In discussions about website development you invariably hear mention of “SEO”.
SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization’. It’s the practice of optimizing your web pages to make them reach a high position in the search results of, not only Google, but also the many other search engines that serve millions of search queries per day. Engines such as Bing, Yahoo, Baidoo, Ask, AOL, and (our favorite at FTMS), DuckDuckGo.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization
Does Your Business Really Need SEO?
SEO focuses on improving the rankings in organic – i.e. non-paid-for – search results. Whatever the size of your organization, if you have a website and you want to get more traffic, in our opinion SEO must be part of your marketing efforts. SEO should also be applied to Social Media postings (sometimes known as SMO – Social Media Optimization).
Google is the reigning king of search and is the single most used search engine in the world. Google is fast, relevant and the largest single catalogue of web pages available.
The rankings of Google’s search results are determined by its algorithm. Although Google’s algorithm remains secret, years of experience in this sector have resulted in a pretty good idea about the important factors. In our view, the factors in Google’s algorithm can be divided into two categories:
On-page SEO Factors
The ranking of your website is largely decided by on-page factors. That is, all those things you can influence from within your actual website. These include:
- technical aspects (e.g. the quality of the code and site speed)
- the structure of your website
- the quality of the content of your website (see below).
These are crucial on-page SEO factors.
Off-page SEO Factors
These factors include:
- links from other websites
- social media attention
- other marketing activities outside your own website
- competition relating to the niche of your particular business. In some niches it is much harder to rank than in others.
These off-page SEO factors can be rather difficult to influence. The most important is the number and quality of links pointing towards your site. The more quality, relevant sites that link to your website, the higher your position in the search engines will be.
Website Quality
Your primary SEO goal should be to have built and maintained the best possible website. Ranking will come automatically if your website is of extremely high quality. Google, for example, wants to get its users to the right place, as its mission is to index all the world’s online information and make it universally accessible and useful.
In addition to this, Google, of course, wants to make money. To achieve this, they have to make sure people keep using Google. This means that they have to show people the results they are looking for. So, if your website is the best in your market, Google wants it to rank high in the results.
SEO Strategy
Permanently ranking well in the search engines demands an extensive SEO strategy focused on every aspect of your website and its marketing.
- The technical side,
- The User eXperience (UX),
- The content on your website:
all need to be top notch.
To keep ranking well, you should focus on making every aspect of your website and social media posting awesome. Don’t use any “black-hat” SEO tricks, because eventually, this will have negative consequences for your rankings. Instead, practice sustainable SEO, with your user in mind, and your business will benefit in the long run.
Contact FTMS today if you would like us to do an SEO Audit of your website and social media posts, or if you need our assistance in developing your SEO Strategy.
Note: our website development services include full SEO.
Give us a call on +66 [0]62 416 4225 (Thai and English) / +66 [0]84 308 9378 (English), or drop us a line right here: https://www.fintech-management-services.com/contact/.
