What is SEO and should you care?

Search engine optimisation. Quite a mouthful, isn’t it? What does it really mean? There is no shortage of articles and listicles on the internet extolling the virtues of search engine optimisation. It is a marketing trick. It is a technical thing that only geeks and programmers can understand. It can double your sales. All this noise can make really understanding what search engine optimisation is all about a really difficult task. Is it really the latest marketing tool for the internet age? Or is all the hullaballoo entire undeserved? As with most things in the world, the truth lies somewhere in between the two extremes. Read on as we discuss what exactly is search engine optimisation and what it can, and cannot, do for you.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimisation is the process by which your website is optimised for search engines. Confused? What SEO actually entails is a quite long winded process but the intention is to impress upon the internet search engine algorithms what your webpage is about, or the “topic” or “subject” of the webpage and that your webpage is an authoritative source on the same. That way, when an internet user searches for those terms or related topics using the search engine, it will point them to your webpage. Therefore, a webpage with optimisation is far more likely to get more site visitors than one without optimisation since internet search engines are the predominant way to find information and content on the internet.

What can SEO do?

Search engine optimisation can improve the visibility of your website by a fair margin. Because the people themselves are doing the searching, you can be guaranteed that your webpage is being visited by someone who is interested in the subject. This can help you improve sales and customer engagement or whatever the goal of your website is. You can further improve your visibility by including brand names and other identifying tags related to your competitors as your keywords. That way, even when a user searches for your competitor’s products, your website will be shown to them.

What can SEO not do?

No matter where or how many times you read otherwise, search engine optimisation is positively not a marketing tool. It is not an outreach tool. It cannot help you gain new customers. It cannot help you spread awareness about your brand. It cannot help you increase your consumer base.

So, should you get SEO?

Absolutely. You can either do your own SEO or go with an SEO agency with good results in its history like SEO Shark the Sydney company. An SEO strategy of any sort is far better than no SEO strategy at all. Improved visibility and increased competitiveness are more than rewarding enough gains to be worth it in its own right. You do need to manage your expectations. If you want to increase your customer base, you can design your SEO strategy to complement your marketing strategy but you cannot use it as a replacement for the latter. SEO delivers only what it promised, and nothing more.