Talking about SEO, of course the first thing that comes to mind is a website optimization strategy. All website owners definitely want the website they manage to have a large number of visitors and clicks. In fact, the main goal of SEO Optimization is to increase traffic (including the number of daily active users and clicks), grow brand awareness, and increase business sales.
So that as many visitors as possible come to the website so that it becomes the most clicked, SEO is needed. So that the content of our website is better and has an accurate target audience, SEO is needed. To make our website in the top position of Google search results, SEO is needed. Therefore, the role of SEO is very crucial and important to the sustainability of a business that uses a website.
Currently there are various SEO agencies that offer SEO services. And each of these SEO service providers has its own advantages and disadvantages. So, actually the right question is not "how do I choose a good SEO service?" but "how do you choose the right SEO services and according to your needs?".
So, in this article, we will discuss more about tips and tricks for choosing quality SEO services to increase website traffic. Can't wait to find out? Come on, keep following this article, okay! Happy reading!
What is SEO and how it Works?
What is SEO? SEO is an abbreviation of Search Engine Optimization which is a technique used to optimize a website with the aim of making it easier for search engines to find pages/websites and place them on the first page in search engines with keywords specified by the user.
By occupying the first page or by ranking first in search engines, you will have more potential to get more visitors. SEO really focuses on keywords entered by users, therefore applying this SEO technique will help you find the right target users for all the content you create.
Of course, by filtering existing keywords, users with the right target will benefit from the content you create. With the benefits that users get from the content you create, it is not impossible that users will return to your website and read the updated content that you provide.
Simply, Search Engine Optimization is a website optimization strategy to bring in more traffic, clicks and visitors. Of all the search engines that exist today (Yandex, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Microsoft Bing, CC Search, Boardreader, Amazon, and others), the one that must be optimized first is Google.
The fact is that >3.5 billion searches are made through Google every day. And also as much as 53.3% of the traffic that comes to the website comes from organic search (search by entering certain keywords on the Google search engine). That's why optimization on Google SEO is very important to do.
How does SEO actually work?
You need to pay attention that search engines will help users find the topic they are looking for by entering keywords. Therefore, you must determine the right keywords for the article or content that you want to publish.
But even determining keywords is not effective if you don't know how search engines work and how search engines can place your website in the top position between rank 1 to rank 3.
Search Engines or what we are more familiar with as search engines have three main tasks to filter the requests you enter.
a. Crawling
Crawling is the first process carried out by search engines. Search engines will carry out this crawling with the aim of collecting detailed information from a website. This process is carried out by bots which work continuously to collect website details such as pages, titles, keywords, images and internal links on the website.
b. Indexing
After the search engine crawls, the data will then be stored in the search engine database with certain keywords. Pages that have not been indexed will not appear in search engines.
Processing
At this processing stage the search engine will receive requests from users by inputting keywords typed into the search engine. Next, the search engine will carry out keyword comparisons by comparing websites that are indexed in the search engine database.
c. Calculating Relevancy
Calculating relevance is a comparison of website pages that have previously been indexed to find websites with relevant keywords according to user requests. The more relevant the website, the more likely it is to appear on the main page of search engines
d. Retrieval
This stage is a step for search engines to provide website pages that are relevant to the user's request. Each search engine has a different algorithm to determine which page will be displayed on the first page. Each search engine has a different algorithm, therefore the search results displayed will be different even with the same keywords.
e. Ranking
Search engines will not be arbitrary in positioning search rankings. The search engine will carry out the above process to display relevant pages for users with relevant keyword input. This is closely related to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) where the more relevant a website page is, the more likely it is to get a top ranking.
SEO itself works to optimize the keywords used to be easily indexed by search engines so that pages get top rankings and are displayed on the main page of search engines according to the relevance of keywords entered by users in search engines.
What are the Benefits of Content for SEO?
You know the function of SEO is to help make it easier for search engines to determine website rankings in search engines so that they can be displayed according to the relevance of the keywords entered by the user.
1. Getting Traffic
Apart from that, using SEO techniques on your website will increase visitor traffic much more on the first page. Of course, many visitors will visit your site if you successfully apply this SEO technique and appear on the first page of search engines. Users will automatically choose the first website they see to get faster information.
2. Target Relevance
The benefit of implementing SEO on a website that you will get is relevance or target accuracy. Search engines will direct visitors to their desired destination by entering keywords. This will make the website or content you create more in line with the expected targets.
