Businesses put a lot of emphasis on search engine optimization in the digital age. SEO is great, especially if you know how to use it properly because you can transform your business in a short time. However, if you don’t understand the impact of SEO you can’t use it to your advantage. Regardless of how it seems, there is plenty of small businesses that don’t understand SEO, so you aren’t alone. But, it is about time you started to grasp the nettle for your business’s sake. To put you on the right path, here are some of the most common phrases, what they mean, and why they’re important.

Keywords

Keywords are essentially the words a business chooses to boost their Google ranking. The way the rankings work is through the way businesses utilize their customers’ search terms. For example, your business might deal with second hand cars. So, a good key term, or keyword, would be ‘used car’. The reason is that this term is bound to be one of the most popular with your target audience. Google then uses an algorithm to decide which businesses are using them correctly and ranks them in order. It sounds simple, and it is as soon as you figure out which terms are your most effective.

Back-links

Okay, so what is a back-link? Well, a back-link is just a link to another site. Yes, it is that simple. But, you shouldn’t underestimate the value of back-links, especially when used correctly. For starters, they add to the user experience. A link to another site provides more information for the reader, which is important when you have limited space. Plus, it also acts as a badge. It means that your content is good enough to be linked by another site. Google sees this and keeps it in mind while it ranks your site. The thing to remember is that quality is better than quantity. In the past, more was better, but now they have to add value. This is vital when it comes to back-links.

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is something that all businesses need to keep an eye on. In layman’s terms, it means how many visitors view your site and leave, or ‘bounce’. The reason it is so important is because the rate of people leaving without making a conversion affects your revenue. The longer you can keep them on your site, the more chance of a conversion. The good news is that you have all the info you need to turn it around. The bounce rate itself will tell you everything you need to know from how long they stay to which pages are not visited. With this information, you can make changes to your site to maximize your traffic.

Traffic