By: Cecilia Bennett

What is SEO?

SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization”. It’s the process of optimizing your website in order to increase your rankings on the organic and “free” portion of search results. Organic search rankings account for 82% of user clicks on search engines. If you want to naturally increase your overall rankings based on the perceived value of your website, then SEO is the best route for you.

Search Engine Goals

The objective of search engines is to provide accurate answers to searcher’s queries. To accomplish this, search engines want only unique, high quality content to appear in the search results that successfully meets the searcher’s overall intent. Google and Bing define “High Quality” by over 200 ranking factors. Some of these ranking factors include (among others):

  • SSL Certificate on your website
  • PageSpeed
  • Domain Authority
  • Mobile-optimized
  •  Content 
    • Length
    • Relevancy
    • Quality
  • Keyword Density

Interested in a more comprehensive list? Just ask!

SEO Keywords

SEO keywords are terms that your potential customers will search for when looking for your business. Keywords make it possible for users to find your website through the different search engines. An easy way to find some of your primary keywords would be to narrow down all the content on your website to simple words and phrases. These keywords are the easiest method with the longest term benefit way to gain more website traffic.

It is very important to naturally and sporadically place your keywords throughout your website. If you try to force or pack in as many keywords as possible, it will negatively impact your overall search rankings. Keeping your content conversational and personal makes your website look more reliable and relevant to search engines. It should not look like a robot made your content just to smash in all your keywords. This is why writing quality content through a seo-friendly blog can be very beneficial to your website. 

On-site SEO

On-site SEO is easily described as optimization of your own website. This includes your overall content (quality and uniqueness), website structure, crawlability, site performance, internal links, etc. It also helps search engine users quickly comprehend what a website page is about and whether it fulfills their search query or not.

Off-Site SEO

Off-site SEO pertains to how you gain popularity on the web. This includes the amount of  quality backlinks (link-building), high value organic content, local search listings, and much more. Building backlinks is the foundation of off-page SEO. However, it is important to remember to never buy backlinks, or insert your links into a “link-dense” article. This can actually significantly hurt your overall search rankings. These practices should be avoided at all costs.

On-site and off-site SEO are both equally as important to achieve higher search rankings.

Meta Titles & Descriptions

Meta titles and descriptions are the first thing a prospective client will notice about your business in the search results. They are a perfect time to pitch your company and what you offer in a summarized manner. Meta descriptions are a summary of your website page, and act as organic ad text.

  • Title Character Count: 50-60 Characters
  • Description Character Count: 150-160 Characters

Here is an example of what a properly put together meta title and description looks like:

The more compelling your meta title and description are, the more people will visit your website. However, they must be highly relevant to the content and keywords found on each of your website pages.

Need Help With Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Are you looking to improve your SEO, or start your first SEO campaign? Blue Ridge Media Company in Cleveland, OH is here to help you! Check out our search engine optimization (SEO) services on our website to learn more about how we can boost your overall search rankings. Contact us and give us a call at (888)-535-2762 to start improving your search rankings today!