3. Increase trust in your website
Websites that appear on the first page are guaranteed to have higher customer trust. That's because the recommendations provided by search engines are considered very relevant and provide the information needed by users.
4. Improving Brand
If you are a businessman or marketer, SEO can be used to increase brand awareness which provides many times the benefits.
How come? Just imagine, implementing SEO will improve search engines to find your website, if your website is on the first page, it will cause many new people to know about your website. Unconsciously, it will become a promotion that has the opportunity to bring in new customers.
5. Continuous Promotion
You can use SEO techniques to carry out 24-hour promotions at no cost. It's different if you use Google ADS which requires extra costs to bring in buyers. By using SEO you can promote your brand 24 hours non-stop as long as your site doesn't disappear.
Why Should We Implement SEO on our Website?
A website that is managed without paying attention to SEO will certainly not be optimal in search engine search results. We will lose the opportunity to get free traffic from search engines. By implementing SEO optimization, our website can be assessed positively from both search engines and readers.
So, our website has the opportunity to get more traffic from search engines. Here are 3 reasons why SEO is important to apply to our business website.
1. Increase Brand Awareness and Business Credibility
Awareness of your business brand can increase if you carry out SEO optimization. Because, by carrying out SEO optimization on the website. Our website has the opportunity to appear on the first page of search engines. So that our business brand will be easily recognized by potential customers.
Apart from that, it can increase business credibility. By implementing SEO optimization, our website will be thoroughly optimized. Starting from On-Page, Off-Page, and Technical SEO. These three elements can produce a website that is rated positively by search engines and readers.
2. Organic traffic tends to be easier to convert
By optimizing SEO, the website has the opportunity to get more traffic from search engines. Because potential buyers are looking for products themselves, then go to our website. This makes website visitors more relevant and has the opportunity to become leads.
3. Able to provide more stable traffic in the long term
SEO is an organic marketing strategy. So, in the long term it is able to provide more stable traffic compared to paid traffic. Maybe for paid traffic via Google Ads, it will be significant when the ad appears. However, after that the traffic can disappear. In contrast to SEO, which is able to provide more stable traffic. However, this SEO takes months until the results are visible.
How do I Choose the Best SEO Service?
The mistake of entrusting our business SEO to fake SEO service providers will have a fatal impact. Thoroughness and in-depth consideration is required in choosing SEO services. Therefore, this section will comprehensively explain tips and tricks for choosing SEO services. Please pay attention!
1. Understand Goals and Desired Outcomes
Understanding the goals that your business wants to achieve is important. Because clear goals and business goals from a website will determine which SEO strategy and optimization is needed.
SEO service provider services have limitations. They may not provide SEO services that are suitable for all business goals. Therefore, the first step in choosing SEO services is to identify the goals and expected results.
You must be able to recognize whether the business website you are managing requires SEO-optimized content marketing (SEO for Digital Marketing Strategies), Voice SEO, Link Building, Local SEO, or E-commerce SEO. Because each of these SEO services has different goals and strategies.
The goals of each business website that uses SEO services can also vary. For example, does the business website want to rank the entire website or just certain keywords? Or maybe the goal is to get more traffic and good leads in order to drive the business more sales coming from organic visitors.
To better understand that recognizing goals and expected results is an important first step in choosing SEO services, then consider the following example.
Let's assume that the website that you manage regularly creates quality content every day. But it turns out that Google doesn't display this content in the top ranking of search results according to the target keywords that you have set.
Conversely, when there are Google users who search using your target keywords, the content that appears in the top positions is actually competing content with writing quality and completeness that is still below your content. So, in this situation it is likely that these competitors have a higher domain authority or have more backlinks pointing to their website.
In these conditions, the expected goal is to increase domain authority, increase Google ranking, and get lots of links pointing to your content. So, suitable SEO services are experts in the field of Link Building.
2. Get to know the types of SEO well to suit your needs
In addition to having a good understanding of business goals and expected results, you must also be familiar with the types of SEO. SEO optimization has three main types, namely on page, off page, and technical.
On Page SEO focuses more on optimizing SEO for the front of the website (content title, content structure, content images, permalinks, and others). The main function of On Page SEO is so that the website can lead to the right audience and increase website conversions.
Meanwhile, Off Page SEO focuses more on optimizing SEO for the outside of the website (Link Building, domain authority or domain authority, content promotion through social media, and others). The main goal of Off Page SEO optimization is to increase rankings on Google.
