SEO (Search Engine Optimization) at its core is simply the strategic process of getting web traffic, often called free and organic traffic, from search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
The goal with SEO practices is to have your expert content ranked near the top of results for specific keywords and phrases.
Since our very first days of developing websites here at BanProNET we've viewed SEO as a two-part process, first (and most important) being the on-page factors of good semantic markup mixed with thorough and useful content, and second being off-page factors such as social sharing and backlink building.
The first part is where we focus almost all of our time and energy. It's all about creating great content and using good markup "under the hood" that allows search engines to know exactly what the content is about. Get this part right and your pages have the opportunity to rank well without a single backlink.
With the second part we typically provide (or suggest to our client's to provide) easy social sharing buttons only on the pillar content pages of a website.
In addition, as users tend to consume content in different forms we're advocates for putting your best content into multiple formats, such as written articles or posts, PDF documents, slideshows, as well as audio and video media. Not for a specific SEO purpose however, but simply to ensure the very best content is available to users on the terms they prefer.
We have never gone further than this with any sort of "link building" strategies or campaigns. That doesn't mean we do not recognize the value of backlinks in SEO, but we also recognize that the vast majority of backlinks available to seek out are low quality that in most cases won't help a site's rankings, and in worst-cases can even hurt a site's natural rankings.
Our experience has been that when you create excellent content and make it easy for users to consume and share on their own terms that will ultimately lead to the higher quality backlinks that actually do help a site's rankings naturally occuring. It isn't an overnight process, the content won't be found and linked to from high quality sources instantly, but SEO isn't an instant gratification process. It's a slow build.
Looking forward, we see signals from the major search engines that say well structured (and semantic) markup is going to be increasingly key in search rankings as the shift to an AI-heavy online world continues. This tells us that our tried and true SEO practice of focusing on the content we control will continue to be a viable strategy that returns positive results into the future.
For information on how BanProNET can help you with your next project please Contact Us.