With most things in life, many of us often strive to be the best we can be, and as the saying goes,“if you’re not first, you’re last.” This mentality is not only practiced by individuals, but the majority of companies often lead by this example, especially when it concerns website traffic.
When using a website to promote products and/or services, it’s important that the efforts to maximize a company’s Internet presence are executed to its full potential. From Google, Bing, and Yahoo! to Ask.com and AOL, there are a variety of search engines that consumers use to research products and services. The higher a website appears in Internet search results, the more likely potential consumers will visit your page. So, how do you reach the top, or at least the first page of search results? SEO, of course!
What Is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is the process of getting web traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines. SEO allows a larger number of consumers to locate a company’s website, providing both the consumer and the company with the results they are looking for on the web. To gain a better understanding of SEO, check out the 3-minute SEO overview video below.
Where to Start
First and foremost, it is essential to have great web content. Not just content that was 
thrown together for the sake of getting a website up and running, but unique content that will interest consumers and make your company stand out in the sea of competitors. Then, a great place to begin concentrating SEO efforts should take place before the website is built. Although SEO can be added following the website development, it is much easier to create a foundation based on an SEO-ready platform.
SEO Strategies
With Google alone, there are 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide. These statistics alone are proof of why you need an SEO strategy. Strategies to consider include the following:
- Develop quality content
- Have an easy-to-navigate website
- Optimize links with strong keywords
- Add keywords to meta tags and meta descriptions
- Review analytics and reporting to see where improvements can be made
Ready, set, SEO!
Jenna Wood 
Jenna, you made a great point when you stated that marketers need to start with content. It’s important for companies to remember that they shouldn’t be optimizing for search engines. They need to be optimizing for users by creating useful, information rich websites and white papes that clearly and accurately describe their company’s content. This should include publishing white papers, writing a blog, sharing research findings, writing case studies, encouraging user generated content, creating useful applications, and more.
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I enjoyed your post. SEO is critical for brands to have visibility online and via the mobile web. As a user, who wants to scroll and scroll to get the relevant information they desire. And as a brand, don’t you want high visibility? That’s why web platforms like WordPress have out-of-the-box SEO functionality and premium plugins to improve your SEO capabilities
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