How important is SEO for a website?
26 March 2024To say that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is, as the acronym itself suggests, the optimization of a website to increase its visibility on Google and other search engines, is an understatement. Increased visibility is a consequence, but SEO is primarily a business strategy, a philosophy that places the customer at the center of the project. We refer to SEO as a communication strategy that introduces a company and the products/services it offers, and that finds confirmation through the website’s ranking in search engines.
A website without an SEO strategy has no reason to exist, and in order to understand its importance it is essential to start by clarifying and defining the role of the 4 main actors involved:
- The end customer: who uses search engines when looking for solutions, services, and products online.
- Google: the dominant search engine, which is the intermediary that analyzes what the customer is searching for and proposes 2 types of results: paid results (labeled as ads) and ‘natural’ results, which are those that best respond to the customer’s requests. The task of Google and search engines in general is to select the best answers based on specific questions (indexing process).
- The company: the entity that must present itself and must be, through its content, the best possible answer that the end customer is looking for. The success of the company is primarily determined by the search engine that indexes the site, then by the customer who, through access times or interactions, confirms to the search engine the excellence of the result.
- The web agency: the coordinator of everything as it must prepare a fast site; it must check, write, or correct texts, and it must help the indexing process by bringing the site to an excellent position.
Furthermore, it is necessary to pay attention and clarify key concepts such as:
- Indexing: the procedure that search engines perform to catalog sites against internal parameters. It has zero cost for the company.
- Positioning: the procedure that leads to the indexing (writing texts and relative SEO optimization). This function comes at a cost, especially for the writing of texts and the analysis of texts to be written (editorial planning).
Finally, it is relevant also to understand what is not part of an SEO strategy:
- Finding the site by its domain name;
- Finding the site by its VAT number, the name of the owner, the company’s address;
- Finding the site with long or impractical queries;
- Finding the site with made-up product names.
But why should Google put a site at the top? Many users think that it’s all a matter of money, ignoring the fact that there are positions beyond the paid ones. As we wrote earlier, Google indeed divides the pages into ‘natural’ positions and paid positions. It’s not a matter of money, it’s just a matter of interest because Google must first and foremost satisfy customers who use its search engine to find something.
So, how do you conquer the top ‘natural’ positions? Google places, for free, in the top positions, sites that are interesting, sites that have something to say and that are useful and with original texts. Some companies try to outsmart the search engine by copying existing webpages, but Google is smarter. Google analyzes everything: quantity of copied pages, the history of the site, spelling errors, customer’s time spent on the site, various interactions, consistency in proposing new texts. If the texts are relevant, comprehensive, and complete, Google has every interest in proposing them in the top positions. Conversely, if the texts are schematic, short, or poorly written, it is not in Google’s interest to suggest them.
Where do you start to create an SEO-optimized site?
We recommend focusing on 2 major aspects: the first technical-strategic, the second economic. These are very delicate issues that affect the final work and should be approached with awareness, so that the company can choose the best option and optimize the company’s presence by knowing all the available tools.
Technical-strategic aspects for creating a site
- Initial project (objectives, expectations, feasibility, timing, progress);
- Technical choice (costs in the medium-long term, advantages and differences);
- Content creation (communication plan, editorial project and copywriting);
- Post-launch (all aspects that make the site findable/functional).
Economic aspects: the costs of a site
- Technical costs (platform, domain, SSL certificates, customizations, and support);
- Realization costs (projects, photos, insertion of content and images);
- Graphics costs (desktop & mobile graphics, coordinated image);
- Advertising costs (how to make the site findable? PPC, social, SEO, email marketing).
Creating a site and then finding someone to position it is a poor strategy. And it’s also not a good idea to have different companies in charge of the site development, the copywriting, and the social media. Even worst is a DIY approach without experience in the field. Competence is needed, a work philosophy is needed, as well as a communication strategy that is neither improvised nor patched up at the last minute.
Finally, when you think of making a website, you must never forget that a customer finds everything just a click away, so our work must be exclusive and important, it must reflect the company, its history and its excellence. A client will have to find what he can’t find elsewhere, so it’s important to have texts, SEO optimized, but supported by clear communication. The more original you are, the easier it will be to attract attention, both from Google and from the users.
Oscar Giacomin / General Manager, Facto Edizioni
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