SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimisation” and is a digital marketing discipline that has been a powerful tool since the beginning of the widespread use of search engines. Its aim is to optimise a webpage’s content, design and technical structure in order to make it more relevant to search engines.
The economic implication of this is to drive more traffic to the website as it becomes more discoverable to users. When internet users type in search queries into services such as Google they will be served with what Google believes are the most relevant results.
Because the internet is so large and with so many businesses competing for exposure, many users will not navigate past the first few search results before finding what they want. This simple fact is what makes search engine optimisation so necessary in order to conduct business online.
Without an attempt to optimise itself, a webpage is at the mercy of search engine sorting algorithms. Search engine optimisation is the method by which a website appeases these algorithms so that it is ranked highly.
These search engine algorithms are constantly being refined and updated to filter through the relevancy of websites. Optimisation methods that may have been successful in earlier incarnations of the algorithm may be completely useless in newer ones.
This is why search engine optimisation is such a complicated and constantly evolving area of digital marketing. It requires websites to fight a constant battle with search algorithms in order to remain as relevant and visible as possible.
Search engine optimisation differs from other digital marketing strategies like PPC (pay per click) because it is focusing on increasing the organic traffic to a webpage. This means that the traffic generated is from people who had deliberately searched for the content and chosen a search result based on its relevance to their search terms.
Search engine optimisation is broken down into two primary areas; on page and off page. As the names imply, on page deals with the content present on the website itself whereas off page refers to all of the optimisation tactics that occur elsewhere.
Optimising both on page and off page factors is vital to achieving high ranking search results. As the search algorithm changes so does the importance of individual on and off page factors.
The most commonly utilised on page factors include:
The most commonly utilised off page factors include:
On page optimisation factors are considered to be the most important as they are indicative of the overall quality and relevance of a website. They are also easy for a web page to control as the on page factors exist and can be edited within their domain.
Off page factors become more important for web pages that are in high competition with others. If two webpages are of similar quality then off page factors will tell a search engine which of the sites has a wider reaching reputation.
Search engine optimisation’s primary benefit is to help increase the traffic to a website by increasing its discoverability in search engines. While this alone can increase business there are a number of other tangential benefits.
Because search engine optimisation is increasing the organic discoverability of a website, the website’s online presence will be considered more sincere and trustworthy. This is because people are being served the website due to its genuine relevancy to their search terms and not because of paid placement.
For this reason search engine optimisation takes longer to implement than paid advertising but has a much longer lasting effect on a websites’ perceived authority and trustworthiness. The level of mindshare this generates in the target market is highly valuable to any business, especially in highly crowed markets.
Real estate businesses stand to gain more with search engine optimisation than many other industries. This is simply because of the insanely large number of people who do their property searching online.
Several studies of consumer behaviour show that upwards of 80% of home buyers use the internet to search for properties and find real estate websites to be the most useful tool to do this. This demonstrates how critical it is to capture that market in their first few internet searches.
Since there are so many property listing websites competing for relevancy on the internet a high quality SEO strategy is one of the only ways to set a website apart from the crowd. Generating this organic search traffic is one of the most powerful digital marketing strategies that a property agency can use.
The targeting of keywords based on geography and type of property is one of the best ways search engine optimisation can aid realtors. The ability to target localised searches means that individual landing pages can be tailored to be as relevant as possible to the local audience.
The majority of people searching for property online will begin writing their search terms with the specific region they are looking in. For this reason realtors cannot afford to miss out on the traffic targeting of local keywords can bring to them.
This local keyword targeting combined with high quality blog content can be used to serve relevant content to the target audience. A comprehensive and highly detailed piece about available properties in a certain region can gain an incredible amount of visibility with proper optimisation.
This is important for realtors because it allows the marketing of properties not just based on their price but by the quality of the copy written about them. Search engine optimisation means it’s easier than ever to serve that copy to audiences it will be relevant to.
As well as providing more opportunities to expose audiences to writing about a property, it more importantly allows them to see photos and videos. Research shows that users are far more likely to engage with property listings when high quality photos and videos are present.
Research also shows that more and more people are using their phones to do searches we would expect them to do on a desktop computer or laptop. This means that having a mobile friendly website that’s easy to navigate is more important than ever. Luckily search engine optimisation involves the creation of mobile friendly pages as well.
Interacting with social media is another element of search engine optimisation that is of great benefit to realtors. It allows the business to maintain an open communication channel with customers on a platform they are using habitually.
In order to be successful at search engine optimisation it requires training and experience in the methods that are required to pull it off. An understanding of how to select, target and implement keywords is just one of the things required for effective optimisation.
A professional search engine optimisation company will be talented at web development and copywriting as well as using social media to its best effect. The ability to write meaningful content, optimise and distribute it is not something that can be done by just anyone.
The general concepts of search engine optimisation may be easy to understand but the process of implementing them on a large scale is something that requires a specialised approach. It is for this reason that so many businesses rely on the consultancy and assistance of SEO agencies to boost their online presence.
SEO Shark is a professional digital marketing firm that specialises in search engine optimisation. We understand the demands of search engine algorithms and how to manipulate them to boost traffic to our client’s website.
We accomplish this by maintaining an open and honest dialogue with our clients that takes into account every detail of their current situation. This includes factors such as the client’s current website, marketing initiatives and place in the industry. This allows us to tailor a monthly pricing structure that is proportionate to the needs of the client.
Since many other search engine optimisation providers will charge a large one-off fee they have less of an incentive to maintain the quality of the work they do for clients once they receive payment. SEO Shark’s monthly pricing structure means that clients only pay for us as long as they see value in the work we do for them.
This makes our services a lower risk for businesses that are just starting out with digital marketing and are cautious of getting burned. Our knowledge of the market is second to none and this has allowed us to continue providing highly competitive pricing that is dependent on ongoing client satisfaction.
Our comprehensive service means that we can write, optimise, distribute and build a link infrastructure around content that is specifically tailored to our clients business. This also includes options for integrated PPC campaigns, website development and social media management amongst a variety of other services.
The market for search engine optimisation consultancy and implementation is crowded with cheap, low quality competitors who use inferior software to get quick but short term results. The methods used by these competitors are usually unethical or ‘black hat’ optimisation strategies and will land their client’s website with a negative standing.
Our firm is extremely careful never to compromise on the quality or ethical integrity of our optimisation strategies and are happy to admit that getting these genuine results takes longer. We know that the long term benefits our results create for our clients are always worth more.
Search engine optimisation is an exciting if unpredictable landscape in digital marketing. The difference between mastering its concepts and executing them is vast. This requires an SEO firm that has the experience and resources to pull it off.
The benefits of search engine optimisation for real estate websites cannot be overstated. With such a highly competitive market that is increasingly accessed through the internet, there is no good reason not to begin using optimisation strategies immediately.
For this reason anyone wanting to achieve high rankings in search results should call SEO Shark in order to get a competitively priced and highly effective solution.
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SEO Shark
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