The Changing Face of SEO CompaniesIt takes more than a few magic keywords to get to the top of a search engine like Google. Instead, it takes a SEO company that keeps on top of algorithm changes, specializes in internet marketing and online PR, and creates and delivers relevant content. A long, long time ago a website’s rank was determined by its keywords but times have changed and so have SEO companies. Today a website’s relevance and reputation determines a website’s rank which means that SEO companies, in a wider sense, have become digital marketing firms.

Keyword research is the basis of SEO but that’s just the tip of the SEO iceberg. Finding the right combination of keywords will only get a website noticed. In a nutshell, a SEO company optimizes a website, making it as useful as possible for a search engine which is the software system designed to search for information. This means that the links, content and social media linked to the website as well as the website’s reputation, will need to be optimized and relevant to the particular niche market.

While working at an SEO company in Austin, it quickly became apparent to me that a good search engine optimization company will optimize a website on different levels. To give you some insight into their techniques and processes, here’s a brief list of how a SEO company goes about optimizing a website for search engines:

1. On-Page SEOOn-page SEO means the optimization of a website’s content, links, tags, text and other elements. A SEO company creates the perfect mix of content based on its research and will then optimize this content and other elements for a search engine. The optimization of meta descriptions and keywords or onsite SEO also forms the basis of every campaign. The bottom line is the more you create good, solid content, the more your keywords will rank organically.

2. ResearchA SEO company will research the particular market of a business. Based on this, they will then find keywords that match the search terms that the business’ target market might use in order to search for the services or products that the business offers. For example, for a PR firm in Austin, the keywords used might include ‘Austin pr firm’, ‘pr firm Austin tx’ etc.

3. Social Media

Social media is important because it offers businesses an opportunity to engage with consumers. A SEO company will consider the business, its potential reach, goals and target markets and will create a social media strategy for the business. Once a social media strategy has been decided upon, the SEO company will optimize social media with listening and monitoring tools to enable a business to effectively engage with consumers. The bottom line is your business needs to have a personality and in this way, you are able to effectively engage and interact with your audience.

4. ReputationReputation is everything even online! Search engines rank websites higher if a website is seen as reputable. A website becomes reputable when people start to share the website’s content. A SEO company will optimize links in and out of the website, to and from the content in order to enhance the online reputation of a website.

5. Analyzing DataData is the foundation of search engine optimization. A SEO company cannot optimize a website without it. Data is used to measure the performance of SEO campaigns. Analyzing data improves SEO strategies and further increases traffic.

The face of SEO might have changed over time but the goal of SEO companies, to get your business found online via search engine ranking pages, is still the same. The higher your website ranks, the more traffic it will attract and in turn, the more leads your business will have to convert. It takes time to rank higher on search engine ranking pages but with the right SEO company or internet marketing agency, it is definitely worth it.