Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s unpaid results—often referred to as “organic” results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users, and these visitors can be converted into customers.

Know your keywords because keywords drive your SEO bus. Keywords are not actually single words, but keyword phrases. Think about what you might type into a search bar if you were looking for your service.

It isn’t only important that you know them, but that you use them. You should use your keywords in the content of your website, but don’t use them too much or Google will think that you are “keyword stuffing”.

If you have several products or services make different groups of keywords, creating separate pages for each.  Make sure you use those phrases you have identified on your new pages.

Create great content that people want to read. When you think about what people want from you, rather than what you want from them, you will be ahead of the game.

Yes, links are an important part of your strategy and you want to pursue them, but if you don’t have great quality content that people want to read, links won’t do anything for you. If you write great content, links will follow.

If you have a blog on your website, USE YOUR BLOG! The blog platform is great because it will filter through to all your social media channels and people will follow it back to your website and will see what else you have to say and sell.

Getting good quality links takes time and effort, but it really pays off. Don’t fall into the trap of paying for links from someone who says they can get you thousands of links. That is a trap that will get your website penalized.

Reach out to other bloggers in your industry to exchange writing articles on each other’s sites. Don’t forget the power of testimonials too. Writing reviews for your suppliers is a great way to spread goodwill and get a link back to your site.

Set up an alert when your brand is mentioned on Google and when you see your brand mentioned reach out and ask for a link back to your website.

Google and other search engines look for your activity on social media. Links from social media are given higher authority because social sites already have a high authority score.

You can post new products to your social media channels to encourage sharing. Or you can create a YouTube video for your product or subject which encourages people to visit your website. Don’t worry that you need the most perfect post-production savvy. There are lots of examples of great how-to videos that create tons of views.

Don’t forget to include your website URL when you set up your social media profile.

Reviews are very important to people looking to hire you or buy your products. Some say reviews and ratings are more influential for getting users to visit your website than most other elements of local SEO.

Google map results now show rating stars so it really impacts what people looking for you will see. You can ask your customers and clients to provide an online review. When you request reviews make sure not to send everyone to the same site for a review. Google will penalize you if it looks unnatural.