SEO: The Race to No #1
By Oxana
Martynova
Have you ever asked a question only to get the response: “I dunno, Google it.” “Google it”, an
expression that has become part of societies lexicon. A go to phrase for the
unsure, unwise or just bewildered. But what is Google how does it work? Well, first
we need to understand that Google is not the internet, but a search engine. A
glorious answer to all of our life’s head scratchers. Think of Google as giant,
seemingly infinite filing system full of all the information it finds online.
You may wonder how this works? The answer is through the
magic of SEO – which stands for
Search Engine Optimisation.
This is a process where you improve the quantity of traffic
coming to your site. Just like you want to improve how your gym looks on the
outside to attract people, just think of this . If SEO is done right it is digital
curb appeal. It can be very beneficial for attracting new customers to your
business. The better the visibility of your page means the more prospective
customers you attract to your website and can possibly convert into gym bunnies.
It is a way of gaining visitors organically and the best part is it’s free!
The way SEO works is really cleaver. Search engines (like Google) use bots to crawl through the web and
gather information. This information is then indexed – indexing is like
a filing system of this information and eventually algorithms then rank
this information. Again, as mentioned above, SEO is organic and cannot be
boosted financially, in order to be successful here you need to make sure a lot
of factors are optimised. This includes user engagement, crawlability, content, page load speed and keywords to
name a few. It is important to understand that SEO is not a once off job and
needs to be consistently optimised to make sure you always end up on the
first page of Google search results – any pages after that, lets face it,
nobody really pays attention to – so the race to reliability is on!
Millions of people conduct searches every week mainly with
the goal of spending some cash. In a nutshell, this is why SEO is important, it
effects your profits. When you understand what your customers need or want you
can then tailor your SEO which results in conversions and profits. SEO
to your gym is like protein is to a gym bro.
‘Protein to a gym bro’, might be one of the best descriptions of SEO in the fitness industry I have heard yet. Google is the winner of all the search engines with a dominant global market share. When optimising it is useful to optimise to how Google crawls through the web and indexes the information as Google will control what information shows up on the search engines. This is more from the fact that over 95% off people in Ireland will ‘Google’ to find an answer to what they need, than from a suggestion that Google censors information. Which has been a criticism facing the company. – Helen Mc
ReplyDeleteGreat title, Oxana! Definitely pulled me in straight away. Who doesn't want to be #1, am I right?! I also loved the reference of SEO being like protein to a gym bro too - it's a tangible metaphor for a lot of new marketers in the fitness industry or those wearing many hats in a small business without experience is many different fields. There’s so much going on for small business owners that it’s easy to forget that for a lot of them, the end goal is profit. You really made the importance of SEO to increase your profit hit home.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great read Oxana! I am relatively new to this world of SEO and I felt you really hit the nail on the head here with your interpretation of how SEO's are important for businesses. There is a constant race for businesses to be the most 'reliable' and to get to that #1 spot at the top. I never realised bots crawl webpages and everything is indexed? Wow! my eyes are really opening to this world of SEO and how it all really works! I am amazed that businesses can actually use SEO to improve their ranking, I'm also surprised it is free - I wonder why Google don't charge businesses to use SEO tools? something I could Google to find out I guess!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to your next post!
Your blog really does show that if a business wants to be successful it must be relevant and consistent in its approach to SEO. A business could have a great offering, brilliant staff and exactly what you're looking for but if there SEO game leaves a lot to be desired it's at risk of falling into obscurity on the...second results page! Great line comparing SEO to protein, it makes sense, you could be doing everything else right but not following through with SEO ultimately will result in you not achieving your goal - sales.
ReplyDeleteOxana, great explanation of SEO, it really is a race to the top! Totally agree if SEO is done right, it can have huge benefits for fitness businesses. The more visible your webpage is to viewers, there’s a greater chance of converting these viewers to customers. I can’t believe it’s a free tool! But I do believe the time and effort put into SEO is worth it. Consistency is key!!
ReplyDelete