With over 1.3B sites on the World Wide Web today, every business owner knows they are up against tough competition. Regardless of the industry, you operate in, you need to make sure that you have a strong presence on the internet and that you show up on the top of the SERPs (search engine results pages).

What is SEO?

SEO (search engine optimization), can be defined as a combination of marketing techniques that help improve the quantity and quality of the traffic to your website. These rules can be followed by business owners to optimize their sites for search engines, thus improving their search engine rankings.

It is also the best way to make sure your site reaches the top rankings on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. When users perform searches on Google (or any other search engines) the order in which the results show up, is based on very complex algorithms. All these algorithms take various factors into account while deciding which sites should show up in the topmost ranks.

Optimizing your site for these search engines gives you a distinct advantage over non-optimized websites and you are able to increase your chances of a higher ranking. Aside from this, it’s also an excellent way to improve the quality of your site, by making it easier to navigate, faster and more user-friendly too.

The importance of SEO

In the competitive business landscape that exists today, SEO marketing is of extreme importance. Each day, search engines serve literally millions of users looking for products, services and information or solutions. If you have a site, online store or blog, search engine optimization can help you meet your business objectives and also expand your business reach. SEO is important because:

A large majority of users looking for information are more likely to access the top-5 sites that show up on the search results pages. A well-planned and well-implemented SEO strategy will help you get to that position and attract more traffic.

SEO isn’t just about search engines. The right kinds of SEO practices significantly improve the usability of the site and enhance the user experience.

Internet users trust that search engines will display good sites in the top positions. Being in those positions gives you leverage to outrun the competition.

SEO is excellent for the social promotion of your site. Users that locate your site by searching Google/ Yahoo are far more likely to promote it on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Search engine optimization also helps in ensuring the smooth functioning of expansive websites.

When there are so many websites offering similar services or selling the same products, the site that has been optimized well is more likely to have a larger amount of traffic and make more sales. No matter which way you look at it, having a comprehensive SEO strategy is one of the best ways to make your mark in the online space.