If your business is based in Rochester, NY, you know just how competitive our local business scene is. There are a wealth of businesses and professionals in our area that all feature themselves online. It can be a struggle to compete for online space and direct customers to your business from your website.
With these concerns, we understand why you may be inclined to give up with competing online and turn to spending money on advertising instead. However, you can implement search engine optimization as a strategy to help your website rise to the top of Google search engine results.
In this article, we will go over why your business needs SEO to remain competitive in Rochester, NY. Let’s get right into it!
Who Needs SEO in Rochester, NY?
You may be wondering whether or not your business needs search engine optimizations to stand out. The truth is that all types of brands and businesses need SEO. Why is this? Well, every website needs SEO in order to rise up the ranks of Google.
Think about what you see when you make a Google search. On the results page, you are shown the top ranking SEO pages for whatever keyword you searched. In this way, if your website does not contain these optimized keywords or meet Google’s other requirements, your website will not be shown.
To answer the question of who needs SEO in Rochester, NY, the answer is every business! This is also especially true for doctors, dentists, lawyers, and other professionals. These industries especially struggle with setting themselves apart.
Common Misconceptions About SEO
“SEO is just for sales.”
One of the most pervasive misconceptions about search engine optimization is that it is just for businesses who are trying to sell products. However, businesses of all types benefit from search engine optimization. SEO is designed to help people get to your website.
While those who are trying to directly sell products through their website certainly benefit from SEO, they are not the only ones. Professionals who specialize in goods, services, or even speciality services need SEO just as much, if not more.
Statistics show that people do not scroll past the first page of Google. However, we all know that there are more than just 10 doctors in Rochester, NY. The same goes for dentists, therapists, lawyers, and so on.
The good news is that you don’t have to be rated in the Top 10 ____ in Rochester, NY to show up in the top 10 search results. All you have to do is optimize your website for search engines.
“SEO is not worth the expense.”
This way of thinking is not a money saving mindset, instead it is a money wasting mindset. People think that they will save money by paying for pay-per-click advertisements and other forms of advertising to get their website noticed.
However, they fail to realize that SEO is a way of optimizing your organic search result position. This rise in rankings is a long-term marketing move, rather than a short-term one like advertising is.
If you think of SEO in this way, you will realize that SEO saves you money on advertising by being a permanent addition to your webpage. This is especially true if you are still paying for advertising in physical form. These days newspaper ads, billboards, and flyers can be extremely costly methods of advertising.
Rather than having to continue to generate ads to welcome business, you can make sure that people can come to you instead of the other way around.
“You don’t need keywords for websites in Rochester, NY.”
This misconception is especially harmful because it is so untrue. Keywords are how you are able to tell Google what your website is all about. In this way, you are also able to tell Google what your business is.
If you are using keywords that aren’t applicable to your business, or you are neglecting to use keywords in your website at all, Google will not know how to place your site. In this way, your competitors in the area will be outranking you in local SEO.
Keyword research is tricky and while there are some tools on the market, this research is best done by an SEO professional.
How Do I Add SEO to My Website?
SEO has a little bit of a learning curve to it. While you can absolutely teach yourself how to perform search engine optimization, we recommend that you consult with an expert. An SEO agency or SEO specialist can help you to understand why certain actions should be taken.
From there, you can start to optimize your website on your own and manage the upkeep of your organic search rank. If you are interested in learning SEO yourself, we offer a Comprehensive Guide for Small Businesses.
The major components of SEO are keyword research, headings and titles, and useful content. In order to have all of these elements, a blog is sometimes recommended to boost organic SEO ranking.
All of these changes and strategies that encompass SEO can be quite time consuming. Websites that were designed without any SEO in mind can take several hours to adjust and optimize. Because of this and the learning curve, most businesses choose to outsource their SEO to an external agency or freelancer.
If you want to learn more about SEO through an agency, there are many options out there for you.
Are There SEO Agencies in Rochester, NY?
There are! You need someone who understands the area to help you to optimize your website and promote your business. Located right here in Rochester, NY is Makarios Marketing. Founded by Jason Davis, Makarios Marketing specializes in SEO for local New York businesses.
Makarios Marketing is accomplished at gaining organic traffic for our client websites. We are experienced in SEO, link building, Google Analytics, web development, and eCommerce SEO.
If you are interested in driving traffic to your website through organic means, please feel free to contact us or visit our website for more information on our services. We offer free SEO consultation calls, and we would love to hear from you!
Photo by Ahmad Taufikk on Unsplash