What is SEO? And does my business need it?
Here’s the honest answer.
Maybe not! If you’re a local business that operates within a set geographic area and have always managed just fine on word of mouth alone, SEO is probably a wasted investment. But, in this day and age, most businesses don’t operate that way. Even the trusted mechanic who’s been in business for decades will likely need SEO at some point.
The world, and your audience, changes over time. Once there were two mechanics in town, so you had a 50% chance of getting that custom. Now, there’s more competition. People move to new areas, and the first place they go to find a service they need is Google. If your business isn’t there, then you’re not going to be in the running.
If your target audience spans more than a single town, or you’ve got a lot of competition – SEO is absolutely essential.
Read on to find out why.
So, what is SEO?
SEO or Search Engine Optimisation, is the name for improvements that make your website more noticeable to search engines like Google. When someone is looking for the product or service you offer, they type something into their search engine, and it’s unlikely to be your business name. Following the example above, a potential customer might search for “best mechanic Whakatane”. Google then works its magic, scouring the internet and ranking results in order of what is most likely to hit the mark. Companies that have that exact phrase on their website are likely to be among the top results (and get a lot more traffic to their website because of it).
Speak your audience’s language
Intent plays an important role too. Ranking for the keyword “cars Whakatane” is no help, because people searching that phrase are likely looking to buy a car, not get theirs fixed. Equally, “mechanic bay of plenty” might seem like it’ll get you more customers, but it means you’re competing with tens, if not hundreds of other mechanics.
Keyword research is a huge part of SEO. Finding out what people are searching in your industry, and then filtering that information to find the terms that are most likely to result in leads/sales is a fine art. But…
SEO is about more than just keywords
It also includes optimising your page hierarchy, headings, metadata and images to improve accessibility and readability, as well as keeping your website up-to-date with fresh content.
Phew! If that sounds like it could be a full-time job, you’re not wrong. But you don’t have to do everything at once, and you don’t have to tackle it yourself.
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