What is SEO and what advantages does it offer?

What is SEO? To answer this question, it is important to understand the economic and social context we are in.

With the democratization of the use of the internet, due to the popularization of smartphones, the number of customers researching on the Internet has grown websites before they close the deal. The companies surrendered and started using the network to boost sales, thus increasing the number of sites.

At this juncture, the SEO it has become essential and strategic for companies to remain competitive.  

But after all, what is SEO?

Search Engine (search engine): these are web pages that are intended to be a filter in a user's search (for example, Google, which is the most used search engine in the world). In summary, Search Engines are mechanisms specialized in searches for keywords, it can be Search Engine Marketing e Search Engine Optimization.

Search Engine Marketing (Search marketing): basically they are strategies to achieve positioning and visibility within search engines. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): is any action that is related to gaining positions in search engine rankings and can increase the number of visitors.

SEO can be

On-page SEO: Methodology used for the purpose of making the site more visible to search engines, using paid or organic techniques (organic are the natural ways to optimize the site's positioning). This method is applied within the site and is attentive to these aspects:

• Headers
• Title tags
• Interactive media
• Attractive content
• Image Optimization 
• outbound links and internal links 
• Meta tags and meta descriptions

SEO off-page : techniques to provoke the popularity of the site, this methodology is applied outside the site. It can happen, for example, with the creation of a link that points to your website.  

Structure SEO: methodology based on care with the structure of the site, from the relationship between pages and sections to the factors that affect its positioning in search engines. 

 In addition, there are SEO, we can quote the Black Hat and the whitehat: 

• BLACK HAT:  strategy whose goal is to get web traffic in any way, even if that means tricking search engines. 

• WHITE HAT: is an ethical and authentic SEO practice whose aim is to satisfy the needs of the client. 

Although the Black Hat look attractive, the White Hat it is more profitable in the long run. Search engines have rules to ensure the veracity and relevance of the content that will be delivered to the customer, that is, they despise manipulative forms that try to circumvent search engines. 

A Amplifica Digital created an e-book with the 10 myths about SEO that you should leave behind. Don't waste time on SEO strategies that don't work, update your strategy and amplify your search results.

Click on the image to download the material!

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OFFERED BY SEO?

• It asks for a relatively low investment, which brings good results in the medium and long term. Unlike paid ads, SEO results are permanent, requiring only minor maintenance after a while. 
• It acts as a way of attracting new customers, most browsers start from a search engine. O SEO saves consumer time and increases traffic to your business page. 
• They offer tools that generate free reports for your site ( Analytics e Search), competitors' data are also measured, which in turn brings insights and enables the creation of strategies for their growth.

To maintain a good position in the SERPs (Search Engine Response Pages) it is necessary to use SEO. Users stick to the first search results!

In this way, pay attention to offer good content so that your site appears in the first positions. But don't forget, issues like relevance and a good reputation are key to making your site popular.

SEM and SEO: what is the difference between the two strategies?

If you work or invest in digital marketing, you have certainly wondered about the best strategy to achieve better placements in search engines. 

At that moment, the doubt between using SEM or SEO may appear. The difference between Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is very simple, but it can cause some doubts, especially for those who are starting to invest or work in the area now.

Often these strategies are misused. SEO and SEM are two different marketing channels that businesses can use to reach their target audience on search engines like Google and Bing. Investing resources in SEO or SEM has differences and it is important to understand what each of these strategies can bring as results within digital marketing.

For this reason, the Amplifica Digital  shows here in this article that despite being very close, these two strategies have some fundamental differences that must be taken into account.

Continue reading and enjoy the tips! 💡

What is SEM?

To explain in a few words, we can say that SEM is a complete marketing strategy for search engines. It is nothing more than the set of digital marketing strategies that aim to increase the visibility and traffic of a website by reaching the best positions in the ranking of Google and other search engines.

You will always distinguish a paid advertisement on search engine result pages thanks to the “Advertisement” icon. Strategies with organic results do not have this warning, which means that organic results and paid results look different.

As far as strategy is concerned, anyone who thinks that SEM and SEO are the same thing is completely wrong. Although both have a similar objective, which is to reach the top of the search page, while the second works only with techniques for organic search, the first also includes actions with sponsored links.

Therefore, SEM proposes a complete marketing strategy for search engines, focusing both on ads and optimizations for organic results.

SEM: Know some important terms 

Sponsored links

Google Ads is one of the main tools used by SEM to achieve good results on Google quickly and efficiently.

Immediately after choosing the right keywords and setting up your ad, your page starts appearing in searches, before organic results, and receiving new visitors/conversions.

Ads don't even have to be made just for Google's search network. They can also reach new users by creating display, video and app campaigns.

organic search

The second strategy contemplated by SEM is focused on achieving good results in an organic way and, therefore, it does not require any kind of financial investment in Google.

However, that doesn't mean it's easier than sponsored links. On the contrary, competition for the top positions of search engines is very high and it takes time for these platforms to recognize the authority of a website and display it at least on the first page.

The work is quite hard and the results take longer to appear, but there is a set of techniques that you can adopt to position yourself better in the Google ranking.

What is SEO?

We saw in the first paragraphs what SEO is, but here we bring a more practical definition. The best way to appear in the top positions of Google organically, without a doubt, is SEO strategies. 

SEO encompasses a set of techniques that are used by marketing professionals to increase the relevance of a website and improve its position in the Google ranking in an organic way.

Unlike sponsored links, this strategy takes a little longer to show the expected results.

However, when properly applied, it can have lasting effects that are very important for building your authority on the web, as there will be quality traffic without the need to invest in ads.

