What is SEO Marketing And How Does It Work?
Updated: Aug 16, 2019
Millions of sites every year are trying to produce the same results and compete for the same online real estate. Because of the competition, marketing has changed from chasing after the consumer to creating the most desirable experience for the consumer.
And how do they do this? SEO Marketing.
SEO marketing leverages first place google results for your website to increase visitors every month. This is a system that combines on-page SEO, off-page SEO, technical SEO, and content marketing.
If you've asked yourself, "how do I get people to come to my site?" then I'm here to tell you the search is over and you have found the secret!
So how does it work? What do all the pieces of the system even mean? Can you do this yourself or should you think about hiring someone?
This article is meant to get you up to speed on where the internet is and how professional online marketers are dominating search engines for their clients and how you can leverage these results for your business.
Table of Contents
How Does SEO Marketing Work?
What Are The Types of SEO Marketing?
What Is A Good Strategy?
Conclusion
How Does SEO Marketing Work?
The idea is pretty simple.
You create amazing content like blog articles or youtube videos and if they are amazing and people enjoy watching or reading, Google will rank these on the first page and you will see more and more people coming to your site.
There are three main areas you need to focus on when trying to rank on the first page and they are quality, authority, and trust.
The only problem is that everyone who has a website is trying to do the same thing...
So then what makes your site stand out above the rest?
It really comes down to how familiar you are with the system and how consistent you can be.
Google uses an algorithm (fancy word for a formula) to measure every site to see how good their SEO is.
If you check off enough boxes in their algorithm then your site is going to be ahead of a lot of other sites in that same niche.
But a lot of people forget their audience when producing their content. They get so caught up in trying to check all of the boxes that they forget people are actually trying to read this stuff.
I've seen a lot of technically bad looking articles on the internet that rank on the first page for that topic.
Why?
Because they were simple, easy-to-read articles that people really loved.
Ultimately, you are trying to create a piece of content that people are going to get a ton of value from and want to keep coming back to.
Google lovessss this...
You have to also remember who Google is and what they are trying to do.
Google wants to give their users the best and most comprehensive result (singular) when they search for something.
So if you want to go hiking in the Appalachian Mountains and search "hiking in the Appalachian Mountains" Google wants to make sure you only need to click on the first result that pops up and you don't need to check out any other sites.
It's important as you head down the SEO marketing journey that you remember what Google is looking for but also that you're writing to people and you want to make sure you're striking a good balance between both.
SEO marketing is a long-term strategy. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme.
Ranking on that first page takes time or a lot of money. But if you get there you can get some crazy results.
Think of it as online real estate. If you land on that first page you have the potential to get hundreds, if not thousands of people coming to your site every month for years and all you needed to do was put in the work or money.
How exactly does your online home rank high? What does your business need to focus on in order to reach that first spot?
What Are The Types of SEO marketing?
There are several types of SEO marketing that you will need in order to rank high in different search engines like Google. They are keyword research, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, technical SEO, and content marketing.
Below are five different areas that you will need to focus on in order to rank high in search results.
Keywords Research
Keywords are really the basis for what you are doing in SEO.
Keywords are ultimately your target in SEO marketing. They let you know where you want to compete when ranking high in Google.
In our example above our keyword was "hiking the Appalachian Mountains" because this is what someone is going to type into the Google search.
Your goal is to find words that have a lot of people searching for them but not a lot of competition.
So how do you do this?
Well I use a paid tool called KWFinder that allows me to do some research for keywords but I suggest using a free chrome plugin called "keywords everywhere".
This will tell you exactly how many people are searching for a keyword but unfortunately does not tell you about the competition.
Onpage SEO
On-page SEO is about optimizing your titles and headings, keyword placements, alt image text, and site loading speed.
All titles and headings will need heading tags that identify to Google what your most important text is. I cover this more in my step-by-step Wix Blog SEO article.
You will also need to make sure that your keyword is placed strategically in your body copy and your headings. This helps Google know what your articles are actually about. If you notice in this article I have used SEO marketing in several different headings.
You will want to make sure that all of your images have alt text so that Google will know what these images are. Google can't read pictures so it needs text to understand what they are about. This is why you add your alt text.
You will also want to make sure that you do not have any elements on your site that is slowing it down like animations, heavy videos, non-compressed images, or lots of different types of text.
Speed is an important factor when trying to rank on the first page and can make a real difference if you are trying to move up a spot or two which can mean the difference between hundreds of visitors a month..
Offpage SEO
Off page SEO Is the process of building backlinks to your site and any marketing for your content that brings more visitors like social media or email marketing but we won't get into the latter two in this article.
Backlinks are very powerful for your off-page SEO and they are basically websites that link to your site.
This can be seen kind of like a popularity contest...
If your site has a lot of other sites linking to it then Google thinks your site must be an authority on your topic and will rank you higher.
Because backlinks can be a huge needle mover, many digital marketers abused the system by getting backlinks inappropriately several years ago and got their sites banned from Google.
We call this the black hat method of getting backlinks. Following Googles guidelines is the best way to create backlinks and this is called the white hat method of building backlinks.
There are companies that offer backlink building but be very careful when hiring these companies to make sure they are using the correct methods.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO can involve a lot.
Meta title, meta descriptions, JSON structure, web hosting, domain hosting, JavaScript, etc. can all be part of the technical side of SEO.
This is one of the more difficult areas for entrepreneurs to navigate. Many of the times entrepreneurs do not have the technical savvy or time to learn to do this themselves and will rely on Freelancers to get this done
If you are on the Wix platform you have very easy access to many of these technical SEO pieces.
I know that WordPress has a plug-in called Yoast that creates easy ways to access some of these pieces for your WordPress site as well.
