The SEO industry is unfortunately subject to vast amounts of misinformation, deception and false idols. This makes it very difficult for business owners and marketing managers to choose an SEO company that will actually benefit their business. This is partly because no one actually understands what an SEO agency even does! This article will attempt to shed some light on this issue.

What Is SEO?

So what exactly is this SEO wizardry? To put it simply, it is a method of getting your site to the top of the search engine rankings for certain keywords. Keywords basically mean search terms that people are searching for. It’s simple: get your website to rank for something that people will want from you. For example if you sell bicycles and your shop is based in London, a keyword for you could be “bicycles London” or “Bicycle sales London”. By hiring an SEO company, you can get your website to rank for these keywords, which will help your buyers find your site and buy from you.

Branded Keywords: A Common Misconception

Unfortunately poor knowledge of SEO among business owners has created this misconception, which means hundreds of businesses are missing out from the benefits that an SEO company can bring. When asked if they want to be number one on Google, the vast majority of business owners answer “we’re already number one.” Number one for what? That’s the question you should be asking. Unfortunately, most business owners think being number one on Google means your site is number one when searching for your company name.

Of cause it will be number one! Unless your trademark has been infringed, your website will be the only one out there with your name, so obviously it will be number one!

“We don’t need SEO. All Our Customers Know How To Find Us”

This is another common misconception which has unfortunately been caused by misunderstanding what SEO actually does for your business.

Imagine for a minute that you’ve just moved to a new town and your Honda Civic needs servicing. How would you know where to find a dealership locally? You’d get on Google and search for “Honda servicing [your town]”. If the local Honda service centre didn’t employ an SEO company to get them to the top of the Google rankings for that keyword, how would you get your car serviced?

Now, imagine you own a florist and there’s four other florists in your town. You may have many buyers who need to get bouquets of flowers at the last minute, because they’ve forgotten their anniversary for example. For this reason you open your florist until late every day.

Now, think about your buyer. He’s in a hurry, it’s 8PM and he doesn’t really care where he gets the flowers from. He knows about your store, but also knows that there’s four other florists in town, what’s important to him is that he doesn’t have to drive to a florist that’s closed. He searches Google for “florist [town] open till late”. If your opening times page isn’t optimised for all three words, florist, your town’s name, and open till late, he might end up going to your rival’s florist, not yours.

This is why even if people know your business exists, you should still hire an SEO company to help you rank for keywords that are important for your customers.