If you don't know what SEO means, you must have been living in an alternate universe. However, if you know what it means without really understanding what it does and why it's important, you're not the only one. SEO is the magic that is supposed to make visitors come to your website, and that's precisely why you should worry about it.

What Is SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of tweaking your site to improve your rankings. Only few people really type in the website they'd like to go to. Instead, they may look for how to use SEO in Chicago. If the search engine doesn't list your website as one of the results on the first page, the likelihood that someone will find your site is pretty slim.

Unfortunately, the algorithms that are used by search engines change often. Additionally, the search engine creators don't necessarily reveal how they decide which site is shown first. It's usually a combination of popularity (how many people visit your site), relevance (if your site has the content that match the search query), and validation (how many websites are linking into yours).

Why Worry about SEO?

If you're not currently worried about SEO, you probably should be. Unless you show up as #1 in the search engine results on a consistent basis, there's room for improvement. Did you know that most people don't even get to the bottom of the first page of the search engines? They usually click on one of the top search results on the first page.

If your website doesn't show up first, your potential customers are going to visit your competitor's site instead. That means your competitors get the chance to display their products and services first. You only get a chance if those visitors don't like the offerings and go back to search for more alternatives.

Not spending time and money on SEO can cost you a lot of money. You'll end up spending more on advertising and offline marketing efforts to get the same results as the competition that invested in SEO. For some businesses, offline marketing is more effective. However, if your company is selling nationally, the most effective way to reach your customers is to focus on SEO and content marketing.

If you're worried about SEO in Chicago, it's a good idea to let someone help you. It's easy to understand what SEO marketing is supposed to do, but it's not easy to keep up with it. If you want results, it's best to get started sooner than later.