You’ve probably heard the term SEO and maybe even SEM but aren’t sure what these terms really mean. So what is SEO and why is it important? SEO is about making your website structured in a way that gets visitors. It’s about being noticed above your competitors. It’s all about the traffic.

So What is SEO?

While there are many definitions, Moz.com says “SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results”. The crucial part of that is quality. You want to attract people that are specifically looking for your product or service.

So How is this Done?

One of the main components of SEO is the use of keywords. According to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), “Keyword marketing involves placing a marketing message in front of users based on the specific keywords and phrases they are using to search”.

Let’s break that down and see what that means to you as a business owner.

When your client, or prospective client, has a need for a product or service, what do they do? They do a web search and most of them use Google.

And how do they search? By using keywords or phrases. Maybe they want to take a vacation to Cancun, so they search for ‘Vacation packages to Cancun’, or ‘Trip to Cancun’, or even ‘All-inclusive vacation package’.

Here are some of the top results they would get for such a search:

All of the highlighted words in the picture are keywords and phrases. For instance, if you own a Travel Agency that books trips, all or most of these, should be in your website content. But it doesn’t stop there. Anyway you relate to your customer, whether it is marketing materials, email campaigns, radio or TV ads, they all need to have the content that your customer is looking for.

Want to learn more about how to choose the right keywords to attract the visitors who are genuinely interested in your product or service?