websites that will give users highly informative content. This means that you need to have longer, more substantive articles in order to positively affect your search ranking.
There are over 200 of these factors that can affect your site’s search engine rankings. With all these factors coming into play, it is easy to see why results don’t happen quickly. You will need to continuously make an effort to steadily improve your online presence. Bit by bit, you will see your rank increase over the course of several months if you work hard and adhere to sound strategies.