SEO is a common term if you are familiar with online marketing but for those who are just starting the process; it seems like a pretty foreign term. SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is a series of techniques to help improve the standing of your business in search engine results. Just think of all those people who never look past the first page of the search results. Even if your site is on the second page, you are missing plenty of people who would otherwise visit your site. Here are some helpful ideas that are important to business SEO.

Monitor your search standings: Make sure you know your page rank at the beginning to know if your efforts are actually working. Check your server logs via Cpanel – the referrer logs will give you insight into where your visitors are coming from and what terms they actually use to find your site.

Keywords: Keywords are the most important part of the SEO process. Think of them as the search terms someone would be using to reach your product or services. Placement of these keywords is an important component to be conscious of. Always add content that naturally flows and is easier for the reader to follow. A general sprinkling of keywords is ideal since too many repeats of the keywords will be frown upon by indexing search engines as this can be a sign of “keyword stuffing”.

Content: This may seem like a no brainer but content is the most important part of SEO. Along with compelling and good original content update your content regularly so that it is always fresh. Google especially loves fresh and original content. One smart way to ensure fresh content daily is to integrate a blog into the website. This helps to give the company a more personal voice and show that your site is knowledgeable with current content.

Social Media: In our world of social media, it’s easy to one piece of information reach millions with one click. Why not use that to help spread the word about your company or product? This is also a great way to have visitors view your links and hopefully follow them.

Link to others: Even in this high tech world, networking has not gone away. For websites, it is a terrific idea to partner with a well respected company that already has many followers and ask for them to add a link to your website. It’s a good way to get a few more visitors to your site but remember, always return the favor!