You’re good at what you do when it comes to your business.

But you’re dumbfounded when it comes to SEO.

You may even have heard of businesses hiring SEO agencies that didn’t get results.

But many businesses who understand SEO are using SEO experts to grow their business.

Even average bloggers like me are leveraging the power of SEO to get a massive ROI on their side hustle.

Below is how SEO works for businesses and things you should know before hiring an SEO.

How to use SEO for your business

First, what is SEO?

SEO – Search engine optimization: the process of making your site better for search engines. Also the job title of a person who does this for a living: We just hired a new SEO to improve our presence on the web.

[source: SEO starter guide]

Businesses are taking advantage of SEO experts to boost their rankings on Google.

In return for plenty of business opportunities and a good ROI leading to exponential growth. 

Here’s how you can leverage SEO to boost your business’ revenue.

You know how Google works, right?

When you need something, you go search on Google.

And you type or say something like, “gym near me.”

And you’ll get a search result listing all the gyms nearby the user. 

When your SEO for local search is optimized, you will be on top of the Google local map search results.

That is called local SEO, which is a search engine optimization for geographic searches.

What if you search for “what is a google seo”? You’ll get results from Google without the local search map. 

As always, the ads are on top, then you get the organic result in the fourth position.

A general SEO is similar to local SEO, but the geographic location is not of the greatest importance. What’s vital is the overall optimization of the website and targeted keywords.

I’d say general SEO is a little more straightforward compared to local SEO. 

However, SEO is not rocket science. Anyone with a brain can implement SEO to their business. 

The dark side of SEO

The only thing you have to watch out for is the black hat SEO practice.

If your business relies on black hat techniques to rank high in Google, you’ll be out of business as soon as Google finds out. And they will.

Google has gotten smarter over the years. They’d have to be with so many SEOs looking to hack the system. That’s why Google has made thousands of algorithm updates and changes throughout the years.

Now, SEOs and businesses fear being on the wrong side of Google rightly so because Google has the biggest piece of the search pie. 

Will Google become obsolete in the future just like it did to Yellow Pages?

Maybe.

But for now, treat Google like your best friend and don’t lead the path of darkness.

How to do SEO for your business

I’m going to go over SEO in rapid-fire as there are so many aspects of SEO. 

Remember that SEO is ever-changing as the updates are frequent. 

If you’re planning to do your SEO, try to keep up to date by following Google employees such as John Mu or Martin Splitt. 

It’s also fun to watch Google SEO office hours where SEO experts ask Google’s search expert John Mu questions related to SEO.

Now let’s go over how to do SEO for your business.

I’m going to assume that you already have a website up and running. And have a consistent flow of traffic.

As a beginner, here’s how you can do SEO for your business:

• Sign up and track your website’s performance in Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
• Keep providing high-quality and valuable content for your customers.
• Avoid duplicate contents.
• Promote your content through social media such as Facebook and Instagram.
• Tell other websites about your magnificent site and how they can better their lives.
• Link to relevant pages.
• Sign up for Google My Business. Especially if you’re a brick-and-mortar shop.

The more advanced SEO stuff is the following:

• Fix broken links.
• Redirect missing pages.
• Delete redundant HTML codes.
• Implement and configure Href lang to target non-English speaking countries.
• When changing domain names or moving hosts, using the best practice to migrate sites is crucial.
• Qualify outbound links to Google by assigning relevant links such as “nofollow,” “sponsored,” UGC.”
• Make your links crawlable.
• Manage crawl budget for sites with millions of pages that change frequently.
• If you haven’t yet, make a mobile-friendly site.
• Improve your security by adding SSL.
• Tag your site accordingly. Types of tags are adult-related and for children.
• Constantly monitor Core Web Vitals and implement fixes when necessary.
  [source: Advanced SEO guideline]

As you can see, there are many aspects of SEO. Those are just some of them. 

Do you need SEO?

As a business owner, you must focus on what you’re good at and outsource the other. 

If you lack the knowledge or don’t have time to do SEO on your business, consider hiring an SEO expert.

Don’t hire an SEO expert based on price. That’s the biggest mistake you’ll ever make. Many hours are put into improving the website’s ranking in search results or fixing SEO-related problems. 

Cheap SEO usually uses underhanded tactics to rank a website quickly to keep the client happy. But be penalized in the long run.

You must understand that SEO is a long game. It takes time for Google to pick up all the changes and fixes made by an SEO specialist.

When to hire an SEO?

The best time to hire an SEO is when your business is new. Your site is still being built from the ground or a redesign of the website.

In saying that, a good SEO can help improve your current website. 

SEO needs time to work. Don’t expect changes in a few days after changes are made. 

Expect to see results after three to nine months. 

If you are impatient and want quick results, there are other ways, such as ads. 

However, as soon as you turn off the ad, your traffic source vanishes along with it. In contrast, a site built with a good SEO foundation can get you traffic organically for years to come.

Conclusion

You can do SEO yourself if you have the time to learn and implement it. Ensure you follow proper SEO guidelines to avoid penalties and manual actions from Google that can negatively affect your business.

SEO needs time to work. If you don’t have the patience, consider Google’s PPC and social media advertising. 

Advertisements are quick wins, but SEO is an investment that can give you a significant return for a long time.