What is SEO?
SEO is an acronym for search engine optimizer or search engine optimization, and is the process of driving traffic to your website through natural, organic and unpaid search results in search engines. When you enter text into the search query box for a major search engine such as Google, Bing or Yahoo, you are presented with a list of results that contain your “searched” term. The very first websites shown on Google page one at the top of the list are there because they are ranked via complicated algorithms, based on what the search engine companies consider to be most relevant to the search term you’ve entered. For any company today, the goal is to be at the top of organic search, resulting in consumer action and sales of products and services for your brand.
This powerful web marketing technique improves the visibility of your website by incorporating certain search engine friendly elements such as relevant keywords and employs strategies to comply with the search engine algorithms. Search engines view web pages differently than humans in that they are text driven, and unlike humans cannot appreciate the beauty of an appealing brand design or enjoy the sounds and movements in movies. Instead, they crawl the web in search of specific search terms (mainly text), and perform several other activities such as indexing and retrieving to deliver the most relevant search results.
Search engine optimization is divided into two key areas – on-page and off-page SEO, where the former refers to the elements incorporated into a web page such as textual content, images and HTML code, and the latter refers predominantly to links directed to the site from other relevant websites.
There are a number of SEO services that can help you to improve the rankings of a website including incorporation of SEO friendly website design & development, link-building and keyword rich content.
These techniques are referred to as White Hat Techniques (good kind) and Black Hat Techniques (nefarious practices by shady companies). There are stark difference and opinions between the two approaches.
Briefly, White Hat techniques comply with search engine guidelines especially Google, while Black Hat techniques exploit weaknesses in search engine algorithms, and hence implement strategies that are in direct conflict with their guidelines. When Google and other search engines find Black Hat techniques, the sites using those techniques are permanently de-indexed! It is absolutely critical to work with companies such as Catalyze Digital, that employ integrity with the White Hat approach to SEO.
Search engine optimization, when correctly incorporated, is one of the most efficient ways to market your website, especially as part of a multi-channel digital marketing strategy. Based on the incredible results we’re seeing for our clients, investing in SEO is a superb option for companies looking to significantly improve ROI. At Catalyze Digital, our SEO Services include:
Search Engine Marketing
Lead generation (list building, PPC, CPA, pay-per-lead)