In an age where everything and everyone is online and vying for attention, it’s much easier to get lost in a sea of search results than stand out. And without utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) for your content, you could end up #181,999,999 out of 182,000,000 search results … if you even show up at all.

So what is SEO?

At its most basic, SEO is about utilizing the necessary tools to allow search engines to see your pages and include them in their search results – the better the optimization, the better your chances of improving ranking. This is done through including effective/competitive keywords within your content, developing tags to go along with these keywords and setting up a link building program to improve standing and appear more impressive to the engine bots combing the web, looking for relevant and trustworthy sources.

Many factors go into search engines’ ranking of results, but a big one is SEO, allowing the engine to easily seek out and promote the page. This is not the same as paying for Sponsored Search Results, which are the very first hits that show up on the search results page. Everything below are “organic results” and your best bet to being seen; despite companies shelling out for the Sponsored exposure, about 80% of search engine users say they almost always click on the organic results.

Everyone Googles

When deciding if investing in SEO is right for your pages, keep these statistics in mind:

• 75% of search engine users don’t click beyond the first page of results. 
• On Google, 18% of clicks go to the first organic result, 10% to the second and 7% to the third.
• There are 100 billion global searches happening each month.
• Search is the #1 driver of traffic to content sites … more than 300% of what social media delivers.

Rev the Engine

Now that it’s clear how important it is to get your pages on Google’s radar, here are three tips for kick-starting SEO implementation on your sites:

1. Look at the competition; if you are having a tough time finding which keywords to prioritize, analyzing the competition helps. Websites that have been around for a long time have years of conclusive data on effective keywords. This can be used to your advantage.
2. It is hard to implement an effective keyword strategy when each webpage on a website does not have a distinct purpose. To perform search engine optimization properly, there has to be a clear intent of each webpage. The more specific the webpage is, the easier the optimization.
3. If the purpose of a website/webpage is to generate leads or sales, it is vital to base SEO keywords off of action terms. For example, thousands of keywords can be used for renting a condo in New Jersey. However, action terms such as “rent condo nj” will be more relevant than “new condo nj.”

Writing great content for and building a visually-appealing site won’t get you far if no one can find it. With SEO, you’re not only increasing your chances of being seen, you’re increasing your online presence, your revenue and your all-important brand.

If you want to implement some serious SEO on your sites, contact solutions@oxfordcommunications.com today.