Given the fact that organic search results currently drive about half of all website traffic, it is certainly worth understanding the basics of SEO management for any website owner. Organic search results are a direct result of good SEO practices and recognition of such by the various search engines.

Although the results of good SEO management don’t usually kick in overnight, it’s generally worth the wait to begin reaping rewards when sound management does begin to show results. Here are some of the SEO practices that every business owner should be aware of, and should incorporate into their overall business strategy.

Researching your Target Audience

Companies that practice sound SEO management will generally have a deep understanding of their target audience. In order to have that kind of understanding, it’s necessary to do the research, so you know what consumers want from your business and your products or services. You also have to be aware of your target audience’s problems and the daily questions they face so that you can help them overcome all these issues.

Right from the beginning, you should invest serious time researching your target market, so that you can recognize which kinds of problems are resolved for them by your product or service. You should also know how your company differs from others in resolving problems and issues for your target audience. At a basic level, you should understand the demographic features associated with your primary customers, and you should know where your target audience goes when they have issues or problems.

If you’ve already conducted research into these issues and have developed marketing personas, it’s still worthwhile to periodically re-evaluate your research. There’s no question that over an extended period, consumer behavior and tastes will change. If you’re using outdated market research data, you won’t have much chance of success in the current market. With your research data acquired, you’ll be ready to move on to the next step of good SEO management.

Analysis of the Competition

Another of the core principles associated with good SEO management is competitor analysis. You can have both direct and indirect competitors, and both have to be accounted for. Direct competitors are those businesses that you compete with on a daily basis either online or offline. Indirect competitors are those companies that you’re in competition with on search results, which generally means those companies that are using the same keywords you are.

Part of your competitor analysis should be to invest some time in understanding their SEO strategy. You can generally obtain a good understanding of any company’s SEO strategy by looking at its domain age, SEO practices, targeted keywords, traffic volume, and backlink profile. This may be somewhat difficult for an untrained business person to take on, but it’s worth your while to engage the services of an SEO agency to have them carry out the process for you. Once you know the status of your direct and indirect competitors, you’ll be able to proceed with the next step of SEO management.

Optimization of your Website

At this point, you’re ready to begin the process of totally optimizing your website, so that you can achieve the best search rankings. This is a process that generally takes some time, so if you’re planning for it, be sure to install some realistic checkpoints and objectives. The more pages you have on your website, the more time it will take to fully optimize each of those pages. This is a stage where it may be beneficial to hire a website SEO copywriting service because that agency will be familiar with all the major search engines’ current algorithms.

This will help to ensure that your website stays in sync with requirements that are favored by Google and other search engines. Optimizing your website content generally means paying close attention to the data included in your title tag, meta description, headings, images, and text content. All these aspects of your website are evaluated by search engines, so you’ll want to include information that is helpful for users and for the search engines.

If you’re doing the optimization process on your own, make sure that you avoid keyword stuffing and engaging in other ‘black hat’ tactics that will cause your rankings lower on the search engines’ results. It’s essential to have a good understanding of what qualities and features search engines favor so that you can always be eligible for higher rankings.

Periodic Reports

Just like any other digital marketing strategy, search engine optimization requires data. Using data obtained from your website, you’ll be able to measure the performance of your SEO strategy. You’ll also be able to discover areas of improvement and to make better decisions when faced with the necessity of doing so. If you’ve decided to partner with an SEO agency, you should get monthly reports, and in some cases, you might also get weekly reports that will allow you to be more flexible and respond more quickly.

If you’ve decided to do all your own SEO management in-house, you’ll still want to establish a schedule for measuring the performance of your SEO strategy. Whether you are doing weekly or monthly checking, you should always be looking closely at any increases in organic traffic, your search results rankings, the number of backlinks you have, and the number of conversions you’re obtaining. Many businesses use Google Analytics or Google Search Console to closely measure performance and results.

Regardless of how you approach weekly or monthly reporting, it should be a definite part of your overall SEO management process. It will provide critical information for decision-making, and can help you improve your management of the business. Once you’ve gained a sound understanding of the principles involved with good SEO management, you’ll be in a position to help your company achieve the kind of results you’ve been hoping for. If you feel like you don’t personally have the time to invest in this kind of SEO management, you can still achieve those same kinds of results by engaging the services of a professional agency.