Put simply, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process that forms part of a marketing strategy that focuses on optimizing a web page to make it more visible in search engines like Google or Bing. The goal of SEO is to drive organic traffic to your site, with the idea that some of those users will turn into leads with any luck. Organic traffic is driven to a website from clicks on these search results. Full circle, SEO is about improving your organic traffic in order to increase sales.

Check out our Search Engine Optimization Basics for Small Businesses blog post to help you get started! And remember that SEO is a tool designed to get you sales and an ROI - check out our video about this here.

SEO is a fairly technical process that involves adding additional code onto a website, that make's it more visible and easier to crawl for Google. On-page optimization, keyword targeting and backlinking are the common areas most SEO companies spend their time.

We encourage you to check out our SEO blog on How To Optimize Your Website For Technical SEO Ranking  and How to Pick Keywords for Your Business: A Beginner’s Guide

Well, that depends on what you are looking for. Token offers a wide variety of packages and price points that aim to make SEO accessible to businesses of all shapes, sizes, and types. Affordable offerings designed to maintain web presences, with higher-end offerings developed to help our clients crush their competition. Check out our SEO pricing here.

Remember that SEO, much like any marketing channel, is intended to ultimately return your investment...as we detail in our blog post Ways to Generate More Leads and Sales from SEO.

SEO is known to be an investment…it takes time because there is no easy way to game the system. Search engine algorithms have become more and more advanced with an emphasis on delivering users the most relevant, and highest quality results based on their search query. SEO is a process, that really takes time to grow and build on. It's incremental work that together increase the authority of your domain and website. The higher your authority, the more Google trusts you, which in-turn helps you rank better in search results. 

To learn more about timelines and the overall SEO ranking process, check out our video about this exact topic here.

Yes, backlinking (or guest posting) comes with several of our SEO packages. Because backlinking can be a long process, it's not inclusive in all our packages. But for those looking to seriously step up their online presence, they should opt for a package that does include it. A solid backlinking strategy can be the difference between an OK strategy, and one that excels. 

To learn about what backlinks are and how they work, check out our video about backlinks here. Or read about backlinks in our blog post here.

We could spend hours going through the benefits of SEO. But here are a few highlights…

• SEO Targets Quality Traffic - Unlike traditional “outbound” advertising channels, which involve reaching out to consumers manually, inbound marketing centers on making it easy for your users to find you. When you focus on attracting users who are actively looking for information related to your products or services, you’ll be much more effective in reaching your target audience. This gives you the opportunity to reach your audience while they’re already considering making a purchase - increasing the chances that they will become a customer.
• Leads & Sales - Need we say more? SEO, like any marketing tool, is designed to take that quality traffic and convert it into leads...and then sales! SEO is the #1 marketing tool for medium-to-long term business growth. Check out our video on this topic here.
• You Don't Need to Pay for Ads - Google’s organic rankings are based on what its algorithm determines to be the best results for any given query. Context, age, and relevancy are some of the most common weighing factors. Once you have a page that search engines deem worthy of directing users to, it can continue to attract traffic to your site for months (or even years) after you publish it.
  But when it comes down to it, your valuable spot in search results is free of charge. This is a major difference from PPC ads, which involve a cost every time a user clicks and visits a page.
• SEO gets more click than PCC - Granted PPC ads appear above organic rankings, its important to note that 71.33% of searches result in a click on an organic result on the first page. The fact is that the majority of the clicks for any given search go to an organic result, not ads. So there is a certain edge and level of trust you get with users when you appear naturally, and not in a paid context.
• SEO Helps PR - Although SEO and PR may seem like separate marketing strategies, you can use them together to maximize the results you see from each. The biggest connection between the two lies in link building. The goal is to earn links from reputable websites. This means that one of the biggest parts of an SEO agency's job is to identify opportunities for placement or coverage on industry blogs, news publications, and other relevant sites. Considering that a PR strategy revolves around getting prominent publications and influencers to talk about your company, this presents a huge opportunity.

And much like any marketing channel, good SEO means a return on your investment. Ways to Generate More Leads and Sales from SEO.

Today, SEO is widely considered a staple of any marketing strategy. If you are not actively doing SEO, you are at a serious disadvantage. 61% of marketers say that improving SEO is a top priority for brands. Your competitors are likely already taking steps to establish high rankings in search results. But with an SEO strategy of your own, you can keep up with (or outrank) them to stay competitive!

Rich results are experiences on Google surfaces, such as Search, that go beyond the standard blue link. Rich results can include carousels, images, or other non-textual elements. These are essentially the "fancy" looking results you appear on Google sometimes. Check out our blog post on What Are Rich Results and How Do You Get Them?

You can read the technical documentation about rich results on Google's official website. And don't forget to bookmark the rich result test tool by Google.

As you learn about improving brand visibility search, you may come across another term: SEM. While some marketers use this interchangeably with SEO, it’s important to understand the distinction:

SEM stands for search engine marketing, and it refers to activities that earn placement in search engine results pages. This means that it’s an umbrella term that includes both SEO and PPC. So although SEO is a form of SEM, it’s not the only tactic involved.