This is the part of the SEO marketing system that I recommend the most for entrepreneurs to outsource. If you are trying to run a business there isn't enough time in the day to figure all of this out on your own.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a large investment for any business.
This involves creating your own content in your niche that brings incredible value to your audience.
This can come in the form of a YouTube video, podcast episode, blog post, vlog, or any other way that you can reach your audience.
Ultimately, content is the way that people will be connecting with your site and understanding your brand.
Blog articles on the first page of google are typically around 2,000 words. This often takes a lot of time to not only create your content but find appropriate keywords, edit, post, research, post on social media, optimize onpage SEO, off page SEO, and technical SEO.
But if you do this right then you can get the benefits of those visitors every single month.
The content marketing is sort of the glue that puts everything together that allows your process to be highly valuable to your audience and also highly recognized by search engines.
If you do all 4 of the other areas of your SEO marketing system and leave out content marketing the chances of you ranking high are pretty dang slim.
What Is A Good Strategy?
SEO marketing is a process and it is an investment and it is something that can pay off huge for your business.
But you have to get the pieces working together in order to see results.
Every piece of the system feeds another piece of the system so it is important that you give the appropriate amount of time to each part and understand what these parts are so that you can make the best system for your business.
Whether that means that you write everything yourself, or you find somebody to help you with the different pieces, the main goal is to find your system that works and make that the best you can.
So how does it work?
Let's start this by going through the process from the customer eyes.
Let's say that we are a customer and we are looking for new shoes.
We don't want to go to a store in our area because we do not like our choices, so instead, we choose to search online to buy the pair of shoes.
The first thing that we will do is go to Google. We will type in the search bar a phrase that we think will give us shoes we want to buy.
Let's say that we are looking for new running shoes so we type in the search bar "new running shoes."
When we do this a list of result comes up more often than not, we are going to choose an option on this first page.
We are probably not ready to purchase the shoes right away because we want to see what our options are for pricing, style, brand, and other factors.
So what we are probably looking for is a video, or article, that shows us a comparison of very popular and high-quality running shoes that we might want to purchase.
If you actually Google "new running shoes" you will find that the first result you see is actually an article comparing the best running shoes of 2019.
What we will do then is click on that link, we will read the article, and there will probably even be links to specific shoes in that article that we will click on that will lead us to our purchase.
This is how SEO marketing works and this is what you will either be doing or outsourcing in order to leverage SEO marketing for your business.
Let me describe a little of how this will work from your side.
You do your keyword research and find words that you can rank high for quickly. By quickly I mean anywhere from 6 to 12 months.
You make sure that your entire site is optimized for on-page SEO and technical SEO.
You write a blog post about new running shoes that compares all of the best 2019 running shoes and you make the article the most amazing article on new running shoes that exist.
Once the blog post is published you work on creating backlinks to that blog post. This is your off page SEO. You will also be posting to your social media accounts or email list to promote the blog post.
Once people start coming to that blog post and reading, sharing it, linking to it, you will start to see that your blog post ranked higher in Google than others because of the amazing content and SEO marketing that you have done.
It is a simple process, the only problem is that it takes a lot of time and a lot of work. This is why entrepreneurs and small businesses have a hard time sticking with this strategy.
So then how can you as an entrepreneur fit this into your schedule so that you can start investing into a long-term, sustainable solution for your online business?
What is A Good SEO Marketing Strategy?
There are really two ways to approach this and both have their own positives and negatives.
The first approach is to do the work yourself.
Obviously the negative is that you will spend a lot of your time working on this. The positive is that you will save a lot of money doing it this way.
The approach that I would take if you are going to do your SEO marketing yourself, is to really make sure that all your research is done before you take action and that you focus on getting your site set up before producing content.
This means you need to spend a huge amount of time on your keyword research. You will be creating what is called a content silo for your keywords. This will give you a great structure that if you follow will help give you direction and save you time. Read more about silos in my post that covers blog SEO.
I would then go through your entire site making sure that your on-page SEO is the best you can get it. I would then go and make sure that all of your technical SEO is the best you can get it.
This takes time... But, once you do it you will not have to do this again for your entire site unless you begin to change things.
I would then start on creating your content and posting on your website. You will also need to make sure that each post on your website has good on page SEO and technical SEO.
Then I would start creating backlinks for your individual post or your blog in general.
Make sure that your SEO marketing strategy has deadlines and goals set for each piece of your strategy.
This will ensure that you are accomplishing your goals and getting what you need for your business.
The second approach is to outsource most, if not all, of this work.
The negative side to this is that you will be spending a lot of money in order to get this accomplished. Especially if you have not already attempted to do this for yourself.
I recommend doing as much as you can for yourself first, and then outsourcing when you feel confident you can direct others.
You will need to find a content writer, keyword researcher, a backlink specialist, and you will need to find someone who can perform on page SEO and Technical SEO.
I would recommend using Upwork but I also recommend reaching out to your community and ask other entreprnuers what they have done and if they can suggest any freelancer or business that has helped them.
Conclusion
SEO marketing can create long-term online success for your business but it is a major investment and will not come quick or easy.
Make sure you understand all the parts that make up SEO marketing before you begin to do this for yourself or outsource.
If you are attempting this yourself, be ready to invest a lot of time and learning to accomplish. If you are outsourcing then understand you will be spending a lot of money on writers, researchers, and technically savvy freelancers.
Any questions? Feel free to leave them in the comment section and I'll get back to you!
Like or share this post if knew a little about SEO marketing but felt like this article helped you get a full understanding. These likes and shares help me understand better if I have written this well and it's actually helping. Comment and let me know if something is confusing or you would add more.
I've been working on my own blog for several months and have been helping other businesses rank their Wix sites in Google. If you'd like some personal help then reach out on my contact page and we'll set some clear direction and goals!