We can therefore conclude that SEO is an essential part of the SEM strategy and a differentiator for the long-term success of your website.

Important Terms for SEO and SEM 

The two strategies are divided into SEO On Page and SEO Off Page. Know more about!

On Page SEO

SEO On Page is the set of optimizations that need to be done within the website so that it has more chances of achieving a better position in the Google ranking.

These adaptations must take into account both the content of the pages and the techniques related to the performance of the site.

That is, it is necessary to worry about all the programming, loading time, responsive design, URL, meta description, meta tags and usability, among other aspects, because the user experience is also important for Google.

SEO Off Page

Off-Page SEO, unlike On-Page SEO, is focused on actions that are carried out outside your website, but which also contribute to good organic results in search engines. About him we can quote:

Link building

What happens when other pages insert links to your site in their content and, consequently, recommend it;

co-marketing

It seeks partnerships with websites and blogs related to its area of ​​expertise.

guest post

It consists of producing and publishing content for another website or blog, which generates both visibility for your brand and recommendation for your page.

SEO or SEM – Which one to use?

There is no correct answer as it depends on what your specific goal is. For example, if you want to drive quick traffic to a sale, test a new offer, or give a dead month a boost, SEM should be your choice. However, if you want to drive long-term growth, SEO is more recommended. 

You can also combine the two strategies so you can use SEM insights to drive your SEO approach, including gaining valuable insights into expected conversion rates, keyword performance, traffic estimates, and more. 

Use SEM as a testing platform for SEO. Boost your SEO efforts by creating remarketing campaigns as part of your SEM strategy to reach those who didn't convert into customers. You can target them with ads in search or display results, for example.

Ultimately, you can take control of search pages by combining these two tactics and ensuring your visibility in both the ad space and the organic results.

How to optimize SEO for voice search?

With advances in technology it is increasingly common to conduct voice searches. It's super tempting not to have to type what you're looking for at a time when you're in a hurry. Although it looks super modern, the first use of the dialogue system was recorded in 1977.  

 The internet is not alone at your fingertips, but also on the tip of the tongue. In voice search all you have to do is tell your device what you want and it will do the search for you. The voice search came to facilitate our daily lives, but it still raises doubts for those who work with digital marketing.

How does voice search work?

Voice search is based on PLN (Natural Language Processing). PLN is a strand of artificial intelligence that helps computers understand, interpret and manipulate human language. This tool allows your device to be activated when you hear you speak, understand your intentions, perform an action and give feedback, all in a few seconds.

PLN makes it possible for computers to read texts, hear and interpret speech, and from there find what the user is looking for. 

Our speech is made up of regional accents, apart from which we tend to speak softly and use words from another language. PLN is important because it helps to resolve this ambiguity in language. 

Over time, Google “learns” your language, accent, and other patterns from the way you speak. There is a subfield of NLP called ELN (Natural Language Understanding) that has great potential in cognitive applications. ELN algorithms have the ability to solve an extremely complex problem of semantic interpretation. In other words, they can understand the intended meaning of spoken or written language. Anyway, they can understand contexts and inferences the same way we do. As Google improves its algorithm, it's possible that the user experience will become smoother and more intuitive. 

What changes to search engines with voice search?

Google constantly changes its algorithms in order to improve our user experience. Therefore, being first on Google, Bing and any other search engine has never been more important than it is now. 

Google starts to take into account, in addition to a certain keyword, what motivated the user to do the search. In this way, the engine can show content that does not necessarily have that term, but that is relevant at that time. The longer the content, the greater the possibility of it ranking in the top positions on Google.  

How do I optimize my site for voice searches?

Although text search is even greater, the tendency is for users to increasingly use voice search, so knowing how to optimize your content is of utmost importance.  Here are some tips: 

Create a Google My Business account

Google My Business is a free resource that allows you to advertise a business. It is possible to insert information such as addresses, photos, testimonials from satisfied customers and opening hours. Registering your business on this platform is a way to increase the chances of your site appearing in the first voice search results.

Have Posts solving the most frequently asked questions

Know your target audience well and know which are the most recurring doubts among them, from there create posts that answer the main questions that this audience usually asks. They exist tools that help to discover the most searched terms on google, with the use of these tools it is possible to create posts that offer exactly what people search on the search engine. 

Use audio posts

In addition to the written post, put an audio that reproduces your content. Not all people are willing to ler an article and, as we said, many users use voice search to save time and being able to just listen and not read is an advance. 

Use questions as a keyword

Voice search is more likely to contain questions in sentences.

Use these words: how, what, when, why, and where, because most research starts like this. It is possible to identify the user's intention from the chosen words, for example, if they put "what" and "who" it means that they are still in the research phase, but if they use "where" it indicates that they are almost ready to make a purchase . 

Your content should look like a conversation

The more formal and robotic the language of your page is, the less chance it will have to appear in the voice search results. That is why it is advisable to use a natural language.

Write to your target audience

Write exclusively for your public-bowel. This will make targeting easier and this will help to optimize your content for search engines. 

Your website must be Mobile-friendly

Voice searches take place, especially on mobile devices, so it is necessary that your site is compatible with mobile. 

Make sure your site loads quickly

People have little time available and are always running, so it is recommended that your site load quickly. Users give up more of the sites that take longer to load. 

In summary, it is not a simple task, but optimization will prepare your site for voice searches.

If you don't adapt your website, it won't be easy to find it organically. Remember, with strong competition the market will become increasingly difficult. Now you know what SEO is and you can put into practice the tips we share here to get better results!