Understanding SEO and how it pertains to your business goals will help you take advantage of search and drive more traffic to your website or page. Large and small companies will benefit from optimizing their online presence. By incorporating some of our easy tips, you can increase your company's ranking, resulting in more traffic and online sales.

What is SEO? The acronym stands for search engine optimization, and refers to writing content and developing websites with keywords, tags, and unique content that can increase the rank of an article, page, or the overall website.

Although Google is probably the best-known search engine, Bing and other search engines are also performers and will help drive traffic to your site. Both Google and Bing offer basic tools for business webmasters, and will alert you if problems arise.

Tips for How Your Business Can Take Advantage of Search

Identify the keywords or phrases that people would use to search for your business. These have changed slightly as mobile device usage increases, and people speak into their phones rather than typing them on a computer. If you sell shoes, then some of the keywords would include well-known brand names you sell, men's shoes, women's shoes, shoes for children, shoes in your specific location.

Use geo identifiers in your website. Google maps is ideal for this. You simply embed a map onto your website which includes the physical location. Digital photos taken at your place of business often include a geocache and can be placed on the website or page you want to rank for that area.

Don't forget to claim your business on social media. Some of these sites have pre-made pages that include a business name and location. You will need to go in and claim these, which may include returning a post card or phone call.

Set up social media accounts including Google +, Instagram, and Pinterest, as well as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.

Don't overlook the benefit of hashtags when posting links on these sites.

Find natural sites to place links to your site, through message boards and question/answer websites. You will gain more credibility if you actually go in and participate on these boards.

Carefully consider the overall layout and design of your website. Photographs draw the eye, but for a site to rank, it does need solid content.

Content should be written with both the reader and bots in mind. Engaging content that delivers true value to the reader is imperative. When writing content, most people will naturally use secondary keywords related to the main article keywords. Overall, the main keyword density should be 3-4%. The keyword should be used in both the first and last paragraphs.

"H" tags play an important role in how search engine bots read content. A title is typically written in an h1 format, while the remaining content will be posted in descending order from h2 on down. The "h" tags essentially provide a value to each of the phrases, with h1 being the most important.

Add content on a regular basis. You can add more pages to a website using a blog, or by adding more services or items. Whether you add it daily or weekly, be sure to add it on a regular schedule.

One of the most important, and often overlooked items is to make certain that your website has a sitemap and that it has been submitted to the search engines. Contact the Chamber for more tips and ideas to help your business grow.