Thanks to technology, businesses all around the world can take advantage of accessing billions of people online rather than just their local crowd. But even if you were to just reach a local crowd, search engine optimization (SEO) has made it much easier for someone in your neighborhood to find your business. 

But what is SEO? And what can it really do for your business? SEO makes it easy for your business to be found when linked with keywords that are searched by anyone online. Mastering SEO advertising can be the difference between a profitable year and a hard one. In fact, only 0.78 percent of people click on results from the second page.

But by using SEO advertising to grow your business, you’ll be much happier to find yourself on the front page. Here’s why:

Master the High-Traffic, Low-Usage Keyword

The key to starting the SEO process is taking advantage of understanding what keywords are going to get you great traffic visibility based on which your SEO advertising roadmap can be planned. When businesses go for the pay-per-click (PPC) method, most of the time, it will turn up largely searched keywords with subpar traffic.

When you use high-traffic but low-usage keywords, you have less competition and a better chance of standing out. Sometimes this means just adding one or more words to the search. Instead of “smartwatch,” you may use “best smartwatches 2022.” 

Finding Diamond-in-the-Rough Keywords

There are a number of services out there that can help you find these low-competition, high-value keywords. Some are paid services, while others are free. Regardless of what you choose, here are a few things you should look for: 

• Search volume shows how many people are looking for it. In this sense, the higher the volume, the harder it is to rank.
• Gives you alternative keywords and phrases that are commonly searched for within your topic.
• Provides an overview of difficulty and what you’ll need to rank for this keyword compared to competitors, i.e. number of backlinks.

This method is great for two reasons. The first is for start-up businesses that need to get discovered before breaking into the top competition. The second is for any business trying to reach better-quality leads. 

Don’t Underestimate a Good Meta Description

Most people rush right past the meta description, or worse, don’t know what it is. Your meta description is the tiny description that sits below a web result to explain what the content is about. In other words, this is what your customer or visitor will see before deciding whether or not to click on your link. It needs to contain a few elements that are SEO-friendly in order for it to help your post. 

You will want to aim for 150 characters, giving just the right amount of info. Overwhelming the reader will lose their attention. Not giving enough info won’t interest them. You also should include your keyword or phrase to rank better and show the reader the article is, in fact, what they are searching for. 

When writing a great meta description, you want to use a relatable emotion to summarize what your link is going to do to solve or enhance the reader’s emotion. Ask yourself: What is this about, and what will readers get out of it?

Example: It’s frustrating to not know what the first steps are when prepping your home for sale. This guide offers an easy-to-follow sequence for your home to enter the seller’s market! 

Keyword: prepping your home for sale

Emotion: Frustration

Topic: Offering a guide on how to do it

Be Mobile-Friendly

Almost all of us have experienced at least once in our lifetime that moment where the webpage just doesn’t load right on our phone. The links seem to be messed up, and navigating the website by zooming in and out is a headache. If your website doesn’t work on mobile devices and changes from desktop view to mobile view, you won’t rank on the first few pages. 

Your website needs to be mobile-friendly and configure itself so that guests can shop, read or do anything else with ease. Since most people use their phones to search for things, this is arguably even more important than your desktop page. 

Personal Expertise

You’ll find that Google’s SEO algorithm updates and changes keep us on our toes. First-hand experience when reviewing a product, sharing general knowledge, etc., is valued and makes you a credible source. 

This is especially true when you provide new information and original content that other blogs or businesses may not yet offer. You can always ask yourself while looking at top-ranking pages, “How can I make this article even better?” 

You can also use your personal expertise outside of your blog through guest posting. This is when you write a blog that will appear on someone else’s website. They can then backlink to you and offer exposure to your business and brand. 

Keep in mind that writing about just anything won’t score you a spot on the ranking page. You still need to be conscious of keywords. That’s why many use programs that buy keyword assistance or work with a search marketing service agency to help you do the work. Consider it to be an essential investment! Leave the expertise to those great with marketing and that way, you can focus on the subject that you are an expert at. 

Master the Basics

If you were truly to get into how to master all of SEO, you would feel overwhelmed. It’s an algorithm that not only adjusts itself but doesn’t necessarily always tell you what you are doing right and wrong. However, we do know that we can master the basics of SEO advertising and ultimately grow our customer base and engage with more people. This means getting good at a few really important SEO rules. 

Trying to compete with Forbes as a financial blog is going to be hard for any newcomer. That’s why taking advantage of low-competition high-value keywords can help you get your foot in the door with an audience.  Another great way to introduce yourself is to use SEO-friendly backlinks. To get linked to your page be a guest post for someone else’s audience and offer your personal expertise. Offer their readers something they haven’t heard yet. 

Ultimately, there is nothing worse than not being able to navigate a website on your smartphone. So ensuring that you can be Googled from someone’s mobile device is crucial. If you aren’t getting traffic then you won’t get ranked. This is also why you need a killer meta description that will catch the reader’s attention with a great tagline. Through these steps, you are sure to grow your business with SEO advertising.