What is SEO Marketing? The Complete Guide

Throughout the last few decades, the world of technology and marketing has undergone some tremendous changes. From the emergence of television to the boom of social media, we’ve come a long way in such a short time period.

The most recent innovation that is taking over the internet like wildfire, SEO. This acronym stands for “search engine optimisation,” which is a fancy way of saying that businesses should market themselves in such a way as to maximize web traffic. But what is SEO exactly?

In this blog post, we will be going over what SEO is and how it can help your website or business thrive online by gaining exposure. We’ll also dive into how a digital marketing SEO agency and WordPress web design agency can help you grow and enhance your website through powerful SEO strategies.

What is SEO Marketing?

SEO stands for “search engine optimisation.” Its purpose is to get your website noticed by users searching online. In other words, if someone types a search into Google or another search engine that includes relevant keywords related to your business, you want them to see your site link in the first page results.

So how do you get your website to show up when someone searches for a particular topic? SEO involves using words and phrases that are relevant to what your business is about, so search engines will notice them and put you on their front page. Best of all – it’s totally organic, and free! Sure, you must spend some time learning about SEO and how it works, but once you get the hang of it, SEO can be a powerful marketing tool.

A WordPress web design agency can be an excellent resource for learning about SEO. You can work with them, alongside a digital marketing SEO agency to help your site get the attention it deserves in the search engine results pages.

Types of SEO Marketing

There are three main types of SEO that you should familiarise yourself with. They include on-page, off-site and technical SEO:

On-Page SEO

On-page optimisation is all about the content on your website or blog. Best practices usually involve creating unique titles for each blog post, writing engaging descriptions beneath them (think enticing “click here” or “read more” phrases) and utilising keywords in your blog post content whenever possible.

Off-Page SEO

Off-page optimisation is all about gaining links to your site by creating partnerships with other companies, websites, etc. Best practices in off-page SEO usually include:

  • Submitting guest posts (write an article for someone else’s blog).
  • Creating a list of resources for your readers.
  • Working on building a strong social media following.

Technical SEO

This is all about the mechanical side of things! This involves keeping up with website ranking by monitoring keywords that are gaining traction or ones that have stopped being relevant to your site over time, and optimising your site’s speed and performance.

SEO Strategies: Black Hat Vs. White Hat

There are two main types of strategies when it comes to SEO: Black Hat and White Hat. Let’s take a look at both of them to see which one you should implement for your website or blog.

Black Hat SEO

As its name suggests, Black Hat SEO are techniques that are not exactly ethical. In other words, they’re manipulative and can actually get you penalized by search engines for attempting to “trick” them into ranking your site higher than others that are more deserving of the top spots.

This usually involves spamming keywords within the text on your site and using automated software to build links that point back to your site. While these techniques may work for a short period of time, Google is getting better and better at identifying these things – so it’s best to avoid them.

White Hat SEO

White Hat SEO are techniques that are considered ethical and within the boundaries of what search engines allow. The best SEO agency will know precisely when and how to implement these SEO strategies so that they’re never crossing the fine line between what is permissible and what is not.

White Hat SEO involves: 

  • Creating valuable original content (blogs, eBooks, videos) with unique keywords or phrases related to what your business is about
  • Sharing your content on social media and other sites to gain a following, submitting guest posts (writing an article for someone else’s blog)
  • Building relationships with partners that share similar audiences.

White Hat SEO techniques are completely legit, and they are an effective way to improve your search engine rankings! In addition, they tend to be more sustainable in the long term, and they’re the type of SEO that is constantly evolving with the latest algorithm changes.

Choosing the Right Keywords

Ever heard the phrase “content is king”? Bill Gates said this back in 1996, and it still couldn’t be truer when it comes to SEO today. But how do we ensure that the content we create is going to be useful for our readers? Well, by choosing the right keywords!

Let’s say you sell a product called “organic pet food.” You may want to include keywords that are relevant to this topic, for example:

  • Best organic pet food
  • Best foods for pets with allergies
  • Best gluten-free dog food

The best keyword phrases to include in a blog post content are words and phrases that relate to the niche topic of your business. Think about what people would be searching for when they want to learn more, or purchase something related to what you offer.

Keyword research is relatively easy with the help of a keyword tool or planner. Websites like Google’s Keyword PlannerAhrefs, or SEMrush can help you find out which keywords are the most searched for in your industry. Alternatively, you can hire the best SEO agency in your area to help you with choosing the right keywords to rank higher on search engine results.

The Best SEO Agency – Birmingham SEO Consultants

Birmingham SEO consultants like Ignite Webs can take your business to the next level by helping you get more people interested in what you have to offer.

We thrive on improving your search engine ranking by using SEO strategies that are white hat, and we’ll collaborate with you to make sure your customers are getting the most out of your website. We’re not just a WordPress web design agency or a digital marketing SEO agency; we’re your business partners.

It doesn’t matter what your website is about; we can help you get more out of it by using SEO strategies that work and generate qualified leads for long-term success. We are the best SEO agency in the West Midlands and have a great team of Birmingham SEO consultants who are able to provide you with the best solutions when it comes to driving traffic to your site through Google Search.

Contact us today to find out more about what we can do for your business and give us the opportunity to show you how SEO marketing can take it to new heights.

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