If you have ever looked into marketing you have probably heard people refer to something called SEO, but what is it? Simply put SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving where a website ranks in the results of a search engine query. Having better SEO means having your company’s website appear higher on the page of a Google search for specific keywords. SEO refers to how Google (or other lesser-used search engines) “crawl” a website and determine where to place the site.

Before diving deeper into SEO it is also important to understand the different Google search results. The different results include:

  • Google Local Services
  • Google Adwords,
  • Google Map Results
  • Google Organic Results

Understanding and working with different ones will help to gain more traffic for your business.


Google Local Service Ads (Google Guaranteed)

First off is Google Local Services which are also known as Google Guaranteed ads. This type of result is a paid service and is specifically made for home service companies. These companies are required to provide their insurance information, licensing, and go through a background check to use this type of ad. These requirements help assure customers that the company that is advertised is a legit business. Google Local Services works on a pay-per-lead system and the company will only pay if a lead calls directly through the ad. This type of result can be very profitable for the company; however, there is no way to control how many leads will come in.


Google Adwords

The second type of result is called Google Adwords which are otherwise known as Google Pay-per-click or PPC. These results are also a paid service; however, they are open to any company. The company bids on different keywords that are relevant to their business. For example, a roofing company may bid on the keyword “roofing company near me” in their specific location. This bidding is so that their website will appear when people search for that keyword. The company pays for every click whether the click converts into a customer or not so the keywords must be optimized so that as many conversions happen as possible.


Google Map Results & Organic Results

Lastly, we have Google Map Results, as well as Google Organic Results. These two results rely solely on a website’s SEO. Google determines this by looking at both the onsite and offsite optimization of a website.

A website’s onsite optimization is determined by the structuring of the site, the site’s content, and the quality of this content. The structuring of a site looks at what is called meta tags or the HTML structuring. These meta tags are informational pieces about the HTML of a site. They help to tell Google and other search engines what that specific website is about. The results are also determined by a website’s content which is made up of different pieces such as blog posts, targeted keywords, and videos. The quality of this content is also judged. The more knowledgeable information that helps the reader the higher the quality.

A website’s SEO is also determined by its offsite optimization. This is made up of a website’s backlinks (also known as referring domains), the quality of these backlinks, and the authority of the backlinks. A backlink is when another website has a link to your website on their site. However, for this to be useful the kind and amount of authority of the referring website are looked at. The quality of the content where the backlink appears also determines the effectiveness. The more times a website is back-linked on quality domains the better its chances are to appear high in a Google search result.


Conclusion

In conclusion, if a company seeks to appear at the top of a search result they must focus on optimizing all the different pieces of their website including their meta tags and the number of backlinks they have. Many businesses have too much on their plate to constantly keep up with this optimization and will turn to various marketing companies. Here at Spotlight Revenue, we pride ourselves in providing high-quality SEO as well as having in-depth knowledge in the other types of Google Results. If you and your business are looking to improve your ranking reach out to us so we can help you grow and take the worry off your shoulders.