SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of aligning all your online efforts toward one goal: proving that you are a real and trustworthy business. Search engines like Google use not only the information on your site but also data from many other sites that link back to yours.

To start simply, search engines like the ever-popular Google heavily rely on the content of your website, but it’s not just what you see. These bots test your site for performance, read META data, and gather resources your website provides behind the scenes.

On-page SEO involves optimizing all the content on your webpage to help search bots and users discover what you do. Keywords and phrases should be included in your metadata, headings, and paragraphs. You should have high-quality, original images with optimized alt descriptions, proper internal linking to other pages, and high-quality content that’s not just keyword spamming.

High-quality content is not just important from a keyword/phrase standpoint but also for user engagement. Search engines often use analytics like bounce-rate and time-on-page to help rank your site. So by providing good content that users will interact with, you show these engines that you’re providing a good user experience.

Technical SEO is what you don’t see. This includes site performance, structure, and security. Important aspects are optimizing images, providing robots.txt and an XML sitemap, ensuring proper HTML structure, using descriptive URLs, implementing schema markup for data, using HTTPS, and fixing any errors or broken links.
Your website is also tested for mobile performance and optimization, so it is important to ensure your website is mobile ready!

Off-site SEO involves everything connected to your business or website that is not on your site. The most popular term related to off-site SEO is “backlinks.” Backlinks greatly improve your ranking because a good backlink is a link to your website from an already reputable site. This could be a local news site, a popular blog, or an already trusted site that is related to your niche. Backlinks from poorly rated or spammy websites will damage your score, so never purchase backlinks.

Other forms of off-site SEO include your social media accounts like LinkedIn or Instagram, business directories like your local Chamber of Commerce or Yelp, other people’s social media, and listings on dedicated platforms like Google Business Profile or Bing Places for Business. Anywhere online that shares your business info or links to your website.

Firstly, start with optimizing your website’s on-page and technical SEO then set up analytics to monitor your traffic. Create business profiles on social media accounts and actively post and share locally. Establish profiles on popular business platforms like Google Business Profile and verify your site on Google Search Console. Once your online presence is established and all your information across the web is consistent, you can create strategies and marketing campaigns to get reviews, backlinks, and social media shares.

This is a tough question to answer. SEO is an organic process and an investment. Depending on your niche and local competition, you could see impactful results in weeks, months, or even years.
The truth is, SEO is a practice that grows over time. It’s an investment that requires effort, and like any good investment, it will compound over time and grow faster and faster. My job is to ensure you have your bases covered, are set up right, and are working towards success through certified strategies and good practices, ensuring this investment stays healthy until you see great returns.