Then there are White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO. For a more complete understanding of the differences between White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO, you can stop by one of the following Erzedka articles: Black Hat SEO vs White Hat SEO
3. SEO Company Verification
The next tip in determining SEO services is to verify the company that provides SEO services. A good SEO service company will have the following criteria, have an SEO score report, have a website loading speed report, have an SSL checking report, have a website traffic report, and have a special team that specializes in SEO.
4. Know the Experience of SEO Services
Knowing the experience and actions of an SEO service company is important. Because the more experienced a company is, the more shrewd it will be in dealing with various SEO problems. You can visit the company's professional website or site on LinkedIn to check credibility.
5. Know the Reputation of SEO Services
The next tip is to recognize the reputation of the SEO company. You should make sure to choose a reputable SEO company. The way to find out the reputation of a company is to look at reviews on various forums such as Ads.id, Facebook, Kaskus, and others.
You can also look at the testimonials of customers who have used their services. But you have to be wary of fake testimonials circulating on the internet.
6. Check Transparency
It is no less important before deciding to use SEO services is to check the transparency of the service provider company.
You need to know and inquire about the methods, expertise, and work practices of the company. Because companies that don't want to provide transparency about how they work to prospective clients usually hide something that could potentially harm future clients.
7. Compare Prices Offered
Prices for SEO services are relative, depending on the level of difficulty and website performance. However, it is also necessary to know the reasonable prices that are currently on the market. So if an SEO service provider offers a price that is too high, you can find out and try to negotiate.
Likewise, when a service provider offers a very cheap price compared to the market, it is necessary to be aware of the possibility of fraud.
8. Ask Working Time
If the target of your business website is to rank in the top 10 pages of Google search, then it usually takes three months to six months. If the company gives too long a deadline for SEO optimization, then of course it will hurt you.
9. Check Records With the Better Business Bureau (BBB)
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a private organization that provides company information (such as ratings and reviews). Assessments presented by the BBB are visible and accessible to everyone. However, please note that not all SEO service providers have records at the BBB. So you need to have other options in viewing the company's travel history in handling clients.
10. Check the duration of the SEO service provider's operation
The longer the company has been operating, the more experienced it is in dealing with clients. SEO service provider companies that have a fly by night system need to be avoided. Working with a stable and trusted SEO company will provide a certain sense of security and comfort.
11. Understand the Employment Contract
Before signing the agreement document, you must really read carefully the things listed in it. Make sure that the work contract to be approved explains the guarantees and guarantees for website security.
Because if you don't have a guarantee, then it will only be a waste of time and money to use SEO services but the goals you want to achieve are not achieved. Also make sure the SEO service provider guarantees website security from malware and the like when they do optimization.
12. Make sure the SEO service provider is not registered on a fraudulent website
PissedConsumer and Scam are websites that have a list of companies that have committed fraud. In addition, they also included complaints from several people who had been clients of certain companies and were disappointed with their services.
If the SEO service company you want to work with appears on the list of the two sites above (Scam and PissedConsumer), then you need to be vigilant. Apart from that, you can try by writing down keywords in the form of 'company name' and adding 'fraud', 'cheating' or 'scam'.
If there are no search results that are relevant to these keywords, then you can be sure that the SEO company is trusted and has never been involved in client fraud cases.
Conclusion
For business website owners, SEO Optimization is a very important thing to do. SEO optimization can be useful for increasing traffic (including the number of daily active users and clicks), growing brand awareness, and increasing business sales. Therefore, a mistake in choosing an SEO service provider company can be fatal for business continuity.
Some tips and tricks for choosing SEO services are understanding the goals and desired results, knowing well the types of SEO to suit your needs, verifying the SEO company, knowing the experience and reputation of SEO services, checking company transparency, comparing prices, asking for processing time, check the service provider company is not a fraud, and understand the employment contract.
There are websites that can be used to help check company backgrounds and make it easier to choose SEO services. To see client reviews and testimonials, you can visit Kaskus, Ads.id, Facebook, Google Reviews, and PissedConsumer. To see a company's profile and credibility, you can visit LinkedIn and the Blogosphere.
To ensure that service providers are not fraudsters, you can look at the Scam and Better Business Bureau (BBB) sites. Well, that's enough discussion this time regarding tips and tricks for choosing SEO services. Hopefully useful, yes!