SEO - A Critical Component To Your Success

SEO = Search Engine Optimization

Welcome to the world of e-commerce! In this mystical, virtual universe, the success or failure of your company is heavily dependent on how easy it is for the average consumer to find you via their search engine of choice. With competition in practically every industry rapidly increasing, now more than ever before, consumers decide on which company to utilize to meet their specific needs based on where they rank on Google. If you aren’t consistently implementing an SEO campaign to at least attempt to rank on the first page, you need to seriously rethink your SEO strategy.

As if this wasn't enough of a challenge, on April 21, 2015, Google changed its algorithm to force companies to make mobile sites more user-friendly. The penalty for non-compliance resulted in a substantially downgraded ranking for many companies according to Forbes.com, the repercussions of which are still being assessed and we won’t likely know the true ramifications for some time. But one thing is certain, those who ignored Google’s blogged-issued warning in February will certainly recognize their mistake when their bottom line reaps the consequences.

It wasn't always this complicated. Back in the early days, on-page SEO usually meant there was a whole lot of keyword stuffing, hidden links and text, and highly generic content that was enough to garner a high ranking. But with growth comes changes and Google is fond of laying the foundation for SEO that becomes the new standard. This leaves you with a choice, either change and prosper or watch your business become buried deeper and deeper in the catacombs of the Google indexing underworld.

Keeping your SEO strategy current requires only a few key things:

• Embed keywords into your pages in a strategic manner to assist Google in understanding the topic.
• Make sure your website is designed so that consumers are engaged enough to stick around awhile. This “stickiness” is evidence that you have created a site worthy of holding the attention of a consumer base with an increasingly diminished attention span. The longer people stay on your site, the more likely they are to utilize your product or services.
• Content is critical. The higher the quality of your content, the higher the likelihood of people sharing your site on various social media platforms and hopefully posting links to it. You need traffic, and a lot of it, all the time. An engaging site only remains engaging when the content is not only high quality but also continually updated. Blogs, articles, and other shared forms of information that are pertinent to your industry increase your value proposition and the credibility of your company to your target demographic. Google likes to know that you are an authority in your field, so become one and share your knowledge through engaging content.
• Unless you are an SEO expert, professional content writer, or programmer, perhaps the most critical step is to hire experts in these areas. Add them to your payroll because SEO is only as relevant as the time and space we are currently in. Meaning, it needs to be updated constantly for your company to remain front of mind to consumers.

Remember, it's a high probability that your business is search engine dependent. Ignoring the monumental importance of an ever-evolving SEO campaign, executed by professionals, could lead to catastrophic declines in your profit. Your competition understands these concepts, and if they don't they soon will. So where does that leave you?

Bottom line: SEO is always evolving and so must you, lest you want to become extinct.