What is SEO and why does my Business Need It?

Katherine Bennett - March 16, 2011

Many businesses have watched the movie Field of Dreams one to many times. They have the notion that if they build a website people will come, which isn’t the case. Having a website is only part of the process, in addition to having a website, it should be SEO friendly. When a website is SEO friendly, it will help “visitors come”

Let’s start with the basics. SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is the continual process of making your website visible in the search engine results page, also known as SERP’s. There are several steps to take in order to give your website the opportunity to appear in the top SERP’s. One of the first steps is making sure each page has good keyword density. Keyword density is important because it is the number of times a particular word or phrase appears on a specific web page of your site, compared to the total number of keywords on the page. Each page on your website should have a goal or rather a keyword theme.

Let’s say your company sells puppies. The content on your home page should be geared toward puppies. Discuss what type of puppies your company sells and that these puppies need a good loving home. For interior pages of your website that cover different breeds of puppies, focus your keyword content on the specific dog breed. For example, if there is a page for cocker spaniels, your content should be about cocker spaniels. If there is a page about golden retrievers, then your content on that page should be about golden retrievers. Each page should have content written that is relevant to that page, but what about your pictures?

It is possible to have a website that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, photos and all, that is SEO friendly.   Just because a website employs SEO, doesn’t mean that the entire web site should be content only. There should be a good balance between content and photos.   If a website only has content, it may not be as pleasing to the visitor.   At the same time, a website that only has pictures, is in danger of having a very low ranking in the SERP’s.  

Relevant keyword density is only a first step in making a website SEO friendly and helping pages of the website to rank well in the SERP’s. When a page ranks well it helps to bring in visitors to your website. Learning what SEO encompasses and how it works is the first step in understanding why your business needs it.