Spooky Season is officially here! With Halloween approaching, it is a great time to discuss The Dark Art of SEO. What is SEO and how do you get ranked? For many, SEO can be intimidating. At times, it can be very confusing and quite a mystery to most business owners and even seasoned marketers. In this blog, all you need to know about the dark, spooky, and mysterious world of SEO will be clarified and discussed.

The Mystery of SEO

Let’s get started by talking about the root of the mysterious and spooky SEO. Here, the most common points of confusion and mistakes that surround SEO will be discussed. First, it is important to ensure that the site is performing to the best of its ability. A site that is slow on speed or that possesses duplicate content can negatively impact SEO. Additionally, the website should not have any broken or invalid visuals, typos, dated content, or content that is misleading or inaccurate. It is important to ensure that the site is optimized for mobile to ensure that it is accessible for all viewers at any place during any time of the day. The site should also possess location-specific pages for local businesses and should always include alternative texts to increase accessibility for the personal needs of all viewers. One of the most heavily weighted factors that contribute to strong local SEO performance are Google Reviews. In simple terms, poor reviews should always be avoided. With all of these contributing and weighted factors at hand, it is clear that a lot can go wrong with SEO. In creating SEO content, all of the above mistakes and confusion can be avoided if you stay mindful of the tricks while at work (And no, we do not mean trick-or-treat). Hopefully, the mystery of SEO has been unlocked for you. As business owners and seasoned marketers, you must be sure to avoid confusion with all of these factors to ensure proper function of your site and to get the most out of SEO to benefit your brand.

How SEO Works

To further unlock the mystery and to seek clarity on the specific details of SEO, the way in which SEO works must be discussed. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, for it works to ensure that your website and all of its content remains decently ranked on search engines. There are three types of SEO: Technical SEO, On-Site SEO, and Off-Site SEO. Technical SEO deals with optimization of the technical factors of the website, On-Site SEO deals with the optimization of the content of the website, and Off-Site SEO deals with everything not found on the website such as building connections with colleagues and creating a reputation for the brand. SEO can also be referred to as the process of driving organic traffic to your website from search engines such as Google, Bing, etc. There are many factors that must be considered when optimizing your website to rank highly. In understanding how SEO works, it is important to know that SEO is the process of ensuring that your website and your business has high visibility among viewers. To ensure that your content is visible, your site must appear in searches, engage with its audience, and provide necessary content for viewers. If your page is visible in search results, then audience members are most likely going to click on your content and engage with your business. If the site is visually appealing to viewers, provides useful and valuable content to its audience, and gives the searchers what they are looking for, they are most likely to return to your page in the future.

Why is SEO Important?

SEO is one of the most important components of building and developing your business. SEO works to drive business through organic search and can help turn website viewers into potential customers or supporters of your brand. In the efforts of researching, shopping, seeking information, or looking for assistance, most actions begin with a search engine. Those who are surfing the web with a purpose may land on your page through the function of SEO, and can potentially become future buyers or supporters of your business in the near future. In terms of growing your business or even maintaining the success of your business, you must be sure that the SEO work of your site is functionable, effective, and purposeful so that traffic is driven to your content.

SEO Ranking

Boo! Ranking factors! There are a number of factors that come into play in terms of SEO ranking. Google considers a number of SEO elements in its ranking algorithm, so it is important to become a pro before letting your rank go down. First and foremost, Google adjusts ranking algorithms to best suit the needs of web surfers. With this said, your first order of business should always be to stay mindful of your audience. Create content that is appealing to your audience and that is exactly what your searchers are looking for. No need for jump scares, it is not Halloween just yet. Provide your audience with content that fits their needs.

Content should be high in quality in order to rank highly. Provide your audience with information of high value so that traffic is attracted and so that many searchers interact with your site. You want viewers to spend time on your page, engage with your page, and most importantly, value your page.

The content should also be fresh, or in other words, updated and current. You should avoid allowing the content on your page to age, for viewers may no longer find it to be useful. If searchers do not find your content to be up to date with the current times we are living in, they may click off the page and lose interest.

Another important ranking factor is the visual appearance of your site. Users are more likely to engage with a website that contains useful content and that is portrayed in a visually appealing layout. To do so, consider a color scheme that is carried out throughout the site. You may also wish to include visuals so that your page is not boring and full of words slapped on a blank page. Call-to-action buttons are also another technique used to increase visual appeal, for they not only take up space on the page but encourage viewers to engage with your content.

The architecture of your site is another big one. It is always important to carefully plan how you want your site to flow, how you want the layout to look, and what you want each tab to say. Architecture refers to the page’s categories and subcategories. You must ensure that the site flows smoothly and in an order that is easy for viewers to follow along with. You always want to present searchers with a website that is easy to navigate and easy to find the information they are searching for.

Another factor of SEO ranking is page speed. If your website runs slowly and takes some time to load, you will most likely receive less visitors. Many companies rely heavily on the sales made in just one simple second, so a slow running site can cause a significant negative impact on your business. Fixes to page speed can easily be achieved if the right work is put in place such as compressing images, moving to a dedicated server, removing unused code, and more. Page speed can also be a mobile ranking factor, as Google has declared in 2018. So, making your site Mobile is important as well. Be sure to check out the resources provided by Doukas Media that can help increase your rankings.

Moreover, there is no need to be spooked out by SEO, even though it may seem like it haunts you! By taking the steps to remain mindful of all that comes along with SEO and SEO ranking, you will have nothing to fear. By providing all of the information above, we hope to have lead you out of the scary darkness of SEO and toward a world of success with your business.

If you’re looking to take the next step in your SEO journey, Doukas Media has the experience to take your brand to new heights. Book your free discovery call today!