You spent the money on a great website, now it’s time it earned it’s keep. Drive conversion rates and qualify more leads. Arm your website for the war ahead and hire an army for the cost of a soldier.

What is SEO?

SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of implementing various techniques to drive traffic to a website or domain from an SERP (search engine result page). To learn more about search engine optimization and how it’s different to SEM (search engine marketing) scroll below. 

Get Found Get Paid

Use the best SEO and SEM tools available. In a constant battle for keyword dominance, trial and error just doesn’t cut it. Using TORQ’s powerful data analysis tools will allow you to put your money where it matters. Monitor your competitors and see what has worked for them and where. Then do it better. Having a great website is more than looks its a strategy to eliminate bottlenecks in your customer’s digital journey. SEO gets you traffic. Traffic gets you conversions. Conversions get you paid. 

​What is SEO and How Does it Work? 

Search engine optimization is the organic means in which a domain gets found on a SERP (search engine results page). SEO is a critical component for any digital marketing strategy. The cornerstone of SEO and its ability to affect rankings have been and continue to be backlinks and user experience. Backlinks are direct connections from other domains. They are viewed by SERPs as popularity votes and directly affect how a page ranks. Naturally, the most popular websites will rank higher. Backlinks are earned through producing consistent and meaningful content and campaigning that content’s value to your target audience. For example, a free e-book or infographic that supplies meaningful and unique information pertaining to a target audience or industry. This content can also be used in SEM. 

What is SEM and How Does it Work? 

Search engine marketing is the paid means in which a domain gets found on a SERP. This is broadly referred to as PPC or pay per click marketing. SEM can drive immediate traffic whereas SEO techniques often take time. Outside the ability to derive immediate results, SEM has a multitude of other benefits. SEM can allow users to geo-target their search ads and reach the audience they are after most. This is highly beneficial for local service companies or brick and mortar locations. 

What are the Benefits of SEM? 

Many SEM opportunities operate on a pay per action basis. This allows advertisers to display their ads for free until the desired action has occurred. Having free ad time gives brands immediate exposure and can also display their ads on competitor’s keywords. A solid SEO strategy can also boost your SEM efforts. Using the most effective keywords and phrases will put your ad in front of the most SERP’s and ultimately the most eyes.  Around 90% of web traffic comes from SERP’s, so having a well-structured SEO and SEM strategy can be the platform that for many small businesses and brands can be make or break. 

On Page SEO 

On page SEO refers to all of the functions that can be executed on the page or back end of the website to aid in ranking. These core functions are keyword research, meta and alt tags, header tags, load speeds and user experience and interface (UI/UX).  

Keyword Research – The process of finding the frequency terms and phrases are searched in search engines. Researching keywords and implementing those keywords in your content will not only help put your intended page in front of your target audience, but will assist in your SEM efforts.   

Meta and Alt Tags – Understanding meta tags and their use is crucial to effective SEO. Metatags can be broken down into three components; Meta Keywords, Meta Titles, and Meta Descriptions. These are ways to communicate with crawlers and bots that certain items and aspects of the site and page are what you intend them to be. Not using these tags properly prevents your target audience from finding your intended content. 

Header Tags – Header tags indicate to bots and crawlers what the page is about. This is much like when you were in college and you read through DBQ’s by reading the first sentence of each paragraph. 

Load Speed and UI/UX – As of Summer 2021 load speed and UI/UX became part of Google’s 200 search rank signals. Google wants your audience to get the most authentic and useful information as well as the fastest load times. They are starting to look at websites like cars. The websites that can go from zero to sixty in three seconds and come standard with Italian leather tend to rank a little higher than the websites that take the kids to soccer practice. Man, Woman, Binary, Alien, AI, Google, Bing and anyone that knows what’s good for them, all love speed performance and functionality. Get with it or get left behind. 

Off Page SEO 

Off page SEO or external SEO is the practice of affecting rank outside of the page or website itself. This can range from backlink campaigns, social media campaigns or alternative means to affect brand awareness. There are many creative ways to earn backlinks and awareness although they typically stem from valuable content and creative advertising strategies.  

A valuable tool in SEO strategy is competitor analysis. Take a peek behind the curtain and see where your biggest competitors are earning links and what content has been used to earn those links.  

Using TORQ for SEO and SEM management will gain your organization access to valuable tools to analyze gaps in your content and find creative places to earn backlinks.