Search Engine Optimisation explained...simply!

Do you know the difference between Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

These two words sound similar and are often used interchangeably, but they are so different to each other!

Keep reading below to find out what SEO means. We won’t bombard you just yet with the intricacies of SEM, we’ll let you digest SEO first and how its usage is applied to your business.

SEO is described as:

• The organic or native result of a search
• It is the strategies and tactics used to enable a site to be accessible, or appealing to, a search engine (such as Google, Yahoo etc)
• SEO improves the chances that your site will actually be found by a search engine

No one knows for sure exactly how search results work but you must remember that search rankings, which is the higher you appear on a search result page, is a privilege, not a right.

Why doesn’t anyone know for sure how search results works?  Well, it’s because our friends at Google, Yahoo, Bing etc use an algorithm that is a closely guarded secret, and because they are so nice, every time someone sort of figures it out, they change it.

The goal of successful SEO is to obtain a high-ranking search result and the higher a website naturally or organically ranks, the greater the chance that the site will be visited by a user.

Typically, SEO has best practices that we at Massey Online follow religiously and some of these include:

• Creating and publishing excellent and unique content about your product
• Using keywords that are commonly used by your target market
• Actionable linking to and from pages on your website to keep your audience engaged and informed
• Using social media links such as Facebook, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, and Twitter

These four points are only just the start of SEO and to do it successfully you really are best to engage a professional.  You may want to do it all yourself but is that really the best use of your time?

Stay tuned for our next blog deciphering Search Engine Marketing (SEM). To find out even more about social media hints, tips and tricks have a read through of all our news and articles.