What You Should Know Before Starting SEO

When you decide to start search engine optimization on Google, you need to have a clear understanding about which keywords actually bring business through your doors. If you meet with a marketing agency and the first thing they sell you is SEO , I would think twice about that.

The first thing you should do when it comes to search engine marketing is called “pay per click marketing ” PPC, also known as Google ads or Google sponsored ads. Anytime you Google something you will notice that there are always four ads at the top of every search results, those are PPC Ads or “pay per click ads” from the Google ad network. Anything below Google ads is called the organic results, or we just call it local results/Seo section. This means that the top 4 ads are paid links to be there, everything below that is non-paid. To show up in the non-paid section, you have to earn that position through hard work and building value in the eyes of the search engines.

You are probably asking yourself, why should I pay to be on Google? Well, the answer is simple, it's quick and cost-effective. We will explain further. When you meet with our digital marketing team, we get to know your business to figure out what your most profitable services are. After our meeting, the marketing team starts conducting keyword research to figure out which keywords have the most demand and which keywords have the highest probability of converting into qualified leads. We do this by analyzing the individual cost per click of that one keyword, how many competitors are bidding on those keywords and we also look at various marketing software that shows us historical data of how many competitors are using that keywords as well.

After the research is done, we create an action plan, we finalize it with you and launch your Google ad campaign. Over the course of 3 months, we will keep track of which paid keywords are generating great customers for your business and which ones are not performing that well. We figure this out by using conversion tracking code which keeps track of which keywords are generating calls, emails or e-commerce sales for your business. Once we tested out every single keyword variation, then we begin planning your seo strategy.

Now that we have real data to prove that five keywords result in x number of sales vs. ten other keywords result in no sales, we take note of that and create a seo strategy that will help you rank in the organic section of those keywords that deliver the best results.

It wouldn't make sense to start with an seo campaign and rank for keywords and discover that those keywords generate lots of websites visitors, but those result in no sales because the keywords are not targeting the right audience.

Amateur SEO professionals try and rank for keywords that they think will bring a lot of traffic but forget to keep in mind whether that traffic will bring in people that are serious about making a purchase.

Keep in mind that SEO will take a very long time, depending on your niche and industry competition. Let’s say for example you open a business in Toronto Ontario; chances are you have 500 other competitors trying to do SEO, and the current top 3 websites have already started doing SEO years ago. They are way ahead of you, and if they are continuously working on their SEO campaigns, it's going to be tough beating them in the search engines. On the other hand, if you open your business in a low competition area with very few competitors, it could take 2-4 months to outrank your competitors. However you may be in a city that doesn't have as much demand, even though you rank number 1 on Google, your city may not have enough demand to keep your business at max capacity, which is why eventually you will need to market your business in bigger cities with more demand.

In conclusion, the best strategy to have is to start your business with a paid Google ad campaign. Once your campaign is launched you start getting traffic immediately. Let ’s say you have $500/month Google ad budget, and your cost per click is 1$ (cost per click varies depending on the industry and competition) you get 500 visitors and a good chunk of them will turn into customers, as you get more and more customers and business is going well, now its time to invest in your seo campaign so that you can take an additional spot on Google to increase your market share. While your Google ad campaign is bringing in steady leads for your business, you can simultaneously work on your seo.

In conclusion, the best strategy to have is to start your business with a paid Google ad campaign. Once your campaign is launched you start getting traffic immediately. Let ’s say you have $500/month Google ad budget, and your cost per click is 1$ (cost per click varies depending on the industry and competition) you get 500 visitors and a good chunk of them will turn into customers, as you get more and more customers and business is going well, now its time to invest in your seo campaign so that you can take an additional spot on Google to increase your market share. While your Google ad campaign is bringing in steady leads for your business, you can simultaneously work on your seo.

We hear stories of business owners who did seo, worked hard to rank for certain keywords and they found out those keywords have very little traffic or the keywords have no buying intent. Make sure you know exactly which keywords bring value to your business before starting an seo strategy, it can save you thousands of dollars in time and money and stress. Once you successfully rank all your top performing keywords with an seo campaign, you will have more business than you can handle. This will allow you to focus on growing your business empire and oversee the brand development of your company.

Hopefully, this article was helpful to you in understanding the difference between seo and pay per click marketing, feel free to message us if you have any questions, our team is happy to help.